This hotel has to be quite simply the best hotel I have ever stayed in. Okay so it does not have 24 hour room service with a menu that makes war and peace look like light reading, nor does it have a gym but this hotel has two things I have not found else where (i) clarm and (ii) fantastic service.

Stayed here for 3 months on business with 4 others. Being a small family run hotel you get to know everyone very quickly but saying that the owner and his wife always maintained the correct level of professionalism.

We would often have the same room week after week and the same table for breakfast. After the first week they even stopped asking what we wanted because they knew. Would recommend going in the summer because they have a small terrace at the back and breakfast outside is amazing.

The hotel is complemented by a small bar also with fantastic service.

On my final day staying there the owner's wife waved myself and a colleage off as we got into a taxi, the service is that personal.

One final thing to mention is that the resaurant Minerva is attached to the hotel (owner's son). This has to be one of if not the best restaurant in Antwerp.

Having stayed at the Firean several times in the late 1990s, I was looking forward to returning earlier this year (Feb 2006). It was as if I was back with friends. And I discovered the owner's son had opened an excellent restrauant (Minerva's) just down the block. Antwerp is one of my favorite places, and the Firean is part of the reason.

The family owned and operated Firean Hotel is a great find in Antwerp. It is in a peaceful neighborhood a 15 minute tram ride from the center of town. The tram stop is just steps away from the front door and the friendly owner and his staff will explain how to buy tram tickets in advance at a small store next door. The nicely furnished quiet room (#40) we were assigned in a building with a separate entrance was very large with high ceilings, many windows, and a pleasant view of a wooded area in back. The bathroom had a great shower and tub with excellent water pressure. The small elevator worked well.

As you walk out of the hotel to the right about a half block away is the Minerva, a restaurant affiliated with the hotel. A few steps to the left, is an outstanding bistro, Mozaiek, where I had the best meal of a week long trip to Belgium.

The breakfast at the Firean was delicious and was included in the rate of 173 Euros double for a Saturday night stay. The owner told me that the hotel is often available on weekends and heavily booked during the week, so I would recommend booking far ahead for a room if you are arriving on a weekday. (I called to reserve a room for Saturday night the day before arriving.)

If I return to Antwerp in the future I plan to stay at the Hotel Firean once again. I recommend it highly.