Making our way through the jam-packed De Klimop restaurant, we were given our key by a friendly waiter and told that our room was on the top floor. After lugging our bags up six flights of stairs, 69 steps in all, we opened the door to a room that was, on first impression, exceedingly drab, with pale green walls, dark brown bedspreads, and faded window curtains. The only relief from the drabness was a little red rug. Our impressions improved, however, when we turned around and discovered that we could now see a nice art print on one wall, and they improved a great deal more when we peeked into the bathroom and found it to be small but modern and gleaming. The room itself was large, and its additional furnishings included both a pretty marble-topped table and an ugly fibreboard wardrobe. Overall, the room would have been quite acceptable but for one fatal flaw: when we decided to give the place an airing, we discovered that the windows had been painted shut. That was annoying in October and would have been unbearable in summer. It's a shame, because it would cost the owners nothing to free up the windows. For that matter, it also would cost nothing to move the art print to a better location, and it would cost only a little to replace the tatty curtains and add a couple of colorful throws to the beds.

The hotel is conveniently located directly across from Leuven station, and just a short walk into the centre of town. Everything was clean and new, and the ground floor of the hotel is a cafe so it was a nice place to have breakfast. The only complaint was that the wireless Internet access was rather erratic.

We stayed here as a go-between before moving into permanent accommodation, and it was ideal in that respect. It's location is great (directly across from the train station) so when we got lost exploring Leuven we could just follow the signposts for the Station and figure it out from there. The room was clean and cosy, and the room had a great view over the Martelarenplein, although the bread delivery trucks start up about 7 am, so if you're a light sleeper maybe this would be an issue. The staff and breakfast are great, although the hotel is located within a busy restaurant, which we unintentionally avoided by checking in on a Sunday (when the restaurant is closed) although we did check out on a Monday, meaning we had to squeeze our way through diners with all our luggage. Internet is non-existent,even when I went to a lower floor with my laptop.