Need to know

Rooms

11.

Rates

€165–270, including breakfast.

Check-out

Midday, with some flexibility on Sundays, subject to availability.

Facilities

Library of books, DVDs and CDs, patio, laundry service; rooms have flatscreen TVs, DVD/CD players, WiFi, Egyptian cotton sheets, soft bathrobes, minibar.

Children

Couples with small children are welcome. There's a selection of children's DVDs on offer; they can sometimes set a family table for dinner downstairs. An extra bed or cot can be provided in your room for free for under 12s; over 12s pay €50 a night.

Hotel closed

Last week of July and first week of August.

Also

All rooms are non-smoking; smoking is permitted in the bar downstairs. No pets allowed.

In the know

Our favourite rooms

The 'Executive Rooms' and 'Rooms with a View' are in the quiet back house, and incorporate original 16th-century features such as the wooden floors and ceilings. Rooms with a View have splendid views of the cathedral; one has a private terrace, and one is in the eaves, very private, with pretty beams. Executive Rooms are larger, and have a separate toilet and twin washbasins – number 3 has a marble fireplace; number 4 has a 16th-century ceiling. All bathrooms feature terracotta tiled floors – some also have a cathedral view.

Packing tips

You can borrow an umbrella from the hotel if you leave yours behind. Bring comfy shoes for exploring the city on foot and a good book to curl up by the fire with afterwards.

Also

Book an in-room massage to deal with those shopping sprains. The tramline is right on your doorstep. The porcelain bathroom accessories were specially designed for Hotel Julien and are available to buy.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant

There's no restaurant, but the hotel will order you take-out food (anything from pizza or Chinese to oysters and sushi). Breakfast is served at a long antique dining table: Monday to Friday, 07h–10h; weekends, 08h–11h.

Last orders

Hot food till 23h; after that it's sandwiches until breakfast time.

Room service

24 hours.

Hotel bar

Julien's Bar on the ground floor of the back house is a lovely spot to enjoy a drink, with laid-back tunes in the background; cosy up to the fire in winter, or sit on the patio by the fountain in summer. It's open 10h till midnight and sells cigars.

Smith card offer A bottle of champagne on arrival

If you're a member of Mr & Mrs Smith, you can get special privileges at every Smith hotel you book through us. Just show your Smith card at check-in to claim the offer featured on every hotel page (like the one above).

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Smith concierge

If you’d prefer to talk to someone, or you’re having trouble booking online, ring our travel team on 0845 034 0700 (+44 20 8987 4312 from outside the UK). We guarantee you’ll get the best available rates, and we don’t charge a booking fee.

Hotel Julien

Korte Nieuwstraat 24, Antwerp, Belgium

If we lived in Antwerp, Traiteur Mario at Kammenstraat 71 (+32 (0)3 226 02 95) would become our favourite down-home old-school Italian joint. Run by a family from Emiglia-Romagna, the pasta and lasagne is to die for. Dock's Cafe at 7 Jordaanskaal (+32 (0)3 226 6330) has classic European food in an 'industrial baroque' setting – the oyster bar is a comfortable place to prop yourself at for an hour or so. Hofstraat 24 – which is where you'd expect it to be – is an intimate, atmospheric restaurant serving up tasty Franco-Belgian dishes in the interconnecting rooms of a small house (+32 (0)3 225 0545). Meanwhile, Flamant Dining (+32 (0)3 227 7441) at Lange Gasthuisstraat 12 (on top of Antwerp's interiors store – Flamant) is a sophisticated, spacious affair, with stylised modern European cuisine and a central bar area of squidgy sofas.

There’s a homely gastro-pub feel to laid-back local bar Berlin (+32 (0)3 227 11 01). On Kleine Markt, it’s easily walkable from Hotel Julien and close to all the best shopping streets. Hecker Dinner Wine Bar is a nice sunny lunchtime spot for a glass of vino – you'll definitely want to stay for one of the extraordinary dinner menus though, so book a table and come back in the evening (+32 (0)3 234 3834). For a shopping pitstop pop in to super-glam Martinibar @ Verso at Lange Gasthuisstraat 9–11 (+32 (0)3 226 9292) – a tiny space decked out entirely in whites and creams, in the entrace to fashion emporium Verso.

Wander round the old city centre and enjoy its Italianate piazzas and pleasant atmosphere; the Saint Carolus Borromeus Church on Hendrik Conscienceplein is one of the most beautiful buildings in the region, with interiors largely designed by Rubens, and is minutes away from the hotel. Antwerp's prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts churns out more talent than you could shake a paintbrush at, and the city is the home of some of the world's most avant-garde fashion designers; the so-called Antwerp Six include Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Martin Margiela. A window-shopping session is well worthwhile. Ann Demeulemeester's store is at Verlatstraat 38 (+32 (0)3 216 0133); the Dries van Noten boutique Het Modepaleis is at Nationalestraat 16 (+32 (0)3 233 9437). Make a stop at MoMu, the fantastic fashion museum on Nationalestraat (www.momu.be).