The Juliana Hotel is not quite like anything else in Brussels. Not a hotel in the conventional sense so much as a presence — a carefully held intention about what it means to receive someone well. It sits on Place des Martyrs, one of the city’s most architecturally intact neo-classical squares, a few minutes walk from the Grand-Place and yet insulated from its noise. The building itself dates to the 18th century while the hotel opened in 2021 by Franco-Belgian entrepreneur Éric Cléton, who restored and reimagined it as a private residence that happens to have 43 rooms.
That distinction – residence versus hotel – matters to everything here. Cléton, who founded the Juliana Hotels group and opened a first property in Cannes before turning to Brussels, conceived the Juliana as a living home, rather than a hospitality product. Each of the 43 suites and rooms is different, running to as much as 150 square metres, furnished with collected objects, singular artworks, and colour palettes that have nothing to do with international hotel design conventions. Italian designer Eugenio Manzoni translated this vision into interiors that layer neo-classical architecture with bold contemporary choices. The result is coherent, but in the way a well-curated private apartment is coherent — through personality, not formula.
“Patrimoine and creation in free dialogue” — the hotel’s founding principle shows no sign of exhausting itself.
The kitchen at restaurant Influence has always operated from a clear position: Belgian culinary heritage, revisited with restraint and built around emblematic local producers and seasonal rhythms. Every moment of the day is considered — from a breakfast that takes seriously the idea that how a morning begins matters, through lunch and dinner menus that shift with each season. The Egyptian Art Deco ceiling overhead, and the mechanical wall clock commissioned specifically for the room, give Influence a dining environment that earns its place alongside the food.
The bar is a separate register entirely. Presiding over it is Theseus and the Minotaur, a rare sculpted bronze bas-relief by Emanuele Luzzati — Italian illustrator, set designer, and one of the more undersung figures in 20th-century European visual culture. Gold and copper wallpapers by Kelvin and Philippe Laverne extend the orientalist mood; the bartender-sommelier programme is designed to make the bar a destination in its own right, not an afterthought for guests waiting for a table.
Art is not decoration at the Juliana — it is the connective tissue of the place. Cléton selected every work personally: sculptures, paintings, objects of all kinds, distributed through common areas and guest rooms alike. His guiding principle is that each piece should tell a story, and that a hotel can function as a living collection rather than a staged backdrop.
The wellness level
Below ground, the hotel has completed a full renovation of its wellness spaces. An indoor swimming pool, spa, hammam, and fitness room form a suite of retreats conceived as a counterweight to the city above. The décor continues the hotel’s signature approach: no loud gestures, no trend-chasing, just well-made things in a well-proportioned space. It is, as the hotel itself might put it, the luxury of silence.
What’s new?
Beyond the ongoing refinement of this Brussels address, the Juliana group has confirmed a new addition: a maison particulière on Square du Bois, one of Brussels’ more coveted residential addresses, tucked between the Ixelles ponds and the Bois de la Cambre. The new house extends the group’s philosophy of confidential, personality-driven hospitality into a different part of the city, and a different register of the Brussels experience. Details remain sparse, deliberately so — which feels entirely in keeping with a hotel that has always preferred to be discovered rather than announced.
For those who haven’t yet made it to Place des Martyrs: the Juliana holds two Michelin Keys, the distinction awarded to hotels offering a remarkable and memorable guest experience. It is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World and the Serandipians collection. It is, in the straightforward sense of the word, worth your time.
Our tip for the season: Visit Juliana’s summer terrace, a hidden gem in the busy city centre.
Location: Place des Martyrs 1/4, 1000 Brussels
Website: https://www.juliana-brussels.com/en
