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La Merveilleuse Resort Dinant - A Review (Wallonia - Belgium)

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Remember my stay in Mons? If that was a church restored to a hotel, here I am in Dinant, at a convent, restored to a hotel - La Merveilleuse by Infiniti Resorts. To begin with, this is also the site of Maison Leffe, yes, of the beer brand Leffe! The entry immediately leads to the restaurant and the corridor all around it leads to the bar, Leffe Experience and ofcourse the rooms. There is a dedicated Casino and Spa of the hotel as well which are in other buildings.



In 1613, the Capuchin order of Christians settled in the banks of river Meuse in Dinant. They built a monastery pretty close to the current hotel building. In 1793 this grew to include a hospital and later converted to an orphanage and now is a CPAS (Belgian Social Services) building. By late 19th C CE, when the original building became a bit to congested for the growing monastery, they built another one, in a higher altitude, with a spectacular view of Meuse and Dinant town, in Neo-Gothic architecture. This new convent is what, now stands as a hotel, since 2008!


First thing that attracted me was the paintings on the corridor! These were painted when the building was still a convent. There are some new custom printed, life-sized wallpapers in other floors, depicting how the place was, as a convent! The chapel benches are now in the sides of the passages as seating/waiting arrangement. The convent candle stands are now used as decorative lamps with LED lights inside. The chapel itself is now the site of Maison Leffe about which I'll write about in another post. The garden of the convent is now the restaurant (ofcourse, now there's a glass roof).


There are 3 types of rooms here - Standard, Comfort and Luxe. The Standard rooms are really basic! If you're looking for a 'resort experience' you may want to book atleast a Comfort room. The Standard rooms are tiny with a nice bed, bath, cupboard, study table. That said, there is no mini bar or coffee machine. The restaurant and bar are 24hrs which makes it super easy to call and order anytime, but if you carry something that needs to be in fridge (baby food or specialty food?), you have to rely on the reception! Most comfort rooms have a stunning window view of the Citadel. The Luxe room is synonymous with Luxury, with all facilities in place. 
Apart from these there are 2 apart-hotel rooms that can accommodate 6 to 8 people. However this is in a separate building which also houses the wellness.


Breakfast is complimentary. The cheese varieties are divine. There are also several types of mini cereal boxes, perfect for kids. Vegetarians have pretty less options though. The restaurant being 24 hrs, they can always accommodate special food requests. The vegan pizza was pretty good and so were the cheese croquettes! However sadly I couldn't get mashed potatoes here for my little gal but we managed with sauteed mixed vegetables.


The back entrance of the hotel leads to the separate building where the Wellness is located. The usage of the resort is free of cost for the guests of the hotel upto 2 hrs. It has is no separate child area, so make sure your kid doesn't throw a tantrum which causes trouble for other guests! Luckily for us, when we were there, there was only one other couple apart from us! They also provide towels and shoes. There are lockers and changing areas for men & women separately.

 

It was Atyudarini's first time in a swimming pool and she thoroughly enjoyed! There are 2 waterfalls and several bubblers. The water is the right temperature and the dip in this pool just made our winter visit to Dinant, a super memorable one! There are lawn chairs outside to soak in the sun, after soaking in the pool, but being winter, this was closed for the moment! Here's my tip - on your last day in Dinant, request the reception for late check-out and enjoy your sauna time and then check-out! 

To Get There:
Nearest Airport: Brussels South - Charleroi
Nearest Railway Station: Dinant
From Dinant Railway Station: 550m
From Brussels to Dinant: 100km (direct intercity trains are available from Bruxelles-Schuman once every hour. Travel time is about 1:20 hr) 

To Book online: La Merveilleuse Resorts
Room rates begin at €125 for standard rooms.
Breakfast, Maison Leffe experience & beer tasting, 2 hrs wellness are complimentary
Wellness cost for non-guests: €25 pp for public bath & €99 per couple for private bath
Hotel Ph no: +32 82 22 91 91
The back entrance is via parking lot and is accessible (wheel-chair friendly) as well.

My complete Dinant travelogue: coming up soon...

P.S: I was invited by Wallonia Tourism to experience the city for review purposes, however the opinions are my own and this post does not to advertise the product/service.

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