I just returned from an amazing educational trip in London and Brussels at the end of March. This was exclusive to Avenue Two Travel advisors and hosted by Rocco Forte Hotels. Rocco Forte is a British hotel group with 14 beautiful luxury hotels spread throughout Europe.
My official itinerary kicked off with a lovely traditional English tea at Rocco Forte’s Brown’s Hotel in the Drawing Room. This iconic hotel is situated in the heart of Mayfair’s Art District and is filled to the brim with British charm. Each accommodation is special and unique, and their Five-Star service is undeniably first class!
If you’ve been to London before and have already experienced the typical iconic London sites, then these next few experiences I am going to share are fun, out of the box ideas with a tasteful blend of both art and history.
We spent the first afternoon gallery hopping with Maeve Doyle from Maddox Gallery London. Maeve introduced us to in-residence artists, and they walked us through their personal stories and show case art pieces.
At night, we were treated to London’s Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre to see Cabaret! If you’re looking for a fun evening out, this was an unexpected delight, and the theatre is so charming and historical.
Next, we were paired up with Dream Escape, one of our top luxury tour designers in the U.K. We received an early entry, private tour of the Household Calvary Museum led by Nicola Ayrton, Director of the Museum. The museum is situated at the official entrance to Buckingham Palace and our tour ended with the changing of the King’s Life Guard. We enjoyed coffee in the underground crypt while the rain passed and continued on to a backstage tour of the London Coliseum with Jamie Manton, Theatre and Olivier nominated Opera Director. If you are interested in the performing arts, this is the tour for you! Last, we were given a private guided tour of Sir John Soane’s home turned museum with an impressive collection of over 45,000 antiques and paintings. We ended our stay in London with a fabulous dinner in Charlie’s at Brown’s Hotel, serving British dishes with a modern twist.
The following day, we packed up and took the Eurostar for a scenic 2-hour train ride from London to Brussels. We arrived at our home base, Rocco Forte’s Hotel Amigo. This is the only luxury hotel centrally located in the heart of Brussels’ city center. We started out on a private city walking tour of Belgium’s capital city, Brussels. We stopped in at the famous Belgian chocolatier, Laurent Gerbaud’s chocolate shop for an exclusive chocolate making and tasting experience. After, we were hosted at a private cocktail reception on the balcony of Brussels’ Town Hall Grand-Place. We capped the night off at the newly reopened Bar Magritte. This is the place to be and be seen in Brussels. Bar Magritte is located inside Hotel Amigo and pays homage to Surrealist Artist, René Magritte. The bar serves delicious Belgian classics in a vibrant, colorful space with live jazz.
On our last day, we set out for Bruges. We took the local train which is just a ten-minute walk from Hotel Amigo. Bruges is a picturesque city in West Flanders, located in the Flemish region of Belgium and it’s a page straight out of a fairytale storybook. The town is filled with weeping willows, white swans, and fields of daffodils. After lunch we joined up with our private guide and walked for several hours learning about the city’s historical landmarks, including the famous Belfry Tower. We stopped into a local brewery and ended our tour with a traditional Belgian street waffle- we’ve been eating waffles all wrong, my friends!