Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp

The words hospital and hospitality share a Latin root, and on this plot in Antwerp the two have been practised side by side since 1238. That year the Sint Elisabeth hospital was consecrated by the bishop of Cambrai, on a site then outside the city walls called Elzenveld, the alder field. It looked after Antwerp's sick until 1986. Little of the original survives, as you would expect after that many winters. The oldest part still standing is the 15th century chapel. The hotel opened in stages from 2022, after eight years of restoration. The red brick, pale stone and stepped gables stay as they were. The 108 rooms are spread across five historic buildings, and the new additions are slender glass structures in soft green steel that follow the lines of the hospital's 19th century glass canopy. Old functions were kept where possible: the monastery kitchens are dining rooms, and the old pharmacy sells apothecary goods again. The 16th century hospital apothecary planted a medicinal garden here, and today's monastery garden still supplies herbs to the kitchen.

Inside, the rooms follow wabi sabi, the Japanese taste for imperfection: clay toned plaster, aged oak beams, rumpled linen, a freestanding bath under the rafters. Every room is individually designed, so a photograph of one tells you little about the next. Three categories are worth knowing. The Deluxe Room with Terrace is the best way in, with its own terrace over the monastery grounds. The Spa Suite has a lounge on the lower floor looking onto the chapel garden, and upstairs a private sauna, whirlpool and treatment bed. The Botanic Suite is the splurge, with 94 square metres inside and a 68 square metre rooftop terrace.

The food is a destination in itself. Hertog Jan, which moved here from Zedelgem after closing there in 2018, holds two stars, and Fine Fleur holds one. Under the glass roof of 1238, named after the founding year, the cooking is Belgian with French manners. Henry's Bar handles cocktails, and an invitation only whisky club occupies the vaulted cellar, which is a fitting place for something kept quiet. The spa covers 1,000 square metres over three floors. Its 18 metre pool sits in a glass hall that frames the brick gables.

Know what you are booking. This is a lively house, with restaurants, meeting rooms, events and plenty of guests who come for the spa. A cloister it is not, and cloisters rarely came with a cocktail bar.