The Sixth Element

Brussels may have been voted “most boring town in Europe,” but with the Eurostar zooming in from London, a staggering concentration of fashion stars in Antwerp, and Hollywood films set in Bruges, Belgium is having a moment. Already seen the infamously over-exposed Manneken Pis and Unesco-listed belfries? Enter Genk, ex-coal mining town and Maastricht neighbor, recently voted the friendliest city in Europe by the SEA Tourist Commission. Genk’s newest hotel, CARBON Hotel, opens at the end of April.
It’s a member of the high-concept Design Hotels group, so it comes as no surprise that Carbon Hotel boasts a hyper-modern environment light years away from Genk’s industrial past. Rooms are unified by a (carbon?!) neutral color scheme and an “elemental” theme: (earthy) woods and fabrics, (airy) spaces, and glass- walled bathrooms (yep, water). A first-floor terrace garden with a striking black tent-covered terrace provides green views and outside chill space.
CARBON Sense, the 608 square meter in-house spa and bathhouse, offers a suitably vast choice of massages and facial treatments, as well as two types of saunas, an authentic Turkish hammam, and a personal wellness coach.
The hotel’s restaurant will feature an open kitchen, small plates of regional food and 16 wines by the glass, dispensed using the (airless!) Enomatic system. The restaurant’s name, of course, is Carbon Taste. That’s probably a Belgian joke.