Ghent has a new hotel that will make Harry Potter fans do a double-take. 1898 Porter's House, a four-room heritage townhouse that opened on 1 September as an extension of the 38-room 1898 The Post next door, leans hard into a dark, magical aesthetic: custom scent diffusers, midnight-black hallway doors, hidden libraries and – come Halloween – 200 floating candles on the main building's enormous spiral staircase.
The Details. The hotel's signature fragrance, Freyr, is described as an "abundance spell" of patchouli, amber, vetiver and myrrh, and it sets the tone. Inside, there's dark wood, deep-red hues, exposed wrought iron (the same kind used on the Eiffel Tower, according to the hotel), secret doors you open by twisting a button, and an illusory double stairwell left over from the building's past life as a post office. There's a cocktail bar called 1898 The Cobbler, an honesty bar with a hidden library and river views, and home-made negronis and manhattans served in potion bottles.
The bathrooms are pure marble and stocked with Guerlain – the beauty house, famously picky, chose Porter's House as its one Ghent partner. Top rooms come with a huge wet room, twin rainforest showers and a copper ice plunge bath on a private terrace, screened from view. Breakfast is a choose-your-own affair of 80 items served in the Cobbler lounge.
Who it's for. Reviewer Victoria Richards is clear this isn't a family gig – though a Porter's family suite with terrace, sauna and plunge bath does exist, the vibe she describes is sensuous and couple-oriented, closer to The Cursed Child than The Philosopher's Stone. It's priced accordingly: think anniversary weekend, not budget city break.
Why Ghent works. It's roughly four hours door-to-door from London St Pancras by Eurostar, making it a low-carbon romantic escape. A Visit Ghent CityCard can get you a boat tour along the medieval waterways (legend says kiss under the willows and you'll stay together forever) plus entry to the restored Van Eyck brothers' Ghent Altarpiece. For dinner, Michelin-starred Lys D'Or is the fancy option, but the reviewer's standout was natural wine bar Chubby Cheeks – "grapes and plates" she called one of the best meals of her life.
If you've grown up loving the wizarding world but want candlelight, Champagne and plunge baths instead of bunk beds at Hogwarts, this is your room key.
