In Mechelen’s Vrijbroekpark, the walking path to the famous hotel ruin was officially opened on Friday.
The ‘ghost hotel’ has been completely taken over by flora and fauna. But thanks to a collaboration between Tourism Flanders, the Agency for Nature and Forests, and the Province of Antwerp, it has now been made partially accessible to visitors in a safe manner.
Construction of the 18-storey hotel began in the early 1970s but halted after two floors, with no further progress since. The park’s flora and fauna claimed the building, and it became a hotspot for urban explorers.
Visits are organized to the ruin of a hotel in the Vrijbroekpark park in Mechelen, Friday 14 February 2025. Credit: Belga
“We’ve always aimed to make this special site accessible to the public, but it was challenging to decide how to do so,” said Lieve Stoops, Director of Green Domains in the Mechelen region.
“Many species live in and around the ruin that we would disturb with too much human activity, such as various bat species, small rodents, and amphibians. Therefore, we decided to open the ghost hotel partially, leaving the entire ground floor to nature.”
Visits are now organised to the ruin of a hotel in the Vrijbroekpark park in Mechelen, Friday 14 February 2025. Credit: Belga
A walking path, accessible to wheelchair users and pushchairs, leads to the first floor. Here, visitors can see the old structures of the hotel and access a staircase to the second floor, where a unique panoramic platform has been installed. The ground floor features an amphibian pond and a mouse hotel to further boost biodiversity.
The project was completed through the cooperation of the Province of Antwerp, the site’s owner, which invested €470,000.
Tourism Flanders contributed €370,000, and the remaining €60,000 came from the Project Nature subsidy by the Agency for Nature and Forests.
