Holiday Inn Express Hasselt

The Jenevermuseum is a crossroads of knowledge about and experience of Belgian jenever. It's the place where experts and community meet, and where they use heritage collections to become 'jenever wise(r)' together. The museum functions as a regional platform where (young) adults enter into a dialogue with the museum and with each other about our national spirit: about its origins, development and nature, and its perception and the way a collection was constituted on the topic. The museum offers a scientific frame of reference for jenever heritage and current events. Have a drink, it's educational.

The trade of weaving was already one of the pillars of the city of Hasselt in the year 1313. The textile industry became even more important in 1383 when the cloth weavers moved from Leuven to Hasselt due to political agitation in their hometown. At the time, Hasselt enjoyed great renown as a cloth city, partly because of the vicinity of The Kempen area where large quantities of wool were bought. The Hasselt cloth was praised for its excellent quality and neat finish. It was sold in Liège, Namur, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Gorkum, Cologne, Frankfurt and Lübeck. The cloth industry was of great economic and social importance to Hasselt. In the 15th century, one fifth of the population earned its daily bread by working in the cloth industry and in 1536 the city had about two hundred master cloth weavers. Even then, the trade of the "laeckenmeikers", the master weavers and the weaver boys surpassed all the other trades in number of members and importance. Hasselt has been a regional trade centre for a long time, but since WW II the fashion and textile business has been flourishing in a way that greatly exceeds the size of the city. Stylish clothes, luxury accessories and other fashion items attracted countless and frequent shoppers from Flanders, the Walloon provinces, the Netherlands and Germany. The establishment of a fashion museum fits into the picture. On the one hand it can illustrate part of the social and creative history and on the other hand it can inspire people who wish to be active in fashion, today and in the future. The Fashion Museum started its activities in the end of 1987 and opened its doors to visitors in 1989. After a break of a few years (1993-95) due to radical restoration and design works, the museum became permanently open to the public in its renovated accommodation on the 2nd of September 1995.

The Japanese garden in Hasselt is the largest of its kind in Europe. It’s the perfect setting to fully experience the Japanese culture. Originally, a Japanese garden encouraged meditation and reflection; this is no different in Hasselt. There are benches to sit on so you can enjoy the sound of the waterfalls, there are koi fish you can spot and feed in the water, there are many picnic places and there are many paths to walk around peacefully. Sometimes you can hear the peace bell ring. The peace bell has a permanent place in the garden since 2016. In addition, there are plenty of activities that are open to the public every month.