A touch of history

While the surrounding site was transformed into tourist Terhills, where everyone gets a taste of nature, the former Coal Castle was transformed into Terhills Hotel in 2015.
Upon arrival at Terhills Hotel, you cannot miss the link to its industrial past. The imposing baroque architecture and symmetrical garden showcase the richness of the coal mining past by surprising you with artfully clipped hedges and the clatter of a fountain. Immense shaft trestles next to Terhills Hotel recall the work that was done underground here. These historical details combine beautifully with the modern,
luxurious décor of the hotel rooms.

Details in the interior of Terhills Hotel also bring the opulent history to life. In the stairwell, the restored stone staircase is still slightly sagging due to underground coal mining. The vault door, behind which the miners used to receive their pay packets, now provides access to the toilets.

A new gourmet layer was added in March 2024 with Bistro Bureau Bouveau. The word ‘bureau’ refers to the bright engineering offices that were located here above ground, while ‘bouveau’ is the French word for coal corridor – the dark underground side of the site.
You can feel the atmosphere of the site’s mining past both underground and above ground the bar and restaurant.

The hotel’s breakfast room is designed as a tribute to the interior of the miner’s cottages you can still see in Maasmechelen’s mining town. The artificial flowers hanging from the ceiling are inspired by the fabric flowers the miners’ wives used to make themselves to decorate their cottages, as real flowers were expensive and rare at the time. The print on the wall of the breakfast room refers to the tapestries that the miners brought back from their homeland, with images of the landscape that reminded them of their home, allowing them to maintain a connection to their roots.