Florence Hotel Advice

If it helps, there are definitely lots of bad reviews that make it onto TripAdvisor. Check out this lovely place in Rome:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187791-d529978-Reviews-Hotel_Ferrari-Rome_Lazio.html

Michael, there are some doozies out there, aren't there? This place looks scary!

mr
My wife and I stayed two nights at the San Gallo Palace Hotel (B&B) in 2012 and it was fantastic! http://www.sangallopalace.com/en/ It is located away from the piazzas and all of the hub bub but less than a 10 min bus ride to the Uffizi and Academia. Probably could have walked it but I was having knee and ankle issues. The breakfasts were stocked full of various hot and cold foods.

We stayed 4 nights at La Scaletta and loved every minute. The location is a couple blocks from Ponte Vecchio on the other side of the Arno. Perfect for walking to all the sights. The hotel staff were marvelous and we still correspond with those delightful and helpful ladies. They have a Facebook page and a website with live chat. The staff helped me with my Italian for weeks on the chat room. Ask for a room with a view of the Boboli Gardens. Pitti palace and the Boboli are only a couple blocks from La Scaletta. If you book with them, tell them George and Elaine sent you.

George---Hi, neighbor! (I'm in Stanley, KS.) La Scaletta was actually my first choice when this all began. I do have a bad hip, though and was wondering if the stairs just might be too much, esp. after a long days of sightseeing. I get around OK, but it does become more uncomfortable as the day wears on. Even if I can get a room without too many stairs, what's it like to get to the rooftop? And did you have dinner up there or just go up for breakfast and/or to sit and enjoy the view?

La Scaletta has a lift but there are a few stairs up to the reception area. We did not eat at the rooftop restaurant only because the reception ladies told us where THEY go to eat with their families. They did recommend their rooftop restaurant but we only used it for drinks. It's an easy walk across the river to the main sights or to the adjacent Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. You might read Dan Brown's book, "Inferno" before you go since it is centered in Boboli, the Duomo, and Dante's church, a few blocks from La Scaletta. As a thank you, we bought "Inferno", the Italian version, in the bookstore a few doors from the hotel and gave it to Sara, one of the receptionists, for all of them to read. We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel but upon departure, we walked to the train station once we knew our way around. I'm 70 but walking the short distances in Florence was not a problem.

mr We stayed at Hotel Silla in 2012. Perfectly fine. Nice terrace for winding down. Its on the other side of river, but easy enough walk to the bridges. It is also close enough to walk up the hill to St Miniato.

This was 10 years ago, but we stayed at the Hotel Pitti Palace and didn't like it too much. The lobby smelled sewer-ish. The room was small and smelled of cigarettes. We asked to be moved to another room. Better smelling but still very small. Noisy at night with the window open, quiet if we kept it closed. Breakfast was good and in a nice room upstairs with a view of the Duomo. But still, I would not stay there again.

hi last year we took the advice and selected Katti House. The recommendation is past on. Their Via Nationale is the more recently renovated and also has a small lift in the building. Planning to stay again in 2015.

Hopefully you won't have a rental car during your stay in Florence.
If you're going to have a car during your stay there, let us know and further advice will be offered on hotel selection with a car in Florence vs. hotel selection without a car in Florence.

Kent--no, we won't have a car while in Florence. We'll be picking one up when we leave Florence as we head out to meet friends in Tuscany. We'll be picking the car up at the Hertz Sansovino office, if anyone has any comments on that location!

We recently picked at rental at Sansovino location we had reserved a "compact" automatic, etc and were assured by AutoEurope that our selection was confirmed and would be there for us. Unfortunately there were NO compact automatics left and we were there just minutes after the office opened. A party or 2 ahead of us got the last compacts, so our only choice for automatic was a small mini van! We were a bit upset to say the least have never even driven a mini van in the states but there was really no choice - it all worked our fine, we did not plan to drive " into" any hill towns ( stayed in Siena and Montepulciano but made sure parking and access was easy for our hotels). The staff at Sansovino was very nice and apologetic but there was not much they could do for us anyway.
We returned the car in Spoleto which was also very easy to find but happened to be a street market/ fair going on so even the employee at the Hertz office there had trouble parking returned car!

Good luck we are leaving Rome just now had a fabulous 3 weeks in Italy!

stan---I tried looking at Hotel Silla on booking.com for another review perspective, but booking. com is no longer an agent for the hotel (although they were when I began my hotel search). Any ideas why this would happen?

ChristineH---I can't wait to hear how your trip went! Many of your questions on this forum were my questions, too.

Hotels come off the booking.com site because they don't renew their contract, or booking.com removes them for serious complaints or non-compliance with their regulations. Booking.com has lots of good listings and some terrible ones, reviews can be useful.

mr-
Feel free to Private Message me if there is anything specific you want to ask about. Every single day of our trip was wonderful, everything went so smoothly, not a hiccup at all- (except the minivan!) but that all worked out fine anyway. We did Venice, Florence, then Tuscany- with car- Siena, Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, Bagno Vignoni, then to Assisi and train to Rome.
I do plan to write some hotel and tour reviews once I get unpacked, laundered and organized here. Nice to be home but I feel so sad that our trip is over. Not sure I could even say what town or experience was our favorite- all were wonderful and I know we will return to Italy.

Since the topic of this thread is hotels in Florence I will tell you we stayed at Hotel Calzaiuoli- just steps from the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio- loved it! Perfect location, great bkft, lovely spacious room, VERY comfy bed, friendly and helpful staff.