Florence & Siena

we just got back, and I was not a big fan of Florence (too tired out from other big cities and so many churches and museums, I guess... we much preferred Siena when we day tripped there) Having said that: we had booked Hotel Albani Firenze in Flo. through booking.com so got fairly reasonable rates. You could look for a deal directly on hotel website. It's a 4 star, so still expensive, but by far the nicest place we stayed in Italy. Staff was great. I took a tumble on the very rough city pavement and got injured..they were extremely solicitous. Big and good breakfast that incl usual breakfast foods plus salad and sandwich fixings. 3 hrs span for breakfast makes flex schedule easy. See if you can get a 4th floor room w terrace overlooking city streets, hills, and duomo. 5 min. fr train and bus station.
Favorite places in Florence: south side of the river. walk up to Piazza Michelangelo, then visit San Miniato (uphill)..terrific...and then below Piazza to Folon rose garden. Very restful and beautiful views of city, hills, ancient walls. Great break from noise and congestion of city.

We stayed at Albergo Bernini in Siena and B & B Il Bargello in Florence, both are Rick recommendations, and we enjoyed both places very much. Good locations, good price, and good hospitality. We walked to B & B Il Bargello from the train station in Florence, but hired a cab to take us in Siena. It was late when we got in after a train strike, but we were told it's about a 20 minute walk from the station.

Shelley,
How long will you be there? When? I've been to both several times and most recently this past spring but like the previous poster, not a huge fan of Florence. It's not my thing but don't let others keep you from making it base if it's a dream of yours. I'll help you where I can outside of the RS guide where possible. I'm the type that stays a week in 1 place so if you need some specifics, PM me. Glad to share what I know/don't know. Just FYI , the train station in Siena is a lot closer to the old town now via a shopping center across the street. It's weird. You take several escalators and you are downtown.

Shelley, I've been to both Florence and Siena many times, and I always prefer one to the other. This last trip (June 2011) it was a toss-up. I'll leave hotel accommodations to other posters, but for things to see, in addition to what's already been suggested, consider the Museum of San Marco in Florence (beautiful frescoes by Fra Angelico in each of the friars' cells in a former convent), the Accademia Museum (go to the upstairs painting galleries in addition to the Michelangelo sculptures in the main hall), and the Bargello museum. The Museo dell' Opere del Duomo for the many works that won't fit inside the Cathedral anymore. As a home base, you can take a nice day trip (by bus) to Arezzo and Sansepolcro, or go into Chianti country (hotels can arrange tours or you can just go to a nearby town like Montepulciano or Montalcino on your own). The little town of Fiesole right near Florence is also beautiful. In Siena, there's a lot to do as well - just wandering the city streets is a great way to see the city. There's a small walled town called Monteriggione just a short way from Siena.

A few years ago we stayed at Mario's Hotel (orB&B) about a block from the train station and it was delightful. Upstairs on a small, quiet back street. (Of course we arrived on the day of a general strike, so couldn't take the train from Rome after all our planning!) Florence is my all-time favorite place. We stayed a week there a couple of years ago in an apartment and still didn't see everything we wanted to.

it's fun and amazing to see how different our preferences can be. To clarify my previous remark about Florence: we may have liked it better had we seen it at beginning of trip. We got there after 14 days in Italy, most spent in Venice and Rome, which we loved. We were getting tired. we love art and architecture and had already visited tons of museums and churches, all wonderful. While in Florence, we did go to the Ufizzi and Accademia, but I think we were just museumed-out by then. All the congestion everywhere just got to us. Not having done my homework on this due to some rushed, last minute planning, I thought Florence would be this charming little light-filled medieval town where we could relax a bit..Wrong! It has almost 1/2 million people + loads of tourists. Several friends had told us Florence was their favorite city, so we were expecting something different. So-lesson learned, and we will remember it when we plan our next trip: The timing of the visit probably matters. BTW: we were limited to bus and train, so took bus to Siena. We took the "slow" one because it was timed right on a Sunday. It's only 20 min longer than the fast one. Ride was beautiful and comfortable. That day trip was just about our best time in the area. We thought the Duomo in Siena was far more beautiful and interesting than the famous one in Florence. Chacun au son gout! (sp?)
Have a great trip.

First of all, let me come clean that I am a true and unabashed Florence lover. We stayed at a wonderful place there, Hotel dei Macchiaioli, that was a couple of blocks north of the Baptistry (also an easy walk from the train station). It was also a couple of blocks away from San Marco and the Academia. The location was great as was the staff. Siena is also gorgeous, but the train station is not centrally located. There is a central location (Piazza Gramsci) where the buses come in, and if you are walking, that may be the best option (cabs can be extremely hard to find, as I found out first hand). I would suggest staying in the city center and not making the mistake we made of staying outside of the city walls, as the local bus service can be terribly undependable (and stops running most routes at 8PM).

In Florence we stayed at Hotel Britannia, about a ten minute walk from the train station. It's on the Arno near Ponte Trinita and in walking distance to most sights. In Siena we stayed at Canon d'Oro, a five minute walk from the bus stop. Also in walking distance to most sights. We took the bus from Rome to Siena and the bus from Siena to Florence. In Florence the bus and train stations are next to each other. From Florence we took the train to Rome so the transportation and hotels worked out well. Both hotels mentioned are in historic buildings and very enjoyable.

Just came back from 11 days in ItalyFlorence and Rome. Went with my sister to visit her daughter who is studying in Rome for semester. Florence was just a two- night weekend trip as we had apt. rented in Rome and my niece had classes during the week. I usually like to rent apartments but for just two nights it didn't make sense so we stayed at Hotel Accademia which is just an easy ten minute walk from the train station. We had a nice, big triple room (150 Euros, includ. breakfast) and the location was fabulous. Medici Chapels were a few steps from the hotel door. Would stay here again for a short visit. Our train back to Rome didn't leave until 8:40 p.m. Sun. and they kindly stored our bags for us. We had all been to Florence before (and love it) and I had been to Siena several times but my niece and sister had not so we took bus to Siena for the day on Sat., which is an easy daytrip. I like Siena but don't love it like many people do but if you have not been you should go. I would choose a daytrip to Luca, which I visited in Sept. '10 with my husband, which is lovely. (we had all been to Pisa already) On a 5 night stay to Florence in 2009 we rented an apartment through vrbo.com in Oltrarno neighborhood which was very nice.