Please sign in to post.

Where to stay in Florence ( and Lucca too!)

Posted by (Franklin, Tennessee) on

Can I get some recommendations for a good area to stay in an Airbnb, VRBO, etc., in Florence ?
It is the third city of four where we will be staying (Rome, Lucca, Florence and Venice). We will be arriving by train there after three nights in Lucca. Our tastes run to quieter, less busy locations. Example, in Rome, we will be staying in Trastevere as we have done once before.

Also, any suggestions for an Airbnb, VRBO or hotel in Lucca for three nights would be appreciated. It will serve as a launching of place for day trips to Pisa and Cinque Terre. We also are considering two nights in Lucca and one night in La Spezia.
Thank-you!

Posted by
16 posts

Not sure of your dates but we are presently staying at the MyFlorenceHolidayGoldBridge apartments. The place is very nice and not too noisy. It is located on the Oltrano side. We are a stones throw from the Ponte Vecchio. Easy access to pretty much everything.
From the train station it would be about a 15-20 minute walk.
We booked our stay on Booking.com.
Our stay is lengthy. We are booked for 12 days and cost was just over $2k.
Hope this helps?

Posted by
274 posts

In Florence, definitely the Oltrarno neighborhood. It is across the river, so is generally less touristy, but still convenient to the major sights and museums.

Last summer we were in Florence twice (it's my favorite city in the entire world), and stayed at two separate Airbnbs:

May 2022: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/38644728?sourceimpressionid=p31680983077SJWbei9tx6KqKwaq
This is further away from the river, deeper into the Oltrarno. It's about a 20 minute walk to the Duomo. The street itself is busier, and there might be some street noise (mainly noisy motorbikes) when the window's open, but we couldn't hear anything with the windows closed (unit has AC).

August 2022: [https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/31895857?source_impression_id=p3_1680983096_mFpE%2FaCfrBaPdD2o][2]
This is one of the nicer Airbnbs I've stayed at, and it's on a very quiet, secluded street. It's much closer to the river and the Ponte Vecchio, so it's about a 15 minute walk to the Duomo.

Both of these places are about a 25-30 minute walk from the train station, but it's very easy to arrange for a cab. If memory serves, our fare from both places to the train station (with 1 piece of carry-on size luggage per person) was about 15-20 euros.

Posted by
202 posts

I can HIGHLY recommend the AirBnB we stayed at in Lucca. It is called "Taste of Lucca, a charming modern apartment" (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/49927602). We stayed for 8 nights last May and our visit was just wonderful. I could live in this apartment for the rest of my life and be quite happy. Clean, stylish, comfortable, high quality finishes and furniture, great AC, all new appliances and an easy to use washer and dryer! TV was a SMART TV so we could watch Netflix in english. Great lighting, sound system, and an amazing amount of storage. The husband and wife hosts are also kind and helpful. They provide printed materials and brochures for tourist sites and restaurant recommendations. The apartment was recently completely remodeled and they did not scrimp on quality. One thing to mention is that you must climb 3 flights (if I recall correctly) to reach the unit. But the stairs are not steep, and very easy to maneuver. Even a sixty year old with a bad hip managed fine! We would stay here again in a heartbeat if we were ever back in Lucca.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.