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which place to stay in Siena...

Any advice would be appreciated: trying to decide which hotel, the Hotel Athena
closer in or the quaint Hotel Palazzo di Valli? Both are interesting. My husband and
I do enjoy walking. Thank you in advance!

Posted by
388 posts

Unfortunately since we don't cover either of these hotels in our guidebooks, we haven't visited them. We can't say which one is better, but you might try going to trip advisor to see what others have said about it. Sorry we couldn't help more.

Posted by
5953 posts

Jennifer-
I have no experience with either (our first Italy trip is in Sept) but we did consider both of those places.
They were on our list because we will have a car while in Siena and we wanted easy parking/access.

If you will have a car and need parking then these are the things I noted-
Athena is a bit closer to town- some of the reviews mention a bit of difficulty parking and I believe it is inside the walls thus inside ZTL? That was a concern for us.
It is also a very steep uphill climb into town that sort of put me off- I know we will be walking up plenty of hills- but starting out each venture with a climb was not appealing!
If you are looking at standard rooms there - it sounded like those were dark, no view, lower floor, etc. There was no guarantee that you would get a view or terrace if you booked an upgraded room either.

Palazzo di Valli- seemed like a very charming place to us. Parking/access with car seemed easier/less stressful. We liked that it was a bit further from the center- although still very close/walking distance and had space/gardens around it. And the walk to/from the center was more level.

Again- no idea what either is really like but those were the notes I had.
If you are only looking for 1 night - it probably doesn't matter. For a longer stay my preference would be Palazza di Valli.
If car was not as issue we would have stayed right in town!