Which side of the Arno?

Hi Paul, I am far from being an expert, but just wanted to share our experience: In Florence on our RS tour, we stayed at Hotel Silla in Oltrarno. It was very nice and not far to the Ponte Vecchio. The walk to the other areas of town were not too far as well. A nice pizzaria is within a couple blocks. If you can, try to check out Rick's book on Italy, as he has very good suggestions and descriptions. Happy travels!
Ruth

A few years ago we stayed at Hotel Bretagna right on the Arno near Ponte Trinita (one bridge down from Ponte Vecchio. It was within walking distance to most sights, restaurants, etc. and you could easily cross the bridge to Oltrarno. You can check it out and read reviews on booking.com. We were there five nights and enjoyed our stay there.

We love Florence. But, no I wouldn't recommend one neighborhood near the center for another. The streets are all narrow and fun to walk. However it does get hilly on the south side of the Arno and that might get you some views on the walk in. I would use Google Maps to see how close restaurants and bars are. Hotels near restaurants with street dining can be noisy. We tend toward the area around Santa Maria Novella because you don't have to walk far from the train station and it's still near the center of all things touristy.

Since you will be there for a prolonged period of time, have you considered an apartment? I think you wil be much more comfortable having some room to spread out, as opposed to a small hotel room. If you are interested in an apartment I'm sure there are people here who can possibly recommend a specific place. I use vrbo.om and homeaway.com to find apartments.

Yes, we are going to rent an apartment. I have a half a dozen landlords on hold. ;) And since we are going to be there for an extended period of time--we do almost all of our vactions one month one city style--we are almost asking which would be the best neighborhood to live in permanently. I have looked on the map, but so many of the streets seem long and narrow, it is hard to tell what differentiates the neighborhoods at the day to day level. We don't need a landmark in our neighborhood since we will be systematically exploring those. I heard that the Oltrarno has the best affordable restaurants, so I am leaning towards choosing a place there. What we would really like is a neighborhood that is lively and charming at night. We don't want to walk home after a long day out only to find long dark empty streets. I am starting to think that very few locals actually live within 3km of the Duomo.

From my all-too-brief experiences in Florence, the "other" side of the Arno is cheaper - grocery stores, restaurants, and the atmosphere is more residential, not so many tourists.

Paul, There really aren't many natives living in the tourist area anymore, but the streets don't get really empty at night. There are too many restaurants and bars for that. We stayed in a nice apartment for a week in June that was on the third floor above a quiet street between the Santa Mario Novello Plazza and the Ponte Carraia. That's just a hair outside the main tourist area but still charming and the restaurants and groceries are a little cheaper there and just across the Arno. I'll PM you with a link.

We loved, loved, loved our stay on Piazza della Passera (Oltrarno). I would choose that side over Santa Croce.

We decided upon what looks like a stunning yet reasonably priced one bedroom in the hills of the Oltrarno about 2km from the river. We don't mind the walk since we will be there for a while.

We stayed at the Hotel Hermitage. 3 stars, nice, speaks English, you can see the Arno and Ponte Vecchio. Great location next to the Uffizi.

I love the Santa Croce area, particularly a bit to the northeast of the church. I prefer the Sant'Ambrogio market to San Lorenzo, there is a large post office, a large Billa supermarket and a ton of restaurants of all descriptions in the area. There are also a couple of "fill your own bottle" wine stores in the area. There are still a lot of local people frequenting the area particularly around the piazza Sant'Ambrogio and I like walking along Borgo la Croce out to Piazza Beccaria - lots of little shops. If you are there for the better part of a month it's nice to go to some smaller vendors regularly so you begin to be treated like a regular and I find the vendors in Sant'Ambrogio market are really good about this - especially the fresh pasta vendor.