amrach

I am confused on which hotel to stay at in Florence. Anyone have any advice for me? It is our honeymoon and originally I wanted to stay at the Grand but I don't know if I should pay the $$$$ for the smallest room available when there are other options?? The other hotels I like besides the Grand are:
Westin Excelsior
Hotel Pierre
Plaza Lucchesi
Grand Hotel Villa Medici (it has a pool)
Hotel Regency
Palazzo Magnani Feroni
Thanks!

travel_gal

We stayed at the Excelsior and we had a lovely room facing the Arno. The room and the bathroom were quite large.

MWL

We recently stayed at Villa Montartino, over the Arno and about 5 miles from downtown Florence. (Taxi for two about 8-10 euros one way to downtown Florence). They have a website. The rooms are beautiful; the villa is in a vineyard in the hills. There is a separate building with a jacuzzi and steamroom; a separate building with free internet access; an outdoor pool; and, of course, a wonderful breakfast on the patio overlooking the hills. The owners and staff are wonderful. I highly recommend it.

Anne27

I recently stayed at the Villa Medici and except for the fact that I think someone stole my jewelry case from my luggage which was checked in their storage room on the last day, the hotel was great. The room was large and quiet; buffet breakfast which was inclued in the price was very good. And yes, the pool seemed lovely although we did not use it as it was too cold in April. The staff was most helpful and it is within walking distance of everything. And the management has said that they will reimburse me for the stolen items. We made our reervation for the hotel through Hotel Reservation Service which is part of Deutsche Bahn ( German rail system)and paid 235 euro which is a good price for that hotel.

gshlaw

Check out the Hotel Monna Lisa. Incredibly gorgeous -- filled with antiques, beautiful enclosed private courtyard/garden, lovely dining room -- you can find it on the web & check out pics, rates, etc. For my money, I'd much prefer a smaller hotel, more intimate and with more individual personality.

Cicerone

I don?t think you could go wrong with the Westin Excelsior or the Plaza Lucchesi, but do ask about room size. Anything less than 25 square meters is small for two people, and really between 25-30 is OK but not roomy. Room size in Europe is much smaller.

I can add one more hotel to your list in the same or slightly lower price range: the Lugarno Suites. I stayed there about two weeks ago. It is right on the Arno with great views of the Ponte Vecchio (its about 50 feet from the bridge) and up toward the Piazzle Michelangelo. It is an all-suite hotel, each room has a living room, a open galley kitchen and a bedroom. The suites are 60 meters which are very large. The rooms on the upper floors have balconies and it is great to have breakfast on your terrace, or come back at sunset (glorious views at sunset) and have drinks before heading out. The bathrooms in the rooms with balconies are a bit small, IMO, but the view, room size, etc made up for it. It is a very modern hotel in terms of design, so if you are looking for old world charm, this would not be for you. (But you might consider the Hotel Lungarno across the river, the sister hotel to the Lungarno Suites. My problem with that hotel is that even the largest junior suites are only 32 square meters.) We paid €530 a night, including breakfast and taxes. I would definitely stay there again.

Info on Lugarno Suites:
Lungarno Suites
Lungarno Acciaiuoli, 4
Florence 50123
Italy
Tel: +39 055 2726 8000
Fax: +39 055 2726 8888
Lungarnohotels.com

The hotel is owned by Ferrogamo, which owns 3 other hotels in the same vicinity, you can see them on the above website. The hotel was featured in the March issue of Architectural Digest, we had the room pictured in the article.

The Grand Hotel Villa Medici is not in a great neighbourhood in terms of location and charm, and I hear from people that the rooms are a little run down.

The Regency does not generally get good reviews.

Cicerone

Sorry, one more hotel for you to consider. ( I am kind of a room size freak and have done a lot of research on this in many European cities.) The hotel below was a very close second choice, but in the end the river location won out. The rooms are very large, even the doubles are 35 square meters, and they have junior suites of 55 square meters and a roof top suite of something life 70 square meters. Prices were a bit lower than the Lungarno. The hotel is brand new (about a year old) and looks very modern and elegant. It looks onto Santa Maria Novella.

JK Place
Piazza Santa Maria Novella 7
Tel.+39 055 26.45.181
Fax.+39 055 26.58.387
jkplace.com
slh.com

It is the number 5 hotel out of 371 in Tripadvisor

Vicky

I was in the Westin Excelsior (to use the bathroom!!) in March. Of course I did not see any rooms, but the public areas were very elegant, hushed quiet (and the ladies room was gorgeous!). I would definitely stay there if I wanted an elegant experience. My brother and I stayed at the park Palace x the river in a lovely residential section (took the bus to town - bus stop right out front of hotel. We paid about 105 euros for double room. Hotel was nice but inconvenient to go back out at night when we were tired - it was like - do we really want the ordeal of the bus ride to go find dinner...

amrach

Thanks for all of your help. I was wondering more about a few of the hotels mentioned. Is it better to stay in Florence?? We will want to eat and shop and take in the sights and maybe see a museum, but we are not huge art fanatics. There were two other hotels I originally liked as well (Villa La Masa and Villa Cora) but thought they may be too far away. Any thoughts?
I think my favorites so far for the price are Villa Montartino and Excelsior and Palazzo Magnani Feroni.
MWL--Was there a bus into town from Villa Montartino? Is the public transportation safe in Florence? Were there restaurants, etc, within walking distance of the hotel?
Cicerone--Lungarno looks great but the price is much higher than others. Also, what have you heard about the area around Villa Medici. I like that hotel as well, but I have read another review that said it was a bad location.

mjs

I too would recommend the Lungarno Suites. Lots of room, we had 2 separate bathrooms of good size with a bath in one and a large shower that worked wonderfully in the other. Breakfast and newspaper served in your room in the morning.
Modern and clean in new Italian style. Would stay there again although we paid much less than E530, especially as the dollar at the time was about .87 to the Euro.

elsiejune

I stayed at the Westin Exclesior in March and had a fabulous experience. The hotel is very elegant, room size was good, bathroom was deluxe, the staff was very helpful. I thought the location was ideal. Set on a scenic square along the banks of the Arno, the Excelsior is removed from the main hustle & bustle of Florence, but within walking distance to all the wonderful sights.