Florence
 

Me and my partner will be traveling to italy for the first time in October. Three nights will be spent in Florence. Can anyone suggest a nice inexpensive place to stay? Places to eat? Also...is there enough to do in Florence for 3 days or should we rent a car and fit in a day trip to another city and just make Flornce our homebase for the 3 days. ?? help

I think 3 full days is perfect for exploring Florence for the first time. I personally wouldn't take day trips - there is so much to absorb in this wonderful city.

I've stayed twice at the Hotel Medici which is a 2 star hotel and perfectly located just a couple of blocks to the side of the Duomo. They have a rooftop terrace with views of the Duomo that are breathtaking. Trip Advisor offers up excellent reviews for this hotel as well as poor ones. I love this place and have had great experiences. www.hotelmedici.it

Hotel Galileo in Florence, Via Nazionale, 22a phone 055-496645. Small, clean, friendly staff. We stayed two nights before embarking onto Venice!

Hotel La Colomba in Via Cavour, close to all the important sights, clean, wonderful breakfast, and wonderful staff.

We really enjoy these apartments:
http://www.residenzailcarmine.com/e_1.htm

These apartments are located in the Oltarno and are a very quick walk across the bridge to all the sights.

We stayed here 2 summers ago for 3 nights and we are returning for 4 nights this coming July.

One of our favorite places we stayed on our trip last October was Hotel Casci on Via Cavour. All excellent revies on TripAdvisor, by the way. It is family owned/operated and is in a building where the Medicis once resided:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...e_Tuscany.html

PS Try dinner at Semidivino (Pierpaulo will make you reservations. It was our favorite meal of the entire trip!)

PPS It was quite cold while we were there 15th-27th October. Italians are not allowed to turn on the heat until November 4th. So, do come prepared with warm stuff to sleep in. :)

Tourist House Ghiberti (google the name) always seems to get very good reviews.

Anna Roz

We stayed at the A Teatro B&B. Very nice location. Huge rooms.

Florence has more than enough to see/do to fill 3 days. I would plan on staying there with the option of taking a day trip by public transportation if for some reason you find you want to leave the city.
Fiesole, basically a suburb of Florence (25 minutes by bus), is an especially easy trip. It has Roman ruins, a beautiful Franciscan convent and great views of Florence.

I'll second Tourist House Ghiberti. We ate at Zio Gigi twice...right around the corner from Ghiberti which was wonderful as we came back exhausted every day!

http://www.touristhouseghiberti.com/eng/01-home.html

Hi C,

>a nice inexpensive place to stay?
www.bedinflorence.it

>is there enough to do in Florence for 3 days

Yup.

See my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Thumbs up for Zio Gigi. Small place, good food at reasonable prices, friendly service, lots of locals there.

If you plan your time wisely, you can see much of Florence in 2 days. Then take a bus to Sienna for a day trip.

The bus station in Florence is next to the train station. The trip takes maybe 1 hour and 20 minutes (faster than the train) and you will be left in the city central in Sienna.

The cathedral is huge, and climbing the campanile at Piazza del Campo is an experience. When we were there, one of the contrades was parading through the city in preparation for the Palio. One of those memories I won't forget.