Planning a (first time) summer visit to Florence, and surrounding areas. Looking for hotel recommendations - clean!, nice, good location, doesn't have to be too posh. Which areas of Florence do you recommend? Is it worth it, and nice to stay near the river?<BR><BR>Please advise.<BR><BR>SD

We just returned from Italy and stayed at the Morandi alla Crocetta hotel in Florence. It is in a very quiet location just around the corner from the Accademia and about two blocks from the Duomo. There is a small piazza right near the hotel where they were having free jazz concerts in the evenings when we were there. There are many local restaurants nearby and one of our favorites was La Giostra. This was the only hotel, though, where breakfast was not included in the rate, but since there were many little coffee bars nearby, we opted not to have breakfast at the hotel. We really liked this hotel and would definitely stay there again. The areas near the river seemed very crowded and hectic, IMO.

We stayed in Hotel Mona Lisa last spring. It’s a remodeled 16 century mansion. It was absolutely lovely, few blocks from Duomo. One important thing in any hotel in Florence — request a room facing the courtyard, not the street. The scooters on the streets make terrible noise very late.

Just returned from Italy. We stayed at the Hotel Calziuoli--midway between the Duomo and the Uffizi. Wonderful location and only a half block from the wonderful gelato at the Coronas Cafe. The hotel room (we had a triple) was one of the nicest we had on our three week trip--bright, large, and beautifully decorated. The staff was okay, though not overly friendly. All in all, I would very much recommend this hotel.

Sonja,<BR><BR>We also stayed at the Mona Lisa when we were in Florence. We stayed in June of this year. I totally recommend it. Great location and the rooms are all totally different. The room we stayed in had the elevator go directly to the room...

This topic has been written about to death, you might want to search on it. Also, check out the hotel section of Fodor's. Florence is small, location does not matter much. <BR><BR>My all time favorite hotel is Beacci Tornabuoni. I think it's the best hotel I have ever stayed at. I would highly recommend it. And while location is not very important in Florence it is the best location. It also get's the highest review ratings in the rants and raves section of Fodor's<BR><BR>http://www.bthotel.it/inglese/inglese.htm<BR><BR>Beth<BR><BR>

We stayed at Mona Lisa too! Loved it. I think we had room 24? One flight up and to the right. Little vestibule, modern bath, huge room with high beamed ceiling, king size bed, goreous furniture.

Hotel Vasari, 3 star. Opposite to the Railway Station. Clean with air-condition.

Hotel Casci. It's an immaculate 2* hotel run by a lovely family. It also has a very nice breakfast. www.hotelcasci.com