I'm going to Florence with 2 friends in April and would love to have a hotel recommendation. I looked into Hotel Cellai but the trip advisor board didn't think much of it. We've considered Rick Steve's picks (Bellettini, Accademia). Any comments or recommendations would be appreciated.

hotel casci, www.hotelcasci.com. there's lots of comments on this hotel here, just do a text search on it.

Check out Tourist House Ghiberti. Great small b&b. Stayed there in August. Was one of the gems of the trip!

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

Sally

Loved the Bellettini annex when we stayed there in '02. If you run a search here, you will find lots of details and description.

Pensione Brittania on the Arno...check it out

my wife and I stayed at the following:
www.relaiscavalcanti.com and we loved it. Beautiful rooms with great views, and the location was great, next to mercato nuovo.

Thanks everyone, you've been a big help. This is the first time I've used a message board. Grandmere, or anyone else, can you tell me if the Bellitini annex was convenient?

Hi Imd,

What's your budget?

What do you require in the way of amenities?

Hi Ira, there are 3 of us that are planning to share a room. We're thinking somewhere in the $100ish per person per night. We don't have specific amenities in mind yet, that may come. Safe and clean at this point. Thanks. lmd

The Bellettini (main bldg. and annex) was very convenient for seeing all the sights. Annex is just around the corner from the main building, which is probably just fine, but not as nice as the annex.

We stayed at the Hotel Alinari last Feb. One twin and one quad room. The quad room was quite large. Nothing fancy at all, but the 4 teenage girls sure loved all the space in the room. Can't remember the number of the room, but they were on the 2nd floor and we were on the 3rd. Also, the one young girl dropped a ring down the sink, and while we were out that day, they took the drain apart and retreived her ring. We were quite happy with the location and the staff. Booked it over the internet. Just two minutes from the train station.

Hi imd,

$300 per nite for a triple is a very generous budget.

See www.venere.com

I stayed at Hotel Bellettini in a triple room with two friends last October, it was in the annex and it was very nice. The room was big, furnishings nice (although there was lot of blue everywhere - wallpaper, drapes, bedspreads, etc.) and the bathroom with a large bathtub was the nicest on the trip. We had a large bed (two twins pushed together I think) and a chair that pulled out to a twin sized bed, I ddin't sleep on it but my friend said she was comfortable. As others mentioned, it was around the corner from the main building which wasn't a big deal and the general location was very convenient to all the sites. They also had a kettle with coffee, tea, etc. in the room which was really nice. I can't remember exactly how much we paid but know it was less than $200 per night.

I will "second" the recommendations in the first reply ... stayed at Hotel Casci in May and loved it! The location is good and the rooms fairly spacious (by European standards) and clean ... nothing fancy but the staff are absolutely wonderful! Friendly, helpful, and willing to do just about anything to make your stay memorable.