We will be staying in Florence for 2 nights, I wanted to see if anyone has experience with either of these hotels, they are between $150 - $200/night. I did research on TripAdvisor and came up with 5 in good locations and good reviews there...

1) Hotel Duilio

2) Hotel Alba Palace

3) Hotel Giglio

4) Hotel Alessandra

5) Hotel Eden

Or perhaps a recommendation for another one in that price range?

Thank you!!

Do you have links for these hotels? It's hard to suggest one in that price range without knowing the location and amenities of the ones you are interested in.

Yes of course - I actually created a google map with all of those hotels.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...,0.038624&z=15

Let me know if that works!

Hmmm ! Here is my list I have developed over the years and none of them match your list. Hope this helps:

BOB’S FAVORITE HOTELS IN FLORENCE

All are within :20 of most of the attractions. Prices are for a double:

SMALL B&Bs: Prices range from 90E to 180E—vary by season.

• www.touristhouseghiberti.com Lovely place near Duomo

• www.ilvillino.it Great people and best value in town

• www.florencegrandtour.com Newer B&B with good reviews

• www.bedinflorence.it Your budget option—only 65E

MID-RANGE HOTELS: Prices range from 150E to 300E by season

* www.hoteldavanzati.it Great location and amenities

• www.ortodeimedici.it Perfect location and lovely hotel

• www.hotelcasci.com Good family hotel in good location

• www.hotelsilla.it Nice oasis across the river away from noise


NICER HOTELS: Prices range from 180E to 350E by season

• www.hotel-pierre-florence.com Very central & lovely hotel

• www.hoteldelaville.it A Florence standard for nicer hotels

• www.monnalisa.it An elegant historical palace—Santa Croce

Thanks bob!

Relais Grand Tour "florencegrandtour.com" looks really nice.

By the way, would you say it is walkable from the train station to GrandTour ?

Great links!

I can recommend Hotel Casci. Family run, clean, free internet, about three blocks from the train station and about two blocks from the Duomo. Ask for discount if paying cash.

We`stayed a hotel David. Its about a 10 minute walk to the center of town,along the river. I'd stay there tomorrow. I don't know why this place is not #1 on trip advisor.

The better locations on your list are the Porcellino (that location might have noise at night) or Alessandro. Alba is also an OK location, but the rest are further than I prefer.

My hotel recommendation, from my travel notes:

"We took a short cab ride to the Relais Cavalcanti. a very charming little 'hotel', at Via Pellicceria, 2. It occupies one floor of a building located near the Uffizi gallery, in a very good central location. Because my daughter had just finished her semester in Florence, she was able to recommend her favorite location in town for lodging.

The Relais Cavalcanti building has been in the same family's ownership for 100+ years, the owner/manager of the new-ish Relais is Francesca. She said she inherited this one floor of the building, so she recently renovated it to create a little hotel. It's relatively new, with beautiful tile bathrooms, showers, etc. The rooms are very charming, and good-sized.

You have the feeling of entering a very nice, private Italian home, when you unlock the Relais door and smell the potpourri set out on the beautiful tables in the hallway and entry way. It has a small elevator and a/c, too. No breakfast is served, but even better I think is that they have a beautiful little dining room/kitchen that is open 24/7 for guests. You have always available the makings for coffee, hot chocolate and tea, plus containers of pre-wrapped pastries and dessert cakes. That's about as much as you get in any Italian B&B for breakfast, and this way you can serve yourself whenever.

One evening we bought wine, cheese, bread, and fruit and enjoyed our own private time in this beautiful room. The only thing to be aware of at Relais Cavalcanti is that the first floor of the building is the Old Stove Irish pub. The good news is that it's a decent little place for panini, and has free wi-fi. However, it attracts a lot of students and young people, so it is quite noisy into the early morning hours. Our room window was directly above the pub's patio, with a nice view of adjoining rooftops. The double windows, plus the wooden shutters, can block out about 90 percent of the noise from the pub below. I found that I could also turn on the a/c fan in our room, which would then totally cover any outside noise.

Francesca also cautions her prospective guests that she does not staff a 24/7 front desk. She is there during posted hours, mostly till 6 p.m., and has an emergency number on the door. But she is careful to tell guests that hers is not a hotel with full-services at night-time. I highly recommend the Relais Cavalcanti."

Mikailov,

We stayed at the Hotel la Scaletta last year and loved it! It is two blocks from the Point Vecchio (old Bridge) and has lot's of charm. The two decks on the roof are great. They have specials and I think we paid 120 euros cash.

They also have a sister hotel a block away which is cheaper.

Their website is http://www.hotellascaletta.it/

One warning: The names means Hotel of stairs and if you have any trouble with stairs, you won't like it!

Bob T

It would be a fair hike---about :15 from the station.

Great post PeaceOut - I have contacted Relais and may be finalizing my stay there.

PeaceOut or bobthenavigator:
Do you have any similar advice for Rome?

Here are my notes from three nights in Rome, in early May 2006:

"I took the hotel shuttle to the Domus Julia, a nice little B&B type hotel, just below the Barberini Palace and very near the Spanish Steps, at via Rasella 32.

For the price, I don't think you can beat Domus Julia. Its location is very convenient, first of all. The street it's on is smallish, so relatively quiet, and it leads up to the Barberini Palace. We walked easily to the Spanish Steps, which are especially close, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navonna, the Pantheon. We didn't make it to the Borghese, but I think it's really close, too.
We took the underground to the Vatican and the Colosseum, but I think we walked the entire way back, winding through different areas of Rome.

I did not see any rooms at Hotel Julia, of which Domus Julia is the 'apartment annex', but we checked in/out at the hotel's front desk and ate breakfast in the hotel's nice breakfast room. As someone else said, the breakfast buffet is more than just a hard roll and coffee. There are fresh boiled eggs, ham, croissants, juice, cappuccino, etc. You do have the services of the front desk, should you need them.

I don't recall if our room had air conditioning, honestly, as we didn't need it in May. The bathroom is a good size, nicely tiled, relatively new, with a shower/tub and bidet. The room had a safe, a simple slip-covered chair, and a large wardrobe/dresser. It was a room large enough for the two of us, easily, and was very clean and nicely-kept. The common area outside the room would have been convenient if we wanted to prepare a simple meal (but we didn't use it).

I would recommend the Domus Julia.

I got the price of 170EUR at Domus Julia through venere.com, which was a good rate. But I wish I'd gone directly to the hotel itself, because I later found a 10 percent discount coupon. But the hotel couldn't honor it, since I'd booked through venere.
I can't remember exactly where I found the coupon, but it was offered through Virtual Tourist."

We stayed at Hotel Alba Palace last month (just submitted a review and pictures on tripadvisor) and highly recommend it.

Hotel Savoy in Piazza Repubblica--Thin's favourite hotel in Florence.

Helvetia e Bristol

Plaza Lucchesi--but only if the room has a view of the Arno. The walls are paper thin, however.

Thin

In Rome:
Hotel Lancelot
Hotel San Carlo
Hotel Smeraldo
Nicolas Inn[ B&B]