Florence-Siena Info
 

I'm planning a trip with friends to Italy in May 2005. We want to spend some time in Florence-Tuscany region. Does anyone know any nice, relatively inexpensive hotels to stay in Florence? Also, has anyone rented a car to drive in and around Tuscany? We were thinking it might be nice to drive from Florence to Siena and make stops along the way..any suggestions???

You can get a nice room for a good price at Soggiorno Antica Torre. Helpful management and an unbeatable location. Downside is one LONG flight of steps and one short one before elevator. It is a B&B and not a hotel but many of the better priced accomodations are in Florence.

Also, Hotel Rosary Garden is very pleasant with a great staff and a wonderful location out of the tourist fray; a sound choice if you don't mind walking a bit to have a nice accomodation at a very fair price.

Hi colo,

I can highly recommend the B&B Peterson if you are looking for clean, basic accomodation in a safe neighborhood not far from the train station.

www.bedinflorence.it

When we stayed in Florence we looked for hotels on www.venere.com, found a few good prices / possibilities and then went looking at the specific websites for the hotels that seemed to be in our range / location. Finally settled on Hotel Calzaiuoli (on street of same name, between the Duomo and Uffizi). We were dealing with three people, and so it was more difficult to find a "good rate". For us that meant 150 euros per night at the Calzaiuoli. It was nice, clean, decent breakfast, and in a perfect location to tour Florence.

Depending on your time I might consider staying in Florence for a few days and then in Tuscany (Siena or other towns) for a couple of days. You will not want or need a car in Florence, but it is the only way to get around the rest of Tuscany. We have stayed in Siena and San Gigminano on two different occasions, and found having a car to be the best way to go. We loved traveling in the area, so much to see, and great places to visit along the way. Siena is a good sized town, and makes a great "jumping off point" for the rest of Tuscany.

If you do decide to go with a car, unless you want to pay big bucks, plan on going with a standard transmission rather than an automatic. And get a car that runs on diesel, it will be much cheaper in the long run. We got our cars at www.autoeurope.com. They are a consolidator for other car agencies, like Avis or Hertz, we have had pretty good luck on prices with them.

When touring in Tuscany I would work my way to Siena along the "Chianti road" stopping along the way at some of the small towns like Radda.

I stayed at the Hotel Desire in Florence last summer and would recommend it. It's one block away from the train station but on a very quiet street, and I walked everywhere from there. It's listed on several itnernet booking sites, and often with different prices. I found the cheapest price and then emailed the hotel directly and they gave me that price.

How much time do you have for the trip? If you have a week or so PLUS whatever time you want to spend in Florence then I think a car is the way to go. I have driven in Tuscany and it's quite easy. But if you only have a few days (plus Florence) then you could consider trains/buses. For example, I took a bus from Florence to Siena one day, and a train to Lucca and Pisa another day. Very easy and VERY inexpensive (compared to a car - although with several people to share the cost of the car it becomes less so). There is definitly something to be said for the experience of spending the night in various towns to see them after the day-trippers leave (especially San Gimigano). There is also something to be said for staying put in one hotel (e.g. in Florence) the whole time and not having to move. I think it depends on amount of time you have.