Planning our trip to Italy next year. We will be staying in Florence for 5 nights, for sightseeing and to use as a base for day trips to Siena and other locals.

Can you recommend a place to stay, in a good central location, quiet, and maybe close to public tramsport. There will be 2 of us DH & I.

I can think of 3:
Hotel Casci
Il Villino B&B
Tourist House Ghiberti

Good luck !

Thanks Bob I will check them out. Have you stayed in any of them?

I can second Bob's suggestion of Tourist House Ghiberti, but it would help to know your budget.

I was there in October 2010. I stayed south of the arno aka oltrarno. The rates here were cheaper and this area is quiet. I found the area around the Duomo to be a bit overwhelming and it was a welcome relief to get back to the "working class" neighborhood. This area is where the locals stay as well as eat, hence better home cooked food. I stayed at a B&B called Althea rooms. All rooms have computers, private bath and phone. The rooms are nothing fancy, but clean and comfortable. The owner Antonio, was the greatest and VERY helpful with any info. I think I paid about 55 euro/night. They also did not seem to be in a hurry to kick me out on departure. I was able to check out "when ever I felt like it" per Antonio
The neighboorhood is safe and fun and has an outdoor market every morning that sells fresh fruits and veggies. Lots of local mom and pop/non-touristy restaurants.
This is only a 15-20 min walk from SMN train station. Also within walking distance to EVERYWHERE!! Grocery stores in this area are also a LOT cheaper than the more central area.
Hope this helps

Our preferred budget is no more than 140euro per night. We like the more personal stays so that we can gather suggestions and ideas from our hosts and its nice to have that interaction.

Cheryl_2 your accommodation sounds good too. I will look it up, the price certainly sounds good. We don't mind staying around the Duomo. Just don't want to be woken in the night by noisy revellers.

Thanks all for your suggestions any other recommendations are appreciated

FWIW the following from accumulated notes gleaned from this forum and other sites -

http://www.florencegrandtour.com/index.php

http://www.laresidenzahotel.com/en/

http://residenzailmaggio.it/index_gb.htm

http://www.hotelcasci.com/

http://www.allorobb.it/

http://desiree.hotelinfirenze.com/

http://www.sanlorenzohotel.it/rooms.php

http://www.inpiazzadellasignoria.com...d_services.php

[no particular order & no personal experience of accommodation in Florence beyond the youth hostel at a villa on the outskirts in the 70s]

Thanks farrermog for taking the time to share these sites, I will check them out

I can recommend b&b Ninna Nanna, a few blocks north of the Duomo, very nice area. The b&b is run by a woman and her young son, friendly people, comfortable rooms, quiet back yard.

http://www.ninnanannabeb.it/

Aussie, My clients have stayed at each of these with good reviews.

I just checked out this morning from a wonderful small B&B near the Duomo called La Dimora degli Angeli. I highly recommend it.

http://www.ladimoradegliangeli.com/home.php

Sorry - here's a link to the website.

We stayed at the Relais Cavalcanti

http://www.relaiscavalcanti.com

We had a room overlooking the New Market. It was about 100E if you pay in cash. It was close to everything, and was quiet.
The women who run it are charming and helpful, and the room was spotless and spacious.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Wow - Thanks for all your recommendations I really appreciate it. I will investigate each one of them. Personal recommendations are always helpful.

This weekend we are off to Canberra our nations capital, where our son lives and we are going Hot Air Ballooning. Hope the weather is good!

We stayed at Hotel Casci in September. Nothing fancy but it's very clean and the staff is excellent and very helpful. It's about 2 blocks from the Duomo and and the large street market, can't remember the name right now. Make sure you take some time to go into the Mercato Centrale to check out the various food vendors there. We had some great sandwiches there which were very reasonably priced.

I can HIGHLY recommend the Hotel Casci. We have stayed FIVE times to date, it is the only place I will stay while in Firenze. The hotel is a small, family-run hotel, with excellent service by all the staff (Mom and Son are the proprietors with several others helping out). The place is NOT fancy or elaborate but for me, what was important was that it IS super-clean, comfortable, extremely service-oriented, a fabulous and large breakfast and in the middle of town, while still being quiet at night. Prices are quite fair as well. Enjoy your visit.

Thanks bayguy and Flames123, I looked at Hotel Casci it does look good and in a great location.. We like street markets and local food vendors.

Lots of great imput here and great of everyone to share

Hi,

My family and myself are going to Tuscany these coming Christmas holidays, and I always like to make a lot of research on accomodation to find the best at the most affordable price. Initially we were going to sleep in Florence, and I shortlisted to three B&B and small hotel:

Hotel L'Orologio - Opened in 2009
B&B la Dimorra del Centro - Opened in 2009
Residenza della Signoria - Opened in September 2008

All 3 of them are given a 4.5 or 5 (out of 5) rating by Tripadvisor. When I choose accomodation, I am a bit picky and would not select accomodation unless it was recently opened and it had high ratings. In the end we have opted to stay in Agriturismos in Tuscany, to get more personal attention and to get the true Tuscan feel. But I would definitely have chosen one of the above if we stayed in Tuscany. Hope my review helps. Enjoy your holiday, I am looking so much forward to mine, especially since we shall be visiting Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast.

Regards,

Anna

Florence visitors:
Check out this Facebook album. Photos 11 to 17 are the place we stay in Florence, the "Domus" unit at Residenza il Carmine :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...5&l=ab3d0aeb14

It is on the Oltrarno, about 10 minutes walk from the main sights on the "other" side. Closer still to the jewels of the Oltrarno: the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, Santo Spirito, Carmine church.

Quiet, safe neighbourhood. Immaculate apartment with daily cleaning, in a family-run enterprise -- someone from the family is always on site. They supply basic foodstuffs for your first breakfast -- small foodstore down the street, if you want to cook in the wonderful kitchen.

Large quiet garden -- French doors from your bedroom look out at a beautiful magnolia tree.

Well within Original Poster's price range.

This year, we decided to return to Florence JUST BECAUSE the apartment became available. No higher recommendation than that!!!

Anna thankyou for sharing your research of B&Bs in Florence they look very good and I will investigate them further over the weekend.

Tedgale thank you for the apartment recommendation which apartment did you stay in? BTW I have enjoyed reading your trip reports.