We'll be in Florence for 5 days in October. Please help with the names of a couple of hotels. Convenient to car rental, own bathroom, not necessarily the most frugal, but not the most expensive. any savings can be spent on good food & wine. Thanks.

We met our daughter,son-in law and grandchildren last month for a week in Florence. The Hotel Casci on Via Cavour was convenient to all the sites and the train station. We trained to Venice for an overnight trip, took day trips to Pisa and Lucca and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The hotel is not fancy, but rooms were spacious and clean, the family owners gracious and helpful. Consider buying your museum passes on line at the website, weekendafirenze. It saved a great deal of time with reservations to the Uffizi and other galleries.

We stayed at Hotel Belletini, Via dei Conti 7. It was very nice, clean, with friendly staff, and conveniently located near the Duomo and a 10 minute walk from the train station, where the car rental offices are located. Also near many good restaurants. Enjoy the food and definitely reserve museum tickets in advance. <BR>

We stayed at Sogiorno Battistero right on the Piazza at the Duomo. It was a nice homey pensione...great location, great price, nice breakfast served in the room. Owners are a young American woman and her Italian husband who were very helpful and the views to the Piazza down below were great. Only drawback..3rd floor, no elevator. Don't worry about being close to car rentals if car rental is near the train station...the train station area of most cities, Florence included is a bit seedy and actually quite close. I think the cab fare was less than $10, including luggage. It's better to be close to the sights as you'll do alot of walking in Florence. The nicest central area locations, in my opinion, are: near Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Della Repubblica, Piazza della Signoria, or on the Piazza Del Duomo.

check out the hotel Martelli, well located and very nice at a reasonable price. <BR>http://www.travelvantage.com/hotel/ <BR>italy/flo_martelli.html

We also enjoyed the Casci. It also includes an excellent breakfast buffet. There is another small hotel across from the Casci called Europa that is supposed to be very similar. Also family run.

<BR>We stayed at the Hotel Nueva Italia -- you can probably grab the number/email from Fodors.com or Frommers.com. <BR> <BR>It was fairly cheap, the rooms were adequate/w bathroom. No elevator so Americans with Large suitcases beware! <BR>The best thing about the place is the central location. It's a block & a half from the train station and right off the markets. About 2 blocks from the Duomo.

We just got back - stayed 2 nights at Hotel Casci (pronounced Cash-ee BTW!) The location couldn't be better. They are very nice people. (This was during our 25th anniversary present trip and they had a bottle of sparkling wine on ice waiting in our room!) Only flaw was that there wasn't much hot water...but it wasn't so bad it was a problem for us. Consider renting a car at the Florence airport -- driving in Florence (we used Hotel Casci's valet service, and left it parked until we left) is terrifying!