I'm questioning my decision on where to stay in Florence during our upcoming trip (this June). We are booked at the Hilton Florence Metropole, which is free (hilton points) but located outside of the city. This would require frequent taxi rides into and from the city (which quote from 15 to 25 dollars each way). I'm wondering if we should just stay within the city. We are newbies at travel and very nervous about the whole thing...especially dealing with taxi drivers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, stay in the city. It's not just the money lost to taxis but also the time. What would be your budget if you had to pay?

Location. Location. Location. Stay as central as you can, because that's where you'll want to be.

We would love to find something under 200 dollars, but we are probably willing to go up $300. Any suggestions.... especially since our trip is about 8 weeks away.

www.venere.com

Stay in the city; the taxis will be quite inconvenient and Florence is a wonderfully atmospheric place to just wander around in.

Do a search here for Florence hotels; I'd recommend one, but the places I've stayed are well beneath your budget. Off the top of my head, some family members stayed at the J and J last fall and liked it.
http://jandj.hotelinfirenze.com/

Hi K,

You can stay at the Hilton for free, yet you are willing to pay $300/day in order to save $50/day?

Have you asked the Hilton about buses near the hotel?

Also ask about the Hilton Garden Inn.

Hi!
I do agree with the previous post. Why complain about 20+dollars in taxi fare when the hotel is free....Maybe it just comes down to my worry of the constant need to takes taxi's or buses into the city. We have decided to stay in the city, but my husband said my thoughts of 200-300 dollars wasn't going to happen. So, if anyone has any suggestions for lodging aroung 150 dollars, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, has anyone stayed at Relais Grand Tour??
Thanks

While I am generally an advocate for staying in the city centre, for a free hotel versus small taxi fees, I agree with the others that I would go with the free hotel and spend the saved money on good meals and/or a rental car to explore the countryside. Also, I looked on the hotel’s website, and they have a FREE SHUTTLE BUS INTO FLORENCE, so that would be one way of avoiding taxi charges. Also, there may be some days when you don’t want to go into Florence, but just want to walk or bike in the wonderful countryside, or take a rental car out and to further afield to places like Sienna. Thirdly, it’s only 3 miles into Florence from the hotel, so you could easily walk it or go in by bicycle, again saving taxi fees.

It will be light until quite late in June evenings, so you can stay for dinner and later in Florence and take a taxi home or bike back in the early evening (you probably will find quite good non-touristly inexpensive retaurants in the neighborhood of the hotel is my guess as it is outside Florence). I would not be concerned about dealing with taxi drivers in Florence, I have not found them to be prone to cheat on fares, and also their level of English is very good.

There is a very good walking guide to Tuscany published by Sunflower books. Their website is http://www.sunflowerbooks.co.uk. They rate hikes by difficulty and time it takes to complete all or each section, and give good directions on how to reach each walk. They also have suggestions for tours by car with short hikes. There may be walks right from the door of your hotel.