San Gimignano: Staying in town versus outside of town?
 

Planning a four-day stay in San Gimignano and trying to decide whether to stay in town (at La Cisterna) or just out of town (at Hotel Pescille). We would be happy to stay at either hotel but it's the location we are wondering about. We will have a car, take day trips, and return to town for dinner. Any pros & cons, or things we should consider in making our decision?

To really enjoy San G. I suggest you stay in it and day trip from it only to return to it after the huge throngs of people leave in the evening.

Hello,
We stayed overnight at La Cisterna. The view from the breakfast room was wonderful. Humm, in answer to your question, it depends. We were there the middle of Nov. The town would become very deserted in the evenings that time of year, so there wasn't much to do and dining was surprisingly limited. The town is also fairly small, so it doesn't take alot of time to see. I think two full days in town is more than enough to get a feel for it. If you plan to use SG as a base for visiting surrounding towns by car, I would suggest staying outside of town because it will be easier to get around (and easier to park). Remember SG is a walled city and you will have to park your car outside of town and schlep your things into the center of town for La Cisterna. Enjoy! Sandy

We've stayed at both of the hotels you're considering. We would definitely choose the town location. We like being able to walk around the town after the day-trippers have left, or before they've arrived for the day. We like walking to dinner (Dorando is magnificent, and La Terrazza is very good with a fabulous view) and being able to buy some of Italy's best gelato pretty much any time we want! Hotel Pescille was nice, and very peaceful and quiet, but we prefer the environment in town.

In terms of parking, yes that is a consideration. But each day (we've stayed in San G. several times), we leave as the day-trippers are arriving, and return as they're leaving, so we never had a problem finding parking. You are allowed to drive your car right up to the hotel's front entrance to drop off your bags, but I've never had the guts to do that! We just make sure we find parking that first day close to the south entrance, and pull our rolling bags up the hill. I'm willing to do that to be able to stay in San G.

We drove into the city to drop off bags and then back out again. It's not difficult but if I remember correctly the street leading into the city is one lane and you have to watch the light at the bottom of the hill which will tell you when it's safe to go up the hill into the city.

I vote for staying IN the town. We enjoyed the deserted feeling at night. And for those who say it's deserted and not much to do -- how much would there be to do OUTSIDE of town?
We stayed across the street from La Cisterna at the Leon Bianco (?) and they had their own parking garage right there.

Thanks to all for your responses & feedback about the hotel!

NeoPatrick: Just wondering how easy/or difficult it is to come & go from hotel Leon Bianco's parking garage during the day? We are planning to be there mid to late September.

2010

We were there in the height of summer season. The garage was small and they parked the car. In the morning we'd say we wanted it and someone had to go juggle cars to get ours out. But it was very easy to drive down the hill and out of the city. Returning, it was a fairly slow drive up -- but not very far -- just had to wait for people to move out of the way of the car.

Just an update ... When we contacted the Hotel Leon Bianco in San Gimignano and requested a spot in its parking garage, we were told that they do not have one! However, that did not dissuade us from chosing the Leon Bianco. We are now confirmed to stay there!

Well, I'm not too surprised. Watching the poor guys come out in the morning and juggle cars as the garage was about two cars wide and 8 or so cars long, meant that every time someone wanted a car, they'd have to juggle 7 or 8 others to get it out.