My daughter and I will be visiting Florence soon. We are interested in finding a hotel that is centrally located to some of the main attractions as well as shopping areas. Any recommendations? Please, no shared baths...and AC would be nice!

TrueBlue,

Last year we stayed with a nice couple that had turned their home into a b&B. IT was about a 5 minutes walk from the Duomo and less than 10 to the Accadamia.
Sr and Sra Panella were very gracious host and each room had it own bath.
http://www.panellaresidence.com/_home_ing.html

Hello TrueBlue, first of all what does your budget allow per night for lodging? Florence is a compact city so walking from one area to to another is not a big problem providing one is in half way decent shape. What is your definition of "main attractions". I would assume the museums, the churches, the markets etc. but a better description would help Fodorites here help you plan your visit to Florence. Birddog's information regarding the B&B that they stayed at sounds interesting.

For shopping, buy MAPEASY's guidemap to Florence. While I am not impressed with the accuracy, its shows where the shops are located and gives you a good idea of the area where shops are clusterd.

Florence is so small so it is hard to be really out of the way.

Have you done a search on this board yet? There are tons and tons of recommendations.
I'm not sure what "soon" means to you, but we planned our trip about 6 weeks out for the end of May and had a hard time finding available lodging.

What's your budget, TB?

Thanks for your replies! My budget is at or under 200 USD per night and our trip is the middle of July. I have read several reviews posted here and have found several available hotels and B&B's. Since it's just me and my daughter, I also wanted a location in a safe area if we're out in the evenings. Has anyone heard of Relais Cavalcanti B & B? It's on via Pellicceria 2. As for the attractions, I meant the top museums and churches. And since we plan to shop, we need to know where the largest majority of the shops were located. And we can't afford the designer shops!

TrueBlue, here's my review of the Hotel Silla in Florence, where we stayed last June. I recommend it as a comfortable, affordable hotel with an excellent front-desk staff.

Hotel Silla is on the south side of the Arno in a relatively quiet area (Oltrarno). It's in a convenient location as it's close to the Ponte alle Grazie bridge, which is one down from the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It's a convenient walk from the Hotel Silla to the Uffizzi Gallery and the Santa Croce area. A little further but still walkable is the Duomo area. A very close walk from the Hotel Silla are the Boboli Gardens and the Pitti Palace.

Hotel Silla is a comfortable 3-star hotel with reasonable prices. It was clean and pleasant with a decent included breakfast buffet. The staff at the front desk was very helpful and experienced. They even made our museum reservations for us before we arrived, and e-mailed me the reservation numbers. This service was complimentary.

Need to add one detail to info I just posted about Hotel Silla, Florence. Hotel Silla made my museum reservations as a complimentary service. But of course the museums (Uffizzi Gallery and Accademia) can still charge you the extra service fee (3 euros?) when you arrive with your reservation number. I am just trying to say that the Hotel Silla was kind enough to make this reservation for us as a complimentary service. Just wanted to clear that up.