Small 4 star hotels in Tuscany?
 

We're going to be in Florence/Tuscany and Venice in Sept. Can anyone recommend a great, small hotel in the Chianti area for two nights. Also, if you're staying in Tuscany, how difficult is it to drive back to hotels out in the countryside after dinner and drinking? Are the roads hard to navigate at night? Thanks for any suggestions.

Standard question: What's your budget?

Standard advice: Do NOT drink and drive in Italy. Laws and penalties are much tougher there than in the U.S.

Look at www.karenbrown.com. There are reviews and photos of several hotels in Chianti/Tuscany.

Look also at www.tripadvisor.com and www.venere.com.

I don't want to make spam, so first I declare that I'm working for some hotels in Florence. After that I think that, if you want your hotel in the center of Florence you can see www.parishotel.it www.apmhotels.com www.hotelmachiavelli.it

Centralparkgirl,

We loved the Hotel Residence San Sano in Chianti. Just off the Chianti hwy, 20 mintues drive north from Siena. Tiny, tiny village and the hotel has about 12 rooms, a pool, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards. a 4*. Breakfast included and served in the lovely flower and herb garden under the arbor. Dinner optional and very good.

The only other commercial business in the village is a family run trattoria that we thought was very good. Didn't need to go to dinner anywhere else between these options. Did go to a delicious lunch on afternoon at La Badia di Coltibuono.

You can see the hotel at www.chiantinet.it

Buon viaggio!

We loved Fattoria Vignale in Radda, which is about 25 min from Siena, 45 from Florence, and next town to Greve. It's a lovely restored farmhouse with sweeping views of the Tuscan countryside. There's a lovely pool out back that hovers over olive groves, and a very good ( if expensive!) restaurant serving all kinds of homemade pastas and wonderful beef dishes.

Radda itself is very tiny, only a handful of streets, but quite bucolic. As for driving after drinking that wine, I wouldn't. We hired a driver for wine tastings and touring during the day, but stayed local at night. Many of the streets are unmarked, and I wouldn't have wanted to navigate them after a few glasses of wine!

Weadles, we are staying there in less than a month for 6 nights! How did you get into Florence? I have had some wonderful advice already but since you stayed where we are going I am curious. Thank you.

Hi there-

Check out this site - http://www.tuscany.net/ I've used this site to book accomodation in past trips to Italy. I like the layout of the site and there are lots of pictures that help my husband and I make decisions (in addition to tripadvisor and other forums such as this one).

It's convenient because you can also do a search based on the type of accomodation you prefer. We loved the Palazzo Squarcialupi in Castellina last fall (not four stars though) - wonderful rooms and view overlooking vineyards.

Have fun!

pmuzzy17,

We chickened out and hired a wonderful driver/tour guide, Luca Garapa of Hillsandroads.com who took us to Florence, Siena, and San Gimignano. We also went to a really good wine tasting with him in Radda.

In Radda, I just wanted to mention an amazing place, PIZZERIA MICHELE which is just down the street from the hotel. If the owner is still there ( we visited 3 years ago), he is worth the price of admission. And the pizza and simple salads were very good.

A really great boutique hotel is Villa Bordoni http://www.villabordoni.com right in the centre of the Chianti Classico wine zone, and since it has an extremely good restaurant you probably won't need to worry about getting back after dinner.

Thank you all - my head is spinning from looking at the great websites you recommend!

Weadles, thank you! WE have a wonderful tour guide (or so we have heard) scheduled for Florence but we need to arrive there on time and in one piece. We will probably try the PIZZERIA MICHELE on our arrival evening what with the jet lag and all.

Hi, usually I always use this travel agency: www.sleepinitaly.com, very beautiful and amazingly cheap apartments in the center of Florence, Rome and Venice. And Giulia is great, she is always willing to help!