Where to stay in Florence?

March 11, 2024 2:39 PM

My wife and I are looking to visit Florence in early June. Can you recommend any good hotels? I'm looking for something upmarket and central in an old building (although I suspect that's basically all the buildings in central Florence).

Recommendations for restaurants and less obvious museums or places to visit are also very welcome. Thank you!

posted by crocomancer to Travel & Transportation around Florence, Italy (5 answers total)

Best answer: Highly recommend The Frame Hotel. Less than a 10 minute walk from the main train station (SMN), 5 min from the Duomo. Wonderful staff, great location, etc. I run a small travel biz that takes groups to Florence, and this is where I have my groups stay. Also has an interesting history - the hotel is located in the building is where the Mona Lisa was found after it was stolen.

My favorite museum in the city is the Marino Marino Museum. He was a Tuscan sculptor and the museum is a gutted church that they’ve made into the most wonderful museum space!
posted by Fiorentina97 at 4:56 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It was in 2017, but we really enjoyed our stay at Hotel Centrale. It definitely had the old-building charm you're looking for. Great breakfast (freshly made crepes!) and location was also very convenient (2 mins walk from the above recommendation). Have an amazing time! Look at the Duomo in wonder and have gelato at least once a day.
posted by alygator at 10:48 PM on March 11 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I stayed at Hotel Davanzati last fall and loved it! Staff was very friendly and they have a daily happy hour and breakfast. It's an old building – heads up that you need to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the lobby and any room, though there is an elevator for the upper levels. 10-minute walk to Santa Maria Novella and very close to Piazza della Signora.
posted by anotheraccount at 6:00 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Like alygator above, I had a good experience at Hotel Centrale. You walk out the front door, down to the end of the block and BOOM there's the Duomo.
posted by GamblingBlues at 9:01 AM on March 12 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: These were all very helpful. We were looking at Davanzati but in the end couldn't get the dates we wanted but it helped find somewhere else we liked.
posted by crocomancer at 10:58 AM on March 24