Hotels in Florence

My wife and I are planning a trip to Rome and Florence in the fall. It will be our first time out of the country since Covid and so we are excited to be going. In Rome, we love to stay near the Pantheon as it has seemed like a wonderful location in the center of much of what we like to do (including our favorite restaurants). So, we are planning to stay where we have stayed twice before at the Hotel Nazionale.

In Florence, we are much more undecided on where to stay. We have been to Florence a couple of times but never have been there overnight. So, we are excited about spending more time in the city. We would like to stay in the central area of Florence to minimize wear and tear on old bones but still get to walk around and see a lot. We are looking in an area somewhere between a bit north of the Duomo to the Arno River. Two hotels we are currently considering are the Hotel degli Orafi (based in part on this thread Dining and lodging in Piemonte, Portovenere, Florence, Bologna, Venice, Verona, and Lake Garda - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers ) and the Hotel Spadai, which is a newish hotel that gets great reviews on Trip Advisor.

Has anyone stayed at either of these hotels (I know Andrew and Ken seemed high on the Degli Orafi, but would love to hear more from them or anyone else) or are there other hotels in this area that people love? Thanks for the help.

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Check out Palazzo Niccolini al Duomo, adjacent to Piazza del Duomo. https://www.niccolinidomepalace.com/

Small hotel occupying two floors of a historic palazzo, the rooms have original restored frescoes and the ‘hotel’ is lovely. My wife and I have stayed there six or seven times. We’ve fallen out of love with Florence due to its unmanageable crowding, but if we ever go back, we will stay there again.

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Howard - not familiar with the hotels you inquired about, but we greatly enjoyed staying at the Lungarno. Definitely worth looking into. Enjoy your trip!

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Howard - not familiar as well with those 2 hotels but the Westin is a great option for what your looking for. We loved it when we stayed their in 2019. Really good walking proximity to all the major sites and a fine hotel if you can get a reasonable rate.

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  • 1 Westin Dining at the roof top restaurant is worth it.
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We stayed there over 10 years ago in March, rates are much better then. Just the other side of the Arno from the city center, we liked the neighborhood. Have a good time Howard, I think it’s always nicer staying in places like Capri, Florence, Venice.

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My wife and I stayed at the Lungarno on our honeymoon 20+ years ago. To this day we talk about how perfect it was.

Two things if you stay there:

  1. It’s on the Boboli Gardens side of the Arno right by the Ponte Vecchio so there’s a bit more walking involved.

  2. If you can, get a room on the 6th floor facing the Arno. Double check that it’s the 6th floor that has the balconies. To this day, some of my favorite travel photos were taken from there.

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Howard,

On a more recent trip (2018) we stay at Antica Torre on Via Tornabuoni. It’s actually right across the river on the Duomo side from the Lungarno. I loved this hotel and the location. Easy walking to most of Florence.

We had a fantastic experience at the Hotel Savoy a couple years ago. Unbeatable location and 5 star service, amenities. Highly recommend.

Air B&B it IMHO
Had a 3 bedroom condo with an outdoor rooftop hangout spot for dirt cheap, near a ton of restaurants and grocery store with fresh fish, meats, produce to take back for our daily rooftop picnics. fit 2 adults and 2 children perfectly, I’d imagine there are more like this all over Florence

A lot of threads on Florence but this one seemed as good as any given the question.

Has anyone stayed at Hotel Milu?

I have refundable reservations there and Antica Torre. Need to decide soon which to keep.

Milu is very well regarded on Trip Advisor.

We stayed at the Degli Orafi and like it very much. Trip to Florence and Rome - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers

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We stayed at the Hotel L’Orologio Firenze (www.hotelorologioflorence.com) - great central location, extensive buffet breakfast spread on the top floor overlooking all of Florence, and munchies at the bar at happy hour could have been dinner too. Highly recommended.

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This is the view of the front of the Antica Torre and the view from the rooftop where we are breakfast (and had a cocktail at night).

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4 nights in January and we very much enjoyed our very clean and efficient 2-bedroom, 2- bath Air BnB apartment at the very quiet, very locals Santa Croce neighborhood and, quite unbelievably, only 5-minute walk to Uffizi.
An oasis away from the maddening crowd at the main overly-beaten paths.

Have a link or property ID you could PM?

I looked at VRBO and AirBnb and didn’t see anything that appeared to be better than a 4-5 star hotel.

None of Air BnB apartment rental that we seek would equate to a 5-star hotel that you look for. Main reason for renting apartment for us is to try and experience restaurants, markets and everyday local lives. In Florence, I seem to find the hotels you want to be right smack in the middle of tourist-crowd traffic that we want to get away from.

I can understand wanting to get away from crowds, but when we went to Florence we wanted to see the main attractions like the Uffizi, which means being in crowds during the day. How do you get to stay away from crowds yet see the main attractions in Florence?

That is my usual goal as well. This trip is a little different as we are celebrating a milestone anniversary and are looking for a bit more luxury than normal.

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I would say that the Antica Torre was really nice…but it’s not ultra luxurious. We were very, very happy.

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