The Best B&Bs in Florence

A room at the Hotel Residenza del Proconsolo, Florence
A room at the B&B Residenza del Proconsolo, in a 15th century palazzo overlooking the Duomo in Florence

How to find, and reserve, the best bed and breakfasts in Florence in every price range and neighborhood

More on how B&Bs work in Italy: info, tips, and advice
The B&B concept—a handful of rooms run as an inn by a family in their own home—has recently spread throughout Italy and there are now more B&Bs in Florence (around 470) than there are hotels (around 376).

A Florentine bed and breakfast essentially works something like a small hotel that provides breakfast and is located in the owner's home (or at least an a converted apartment in their building). The size is limited to no more than 3–4 rooms or 6–8 beds total.

This usually means a cozy, welcoming, friendly place with a bit more interaction with your hosts than at a hotel—and B&Bs are usually anywhere from 5% to 40% cheaper than hotels.

Expect to pay anywhere from €35 to €140 for a double room at a typical B&B.

Note that there's a thin line (often just which set of local standards, requirements, and legal complications the owner wants to deal with) between what's called a B&B and what's called an affittacamere (rental rooms).

Favorite Florence B&Bs


Finding the perfect Florence B&B

The Florence tourist office provides a complete list of all bed and breakfast outfits in town, but it's simply that: a list of all the B&Bs in alphabetical order and arbitrarily divided between 358 "Rental room-B&B" properties (mostly slightly larger true B&Bs) and 113 "Non-professional rental room-B&B" places (largely one– or two-room affittacamere, or rental room outfits).

The info on each provided is pretty basic: name, address, telephone, website, number of rooms, basic amenities, sometimes the price and occasionally a photograph. That's it. A great resource, but one that requires a lot of legwork to use, since you have to click on each entry individually to find out more.

If you want more intel to go on, try using a private booking site that will provide descriptions, user reviews, photographs, and more information to help you make a choice.

Best sites for booking B&Bs in Italy

  • Booking.com (www.booking.com) - A general booking site, and one of the few that includes B&Bs—about 195 in Florence (filed variously under the categories of "Bed and Breakfast and "Guesthouse").
  • Hotels.com (www.hotels.com)- Another generalist booking site based in Italy with a huge representation of B&Bs—about 180 in Florence (in addition to hotels, apartments, and other options).
  • BedandBreakfast.com (www.bedandbreakfast.com) - Massive site and database with thousands of choices all across Italy, including around 80 in Florence.
  • Airbnb.com (www.airbnb.com) - Network of both official and unofficial B&Bs, homestays, and apartment and house rentals, including 76 B&Bs in Florence. Its rates are among the lowest around, charging anywhere from $15 to $250 per night (a handful charge more).
  • Bed-and-Breakfast.it (www.bed-and-breakfast.it) - Probably the biggest and best of the huge, national services, with more than 10,000 B&Bs across Italy.
  • Bed & Breakfast Italia (www.bbitalia.it) - Another major nationwide service, with more than 1,000 members and three quality categories where prices range from €44 to €116 ($52 to $137).
  • Generalist booking sites - The following sites have limited listings in Italy (from a few dozen to a few hundred total), but you never know where you'll find the perfect place, so feel free to sift through the offerings: www.innsite.com, www.karenbrown.com, www.bbonline.com, www.1bbweb.com.

 

Tips & links

Booking B&Bs in Florence
Florence hotel & lodging links
Useful Italian for lodging
English (Inglese) Italian (Italiano) Pro-nun-cee-YAY-shun
Good day Buon giorno bwohn JOUR-noh
Good evening Buona sera BWOH-nah SAIR-rah
Good night Buona notte BWOH-nah NOTE-tay
Goodbye Arrivederci ah-ree-vah-DAIR-chee
Excuse me (to get attention) Scusi SKOO-zee
thank you grazie GRAT-tzee-yay
please per favore pair fa-VOHR-ray
yes si see
no no no
Do you speak English? Parla Inglese? PAR-la een-GLAY-zay
I don't understand Non capisco non ka-PEESK-koh
I'm sorry Mi dispiace mee dees-pee-YAT-chay
     
Where is? Dov'é doh-VAY
...a hotel un albergo oon al-BEAR-go
...a B&B un bed-and-breakfast oon bet hand BREK-fust
...a rental room un'affittacamera oon ah-feet-ah-CAH-mair-ra
...an apartment for rent un appartamento oon ah-part-tah-MENT-toh
...a farm stay un agriturismo oon ah-gree-tour-EES-moh
...a hostel un ostello oon oh-STEHL-loh
     
How much is...? Quanto costa? KWAN-toh COST-ah
a single room una singola OO-nah SEEN-go-la
double room for single use [will often be offered if singles are unavailable] doppia uso singola DOPE-pee-ya OO-so SEEN-go-la
a double room with two beds una doppia con due letti OO-nah DOPE-pee-ya cone DOO-way LET-tee
a double room with one big bed una matrimoniale OO-nah mat-tree-moan-nee-YAAL-lay
triple room una tripla OO-nah TREE-plah
with private bathroom con bagno cone BAHN-yoh
without private bathroom senza bagno [they might say con bagno in comune—"with a communal bath"] SEN-zah BAHN-yoh
for one night per una notte pair OO-nah NOH-tay
for two nights per due notti pair DOO-way NOH-tee
for three nights per tre notti pair tray NOH-tee
Is breakfast included? É incluso la prima colazione? ay in-CLOO-soh lah PREE-mah coal-laht-zee-YOAN-nay
Is there WiFi? C'é WiFi? chay WHY-fy?
May I see the room? Posso vedere la camera? POH-soh veh-DAIR-eh lah CAH-mair-rah
That's too much É troppo ay TROH-po
Is there a cheaper one? C'é una più economica? chay OO-nah pew eh-ko-NO-mee-kah
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