The city of the Medici, cradle of the Renaissance, and capital of Tuscany has the potential to suck your wallet dry.
That plethora of great museums? Each will cost you a cool €12. Heck, even most of the churches charge admission now.
That's why it's important to find excellent yet inexpensive accommodation.
Finding a reasonably priced place to stay in the throbbing, living heart of it all takes a bit of work.
Florence has hundreds of hotels; half of them are overpriced, another third of them are slung into the streets around the train station—nothing wrong with the area, but if I had a choice, I'd stay bang in the bustling heart of the historic center. Here's where:
Twenty years ago I set out to write my first guidebook (Frommer's Tuscany & Umbria), and the very first thing I did on my very first day on the job was take furtive notes on Florence's Hotel Tornabuoni Beacci, where I was staying those first two nights. So you could say Florence hotel recommendations are what i have the single longest professional experience with.
Below are the 44 Florence hotels that continue make my personal short list of Florence's best lodgings in every price category.
They offer excellent value for the money—no matter how much you have ot spend—and most have the more elusive qualities of having a great, memorable character or offering service that goes above and beyond.
As in most cities, there are loads of inexpensive hotels near the train station. The good news is that, in tiny Florence, this is not really such a hardship, since you're still close to the central sights—within ten minutes's stroll of the Duomo, 15 of the Uffizi.
The best street to troll for a cheap room is Via Faenza, which stretches north from the San Lorenzo outdoor market just east of the station (you can see five hotel signs just in the half-block pictured below). Some buildings on the street are crammed with four to six little hotels, one on each floor.
Try to avoid Via Nazionale, a heavily trafficked street heading east from the train station.
In 2011 Florence began charging a hotel bed tax. This is the city's doing, and it is not a scam. All charges are per person, per night, for all guests over the age of 10 and can be charged for stays of up to 10 days.
In general, you pay €1 per category rating—hotels are rated by "stars," Residences by "keys," agriturismi by "spighe" (stalks of wheat). So tax on a 3-star hotel would be €3 (per person, per night). A few exceptions:
So a couple staying three nights in a four-star room would pay an extra €18.
Most hotels have folding this tax into their quoted rates—but others continue to tack on this charge when you go to check out as a separate fee, so it pays to ask "compreso le tasse?" (taxes included?)
| 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 |
Planning your day: Florence would well be worth a week, but you can still fit a lot into just a day or three.
To help you get the most out of your limited time in the Cradle of the Renaissance, here are some perfect itineraries, whether you have one, two, or three days to spend in Florence.
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This article was written by Reid Bramblett and was last updated in March 2015.
All information was accurate at the time.
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