Editor Pick
Hotel Veneto
- May 2, 2008
- Rated 3 of 5 by
Travelny2 from New York, New York
When we got off of the train in Florence there were about a dozen people asking us if we needed a hotel. We ignored all the advice we had heard that you are not supposed to accept an offer from one of these people and went with one of the guys who spoke good English and was very friendly. The decision turned out to be just fine.
He worked for Hotel Veneto which is a 2-3 star hotel about a 10 minute walk from the train station. The walk would not have been bad had it not been about 90 degrees out with 100% humidity in mid afternoon...that made it a little rough. He took us to the reception area in the main building and a woman gave us a triple room for about 100euro a night which was about $120 at the time. Our room was not actually in the main part of the hotel but rather in another building at the end of the block and around the corner. The building was old and nice with a small elevator (only fits one person and their suitcase at a time) and a spiral staircase that led up from the foyer. We were on the third floor. According to their website this is the "Hotel Veneto B&B" building. We're not sure if they just own some of the rooms in the building or what but it was very apparent that people lived their as permanent residences as well. We saw people bringing in groceries and could smell cooking in the halls but all of the residents we saw were old and very quiet and courteous.
The room was adequate for what you pay for. The beds were clean and comfortable and the room had a window looking into the street. You could see the Duomo straight down the road. The building felt very safe and secure and the housekeeping staff was quite friendly (we ran into them on the first afternoon when we arrived. They were just cleaning our room and were more then happy to leave us extra towels) The only weird thing about this room was the bathroom. I have never seen a bathroom like this in my life. The toilet was literally in the middle of the shower floor, both of which were right next to the sink. There was no divider between anything. Everytime you took a shower the whole toilet and toilet seat would get soaked. The showerhead was just up on the wall and there was a drain in the middle of the floor. The toilet seat was also broken off so needless to say after the shower had been running things would get rather slippery if you tried to sit down. I think two of us actually fell off the toilet but we quickly learned from experience to just brace yourself and move slowly when taking a seat.
The hotel is very centrally located to everything and is a great value. The Duomo is right down the street and we walked everywhere the whole time we were there. There was never a need to take any public transportation...although we took a cab once more out of laziness than necessity. One thing to note about this hotel is that you need a key to get in the front door if you are staying at the B&B. The door is huge and made of wood with no windows so if you get split up from your party at night and only one person has the key they will literally have to wait outside for you to get back because if they go in there is no way they can hear you from the rooms and you will be stranded outside all night.
From journal A Few Days in Florence