Hotels near Giardino della Fortezza, Florence

Although this is a beautiful hotel, quaint and nice rooms, that is where it stops. Whilst travelling around Europe on business for a few months, I spent 2 nights at this hotel. Yes, check in staff are warm and welcoming, and the rooms are nice and quaint… however, for both days I was there, bitterly cold showers with no hot water in the morning. And, after changing rooms. Checking out I complained, and the check out clerk just wanted to take my money. No discount, or compensation. And, he said, I will let the General Manager know tomorrow. Frankly, very poor indeed. Yes, hot water problems do happen - but not twice over 2 days, and then getting rubbish customer service. Why would I ever stay at this hotel again! Probably won’t unless it is my only option… lets see if the Hotel sees this review and makes it up!!!

The location of the hotel is about 20 minutes away from the attractions. Of course, there is a bus stop at the door, which is also convenient. The advantage is that the location of the hotel is very quiet and clean. The hotel is some years old but very clean and tidy. The breakfast is good. It costs 7 yuan/person. It's a bit far from the train station, but it's okay for our special forces to walk the whole way.

Our experience at Leone Blu was just superb. The hotel itself is an historical gem with fresco ceiling and stunning view on the Arno river. The location is amazing, right on the Arno river and few minutes walking from Uffizi museum and all the other major monuments and attractions. The staff made the whole experience even better, with a professional yet warm and welcoming attitude, just the best.

I am not writing this type of reviews often, but unfortunately this time I have to in order to reflect the reality about this hotel. Prior to this hotel we stayed at another hotel in Rome also 4-star that we really enjoyed (price level and distance from city center was similar). Firstly, I would like to point out that this hotel, even though it has 4 stars, cannot be considered to be a European-level 4-star hotel at all, at maximum a refurbished 3-star hotel. Given the price and its location, I would like to tell you straight, it is quite expensive for what you get, especially given the further circumstances described below. Secondly, I have not read many negative reviews regarding the noise level, but would like to shed some light on that. Even though we asked for a quiet room, we got the room facing the hotel parking and front road. I cannot say that there was a lot of noise from the road, but you could definitely hear cars from the road. But the biggest problem is the noise insultaion, or more precisely its complete absence. We could hear our neighbours talking in the other room like they were in our room. Our neighbours were awake until late night and we could hear them receiving messages while chatting on the phone and it seemed like the phone was vibrating each time near your ear. There was also noise from outside and other neighbours (it was partially not clear where it was coming from), so overall an awful experience also given the fact that each room has roller blinds and some people are using them at night and each time you can hear the mechanism working (it is quite loud). When people flush in other rooms, it sounds like it starts raining heavily. To sum up, insulation is really bad. Thirdly, the room was furbished at the level of refurbished 3-star hotel, the old hairdriers from the 20th century, only one card key, thus you cannot leave the AC on when you leave the room. Room was not ventilated at all once we arrived, so it was very hot to sleep and smell was not very pleasant. Breakfast at the level of 3-star hotel maximum and they do not let people finish their breakfast telling at 9:55am that you have to leave in 5 minutes since the breakfast time ends at 10am. As a cherry on the tart, when we were leaving we were told that the water in the room was not complimentary when we arrived, even though we did not found anywhere information with pricing of water in the room. When I asked where we could find price list for water in the room, as I belive it should be clearly placed in a visible spot, the person at reception firstly insulted us in Italian (not knowing that we speak Italian) and then just answered arrogantly ”it is in the room”, showing that he does not want to speak with us. Unbelievable and unacceptable behaviour from staff, you are paying them for being treated in such a manner... Overall, I understand that Florence is an expensive and crowded city, but in this instance when we unfortunately had only extremely negativ

What a friendly and clean hotel! Convenient, excellent continental breakfast (even included eggs!), and superb staff to help with everything. Miguele, at the front desk was especially helpful with our entire 3 day stay. Parking was a big bonus, not usually included in this price range.

I’ve never written a review before but felt I had to this time. I’ve just returned from holiday staying in this hotel. I booked the holiday in a rush and didn’t check reviews until after I’d booked. Some of the reviews were not great which unsettled me. Please be reassured that this hotel is very nice, very clean and has very helpful staff. It isn’t in the centre of Florence, this can be seen by looking on a map. The distance is walkable but there is also a regular number 14 bus which picks up a minute walk from the hotel and drops off at all the major sites, railway station and tram stop for 1.70 euro. Tickets can be bought at the hotel reception. It’s possible to travel from the airport by tram and then by the bus to the hotel. Because of our very early morning flight time the hotel organised a taxi to the airport and that was 45 euros. I also took a taxi from the main railway station to the hotel one evening and that was 17 euros. There is an excellent selection of beverages and cold food for breakfast. The hot food is a little more limited scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and toast but perfectly adequate. There is a lovely restaurant next door that sells pizza, pasta and other meals at very reasonable prices. We ate there most nights. There is also a coffee shop and Thai restaurant near by that we didn’t use. There is a reasonably large supermarket a few minutes walk from the hotel as well. The spa and swimming pool is well worth a visit. It costs an additional 20 euros (for two hours). But as my daughter pointed out we’d spend £5 to go to just a swimming pool for an hour at home. The spa has steam room, sauna, salt room and hydro pool. Perfect after a day of sightseeing. It’s secluded from the rest of the hotel and is not busy. I was travelling alone with my young daughter and the hotel suited us perfectly. She found the centre of Florence a little overwhelming and enjoyed coming back to a quieter hotel and loved using the pool and spa in the evenings and then popping next door to the restaurant. If you want to be permanently in the busy hub and centre of Florence then this hotel isn’t for you but if you want to do your sightseeing and then come back on an evening to a more relaxed and chilled atmosphere with the use of a spa then I would recommend this one.

Nice hotel but quite far away from all attractions. Typical chain hotel. Rooms are well maintained and cleaned it a decent standard.. We had family room. Double bed and pull out bed for two kids. Pull out bed was quite small for our very tall 10 year old daughter to share with her 7 year old brother. Swimming pool was nice a clean. Tight rules around it’s use. Closes at 8pm. Whole pool was 1.5m Deep which is not great for young kids that can’t swim. No drinks allowed poolside. Must be drank in area outside fenced area of the pool. So no drinking on sun loungers.. Hotel food was great. Staff friendly. Had 1kg Florentine steak one night. Excellent. A typical taxi fare into city centre could be anywhere between €20 to €33 depending on the driver. Not much to do in local area.

Abbiamo soggiornato in questo hotel per qualche notte. Ubicato in una posizione ottima per muoversi comodamente in auto. La nostra stanza era abbastanza grande, comoda e dall’altro lato dell’autostrada quindi abbastanza silenziosa, bagno con doccia molto grande. Ottima la pulizia. Dalle fotografie proposte mi aspettavo qualcosa in più invece la stanza era arredata in modo molto spartano e gli spazi comuni sono un po’ datati. Ottima l’idea della stanza attrezzata a cabina armadio anche se qualche stampella in più sarebbe gradita. Non mi ha soddisfatto la colazione. Poca scelta di torte (una pastiera, una crostata ed un ciambellone che è stato lì per 3 giorni e l’ultimo giorno era diventato duro e immangiabile. Nel complesso non male ma si potrebbe migliorare molto

Hotel in a great location, five minutes walk from Prato Central railway station and the city center. Clean room with a window with a pleasant view of the Bisenzio River, without any particular aesthetic beauty (may be a little lighter) but functional for the purpose, i.e. making us sleep well and in peace thanks to good soundproofing The hotel has a comfortable bed.Air conditioning, TV and modern bathroom with bathtub. The only small sin (but it is to be a pin) is the slightly uncomfortable position of the light switch, positioned near the mirror and not at the entrance. In particular, the Lord at the reception, who helped us in more than one occasion - first theoretically and then practically - with a problem at the locking of the door of the room. Apart from this small disadvantage, the hotel has also shown its validity for the very convenient price-quality ratio and can therefore be a good choice for who should stay in Prato.

Location was what pleased us most, as well as apartment, itself. Also, the swimming pool (when available!) was nicely suited for children and was certainly large enough (approx. 22m x 10, and max 1.50m deep). Total lack of proper management, and overall maintenance of the property and apartment!!! Daily 'management' was strictly the responsibility of two, overworked, rather young and inexperienced ladies, working in shifts (hosting approx. 35 rooms and double the number of guests at least). Due to this, reception was largely unmanned, and no possibility to contact the management, at reception or by phone. Swimming pool (which was the only true accessory available at the location) was out of order and not cleaned/filtered for almost two days due to 'necessary' repairs (which should be done in low season or off season, NOT in high season!). Our daughter cut her foot on broken and very sharp tiles, which had become loose from the edge... A technical failure of our air conditioning, took over 2(!) days to get addressed (not solved!), only after I laid down a complaint and this in temperatures reaching 36°C and night temperatures not lower than 25°C (we stayed 7 nights). Yet, they are able to monitor the working of the AC in each room from the front dest! Breakfast was a true laugh, and therefore way too expensive to be called 'breakfast': the two 'team' personnel was very demotivated and not friendly at all, which resulted in a constant lack of replenishment of the food, the choice of which was very limited and not worthy of the price to be paid for!