D6130
Established Member
If anyone should find themselves visiting Firenze/Florence on an Italian jaunt, I can recommend the Hotel Leonardo da Vinci in via Guido Monaco. Situated on the West side of the main Santa Maria Novella station - less than ten minutes walk from the main entrance - it also has a tram stop nearby on line T2 to and from the airport. It's a fairly humdrum, featureless modern four star hotel....but the rooms are clean and well-equipped with good showers and free toiletries and slippers - and it has an excellent buffet breakfast bar in the basement. The staff are very friendly and helpful, as well as multi-lingual (including English). The big attraction for rail enthusiasts though is the fact that rooms 410-413 - and possibly also the corresponding rooms on the floors above and below - have balconies with a panoramic view of the platform ends and station throat, with almost constant train movements to watch, photograph or video....including the remaining D445 workings to Borgo San Lorenzo and Siena thrashing their way out of - or coasting into - the station. The room windows and balcony doors have efficient double glazing....so - if you really want to block out the railway noise at night - you can easily do so. The last time we stayed there - just before Christmas - we had a good deal on Booking.com for 120 Euro including breakfast....which is very good value for such an expensive and touristy city.