Bed & Breakfast Ai Cipressi

We got a large room with a nicely sized bathroom and a pleasant balcony. The price was good, and Porta Elisa, the old town gate, was only a 2-3 minute walk away.

A charming little B&B with parking available. Breakfast was generous, and the coffee was great. Our ground-floor room was spacious, though the Wi-Fi was quite weak because we were in one of the two rooms farthest from the office.

I stayed here in 2004 and again in 2006 for the same stretch of Lucca Comics & Games, from late October into early November. The rooms were very clean and had recently been renovated, but for a €60-per-person room, some things fell short. Breakfast was poor and barely adequate, mostly packaged junk food. Back in 2004, for a better price, we’d had handmade ham sandwiches and fresh orange juice. The bike rental cost €5 a day. It’s a good way to get to the town walls, but the hotel staff leave you to do the bike adjustments yourself, with a wrench and screwdrivers. Parking was a nightmare: the courtyard is small and taken up by the owners and people from a nearby shop. Guests can only try for a spot in the nearby church parking area, after asking the priest. This B&B could do more for its customers, starting with the price, then parking that gives guests the same priority as the owners, and a much better breakfast. Please, no packaged junk food or microwave cooking.

The breakfast room was bright and lovely, with a refreshing feel. There was a good range of the usual breakfast foods, and the kind woman kept bringing out fresh items and serving them at the table. No hot dogs or scrambled eggs, which was fine with me. Bikes were available to rent for €7 a day. We used ours from late afternoon until the Puccini’s Concert ended, and enjoyed riding around and along the town wall for sightseeing and exercise. The first manager was kind and spoke good English. He gave us a three-bed room at check-in and said we could leave our bags there, though I didn’t need to. At checkout, another manager tried to charge us for three beds, saying I had asked for a three-bed room. Why would two people need three beds? He eventually backed down when I insisted. The room itself was spacious, as was the bathroom, and the manager was very helpful. But the place is far from both the train station and the old town center. I should have noticed that reception was only open from 3:30 to 6:30 pm. We arrived by bus in extremely hot weather and were lucky to find an excellent café bakery next door where we could cool off. Cleanliness was a real problem. The bed cover looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while, and the desk cover was definitely not clean. There was a small dead bug under the comforter and sheet, dried saliva on one pillowcase, and a filthy shower curtain. The old air conditioner didn’t cool the whole room, even with a wooden bar to hold the curtain away from the airflow. The shower gel was poor quality, so I was glad I’d brought my own soap. Until they improve the cleanliness, I’m afraid I can’t recommend this place to travelers.