Hotel Europa

I was glad I chose this instead of a hotel in the city centre. It felt like a five-star stay, with staff who were so kind, helpful and friendly. When I left, one of them even gave me the train timetable. I'd definitely recommend it to couples and families.

For an overnight stay, this is a very decent hotel and a good budget option within reach of Florence. The staff were nice, the room was big and pretty clean, and it had a spacious balcony. The bed was comfortable, and parking right out front made things easy. Breakfast was decent too. Some of the decor could use an update to bring the place back to life. A few things also need fixing, including a toilet that leaks, which must cost them over time.

The breakfast was the one thing I really liked. There were plenty of choices, mostly bread, cakes and different croissants, along with two kinds of chicken and beef and pork options. The elevator was another frustration. It took so long that people could get upstairs faster on foot, though not on the way down. The rooms were tiny, like matchboxes, with barely room to move and just one dim lamp. The property looked old and poorly maintained. The lights and TV used an ancient system with no switches or remote, and the sound of water rushing through the drainpipes kept waking me up. The location also felt extremely far from Florence, almost an hour's drive from the main city, though that wasn't the main issue for me.

The rooms and bathrooms weren't bad, but everything else was awful. The air conditioning didn't work in the middle of June, and the rooms smelled of paint. Corridors were musty, unpainted and frankly disgusting. The two elevators took five minutes to go up five floors. Breakfast was absolutely terrible. I saw a woman yell at a man in a tour group for using a dirty tray, saying those trays were for the buffet's exclusive use. The buffet was eggs, milk, sausages, apples and supermarket sweet croissants. The cranberry juice came in juice boxes and tasted horrible. Everything was terrible. Avoid it at all costs.