Grand Hotel Baglioni, Florence, Italy

We love taking city breaks, and we’d realised that we had never been to Florence. This Italian city is world famous for its incredible Renaissance architecture and legendary cuisine, and so we were more than keen to see what accommodation was on offer.

After spending a good couple of hours on booking.com, we narrowed down our search to the Grand Hotel Baglioni. This four-star hotel had been picking up many great reviews on booking.com as a result of its fancy restaurant, boutique-style furnishings and commanding views over the city of Florence. As a result, it looked to be a strong choice for a couple of nights in this popular Italian city. But did the Grand Hotel Baglioni live up to the hype? Read our review below to find out more.

Rooms:

If you are looking for sheer elegance in your hotel room, then it’s hard to argue with what the Grand Hotel Baglioni has to offer. Our room was beautifully furnished in what is known as the Florentine style. This means high ceilings with lots of nice wooden beams, and everything from the bedding to the lampshades had that lovely ornate style that made it feel a world away from our home.

Not that it was all style over substance as the room was clean and everything worked fine. You’ll definitely enjoy the chic bathroom that felt very luxurious, but our favourite bit was the nice balcony that came with a lovely wicker table and chairs so that we could sit out there on a morning with a coffee and watch the world go by.

Some tourists may find the furnishings of the Grand Hotel Baglioni a little old-fashioned, but we felt that it offered us a suitably atmospheric start to our stay in Florence. Plus you should know that the rooms have all of the modern amenities like free Wi-Fi, a free smartphone for making local and international calls, and even some free soft drinks in the minibar. And just in case you were wondering, there was air conditioning and our bed was perfectly comfortable.

Food & Drink:

One of the main reasons why so many people keep coming back to the Grand Hotel Baglioni is the fact that it has an incredible rooftop restaurant. While the prices might be a little high for some, we found that the B-Roof restaurant offered us an easy and typically luxurious way to be wined and dined in Florence. This is beautiful for honeymooners or a couple’s romantic retreat.

We loved going to this restaurant in the evening after a solid day’s sightseeing where there was plenty of tempting dishes that served as a suitable reward. But we would also recommend heading to the B-Roof restaurant at lunchtime too as they serve up some great Tuscan delicacies.

But perhaps the best thing about the rooftop restaurant was the stunning views that it offered. You’re probably not going to find anywhere else that can serve up a fantastic breakfast buffet to enjoy while you gaze over the views of Giotto’s Bell Tower and the stunning dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral.

Staff:

We arrived at the Grand Hotel Baglioni a little hot and stressed after taking the train to Florence from Pisa airport. But we were delighted to find that the reception staff were calm, assured and spoke perfectly good English to make us feel at home. Plus they even told us some interesting history about the Grand Hotel Baglioni and showed us some of the intriguing frescos and historical photographs.

One of the nights from our stay we stayed out very late walking around the beautiful moonlit streets, but when we got back to the hotel, we were pleased to find that the front desk was open 24 hours which meant that we could get help whenever we wanted it. And with helpful features like luggage storage and daily housekeeping, it seems that the Grand Hotel Baglioni is going to score highly for their customer service.

Entertainment:

As the Grand Hotel Baglioni is located in the heart of the busy city of Florence, then it clearly isn’t going to have space to put on lots of live entertainment. Not that this was too much of a problem as we loved walking straight out of the front door of the hotel to find ourselves very close to all of the wonderful attractions in Florence.

If you want to take things easy for a moment, then you should know that the Grand Hotel Baglioni has a lovely sun terrace with outdoor furniture. This means that you can admire the stunning views and grab some sunshine before heading out again for another marathon sightseeing trek. We should also mention that we saw that the Grand Hotel Baglioni sometimes put on some themed dinner nights that might be of interest.

Out & About:

If you’ve come to Florence, then you will be impressed with the sheer beauty of this city. It seems that you can’t walk anywhere without seeing a sculptural masterpiece, and we were surprised with how many photographs we took during our brief city break here.

We loved just walking down the impressive river and we would definitely recommend taking a walk over the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge that still has lots of interesting shops on it. But it’s architectural highlights like the magnificent Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore that really take your breath away, and we also loved walking around the Palazzo Vecchio that is an atmospheric 13th century palace.

No trip to Florence would be complete without seeing Michelangelo’s famous statue of David, and we’d recommend getting a decent guidebook to make sure that you don’t miss out on any of the many attractions in Florence. But above all, Florence is just a lovely city to roam around, and there’s no shortage of wonderful food outlets showcasing the best in pizza, gelato and much more. So be sure to take a trip to Florence!