Holiday Inn Florence - Florence, Italy     

The hotel was just off the motorway and easy to find with free parking. The hotel staff were very friendly and told us how to get to the centre of Florence on the bus, which was very easy. The room was above average but we were disappointed with the restaurant both for the evening meal and the breakfast.

Although the hotel was on the outskirts of Florence it is readily accessible from the motorway and has excellent bus services to get you into the centre in 10 minutes or so at off peak, 20 minutes plus when in rush hour. The tickets are available at reception so no need to go searching for the 'Tabac' as in Spain. The room was excellent on the executive floor, well serviced, facing the park at the rear. The restaurant however was a complete let down. After a busy day we like to remain in the hotel for our meal and that is why we chose a hotel with a restaurant. However the restaurant itself was absolutely souless. The lights were on full, not allowing even the illusion of atmosphere. There were so few people in there that we felt depressed with the whole experience. It was like a works canteen when everyone had left. Even the coach parties dined in a separate room, so no opportunity for people watching. We tried sitting in the bar but again we were on our own in an area like a wide corridor between reception and the dining rooms. The other 3 nights we made other arrangements, even taking room service which was adequate. Breakfast was the usual mix of hot and continental. The continental was ok, but the hot was a bit hit and miss in that when an item ran out the churlish staff were reluctant to replenish the trays. On our last morning they ran out of bacon at 9.0am and given that the restaurant was open until 10.30 or so it was not unreasonable to expect more customers, but not here. My wife was bluntly told, 'no more'. We saw several customers look in the hot food containers, obviously considering a cooked breakfast, but finding nothing there, wandered off. Nice hotel overall, just don't rely on eating there after all its quite expensive and can be bettered outside.