Borgo Grondaie - Siena, Italy     

Based on recommendations on this site, we stayed at Borgo Grondaie over the first weekend in July, 2008 - right after the Palio. We loved it and recommend it highly, as long as you realize that you will not be in the old, walled city of Siena. While it is possible to walk from the hotel into the city, you'd want to have really nice weather and be in pretty good shape - distance and hills. Otherwise, it's a 7 or 8 euro cab ride into the heart of Siena. If you want to be able to pop in and out of your hotel during a day of sightseeing and shopping, you should probably try to find a place in the old city. Having said that, the hotel is not really that far from the middle of town, maybe a 20 or 30 minute walk. And if you rent a car, you are on the right side of town for driving easily into the Chianti region or getting on the highway to go to other areas of Tuscany. The hotel has plenty of free parking. The hotel staff are delightful - very warm, very helpful. Everyone speaks English. The breakfast buffet was interesting and delicious, including fresh fruit, baked goods, and great cappuccinos. The rooms are clean, with modern bathrooms. The buildings and grounds are beautiful. We spent an afternoon reading by the pool and didn't feel like we were missing anything by not being in Siena. (On re-reading my post I want to emphasize: the staff were truly warm and friendly, and went out of their way to be helpful in every detail of our stay. They made us feel very welcome.) Other posts have complained that to get to Borgo Grondaie you have to travel behind the large Coop grocery store. True, that is not the most scenic 300 feet of the area. On the other hand, you'll probably be driving past in a cab, and it also is very convenient if you want to walk down the hill from the hotel to get some wine, bread and cheese for an evening snack. So, not a major drawback in our opinions. We would definitely stay here again, and we highly recommend it.

We stayed here in an apartment for 6 nights during the end of June/begining of July. Borgo Grondaie was beautifully landscaped and the apartment was very large and very clean. The pool is similar to an infinity pool, it was very clean and refreshing. Even though the hotel was booked to capacity because of the Palio it definitly did not feel crowded. All of the staff are very friendly and helpful (especially Eleanor and Guya). The hotel is located outside of Siena so it is probably about a 20 minute walk into town (mostly uphill). We walked it most days but a few times we had the front desk call for a taxi which they are more than happy to assist with and it only costs about 10 euros. It was very nice being outside of the town because we were able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Palio and just relax. Also it is surprisingly quite here considering that the train station is not far away. Siena is a great location also to use as a base to check out other towns nearby, we went to San Gimignano and we also went on a great chianti wine tour that took us to 2 other small towns (Castellini in Chianti and the other town I can't remember) and 2 great small wineries. We set up the wine tour through the hotel. Once again I can't say what a great time we had at Borgo Grondaie.