Excellent place to stay (Luna Rossa Hostel (Florence, Italy))

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Luna Rossa Hostel (Florence, Italy)
Date:	06/11/08 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good price, location, staff, everything perfect

Disadvantages: None

Luna Rossa Hostel is located close to the main train station in Florence. The price and reviews of the place was reasonable, so I decided to stay their though I have to admit I thought it may be a bit dubious and noisy being located close to the train station, an area which in most cities is usually inhabited by drug addicts, prostitutes, homeless people and the like. Fortunately this wasn't the case in Florence, after leaving the station, you are more or less in the old town already. Taking this into account, I was very happy with the location of the hostel because it made transportation to nearby towns Pisa, Siena, Lucca, Bologna etc - all that much more easier and saved time.

The hostel itself comes in two buildings, one is located just round the corner from the McDonald's outside of the station and another is the next building along (this is where the reception is too), the first building has a couple of private rooms and that is where we stayed. The other has, I believe dormitories.

The staff, despite being in few numbers are very very helpful - perfect, I would stay. It's a family run enterprise and they go out of their way to make it nice for you, helpful with information.

For a private room in the 1st building, we paid 30 euros a night per person, this was a brand new double room with an en-suite bathroom and a TV, it also had wireless. There was fresh tea bags brought each day and a choice of croissants and capuccino available at all times, a Russian girl working there also insisted we make use of as much ice cream in the freezer as we liked!

Our room had a safe in it, although we didn't find it necessary to use and left things lieing around in the room including laptop as everything seemed fine. For those travelling without a laptop, there was a computer in the kitchen, so need to waste time or spend money in an internet cafe. The relatively new gas cooker was fine and overall it was a very pleasant stay. This hostel won an award in 2005 as the best hostel worldwide and it is definitely the place to stay in Florence.

They can also reserve a place for you at the main galleries and museums in Florence as well as organise trips but there is no hard sell.

Summary: Really recommended!