Posts Tagged ‘florence’
Find The Best Hotels In Florence
May 1, 2010
A simple rule to think of when you’re looking for a hotel in Florence, is to ask yourself what sort of things you’re actually looking for from the place you’ll be staying in. Although this sounds incredibly obvious, it’s amazing how many times people forget this when looking for a hotel.
So let’s examine the question in more detail, so we can develop a set of criteria to use when sifting through the list of hotels in Florence we can find online. Once we’ve done this, we are in a much better position to choose the ideal hotel for our particular purposes.
Starting at the beginning, you’ll obviously have a reason to be staying at a hotel in the first place. There are plenty of possible reasons here – visiting people you know, attending a function etc. – but the two we find the most frequent are for a break or holiday, or for work purposes.
Once we have in mind why it is we’re going, we then need to determine where in Florence will be the best place for us to be based. This will take into account factors such as whether you want to be near the town centre, near to any sightseeing opportunities, or near to where you’ll be working.
Next you’ll want to be thinking about what sort of facilities you require from the hotel. It’s a long time since you’d have to check whether a hotel would have en suite bathrooms or not, as most nowadays do, but you could potentially save some expense if this isn’t important to you. You might also be interested in there being a bar and restaurant on site.
Back in the day, it was unusual for holiday accommodation to include a gym or swimming pool within, but this is much more common now. And if you feel the need to go online while you’re away, you should check if the hotel has wifi internet access, which is increasingly the norm.
We suggested you might be able to save some cash through looking at reduced facilities, and obviously your overall budget is a key consideration. There’s not a lot of sense in looking for top of the range luxury if you know you can’t afford it. Fortunately, Florence has many hotels in various price ranges so you should find something suitable quite easily.
Now you have all this info to hand – location, facilities etc. – you should look into each of the hotels that are available in Florence that match up with your requirements. You’ll probably find several that tick all the boxes, so you now simply need to choose your favourite.
And finally, you’ll want to be sure the hotel you want to stay in is available on the dates you want to be there. Make sure you check for each of the nights you want to stay to ensure your chosen hotel is suitable for the whole time frame you need to book for.
Tris Jackson is a hotel booking expert with many years of experience in helping people find their ideal hotels.
Italy’s Top Attractions
April 9, 2010
To experience scenic wonders, great art and architecture, music, food and Italian wine, pack your suitcases and head to Italy. The country is the home to great many World Heritage Sites. Besides visiting sites Italy is known for its cuisine, beautiful coastline, mountains and lakes such as Lake Como and it is also one of the centers of fashion. Just think about Gucci, Versace or Armani to mention a few.
There are quite a lot of tourist attractions in Italy and almost all of them are full of art and cultural sites, monuments, beautiful cities. Among the most popular Italy sights you can find amazing buildings which are thousand year old, museums and art galleries with excellent collections of artifacts from almost every era. Besides sightseeing Italy is known for its excellent wines for instance Chianti and kitchen. Everyone has tasted pastas and pizzas to mention a few. To start getting to know Italy one should start with such wonderful cities as Rome, Venice, Florence, Turin, Naples. But if you do not care about cities and sights and you are more fond of adventures and sports, Italy has got some excellent ski resorts in scenic Alps and Dolomite mountains. The hundred kilometer long coastlines with beaches are for those who love to spending time on the beach. Furthermore, there are ideal places for walking and cycling holidays.
As I have mentioned you should definitely start with the capital, Rome. Rome has got several well-known tourist attractions including the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, Fontana di Trevi, The Spanish steps and beautiful churches. The Vatican City can be also found in Rome which is an independent state. This small state has several famous tourist attractions including the famous St Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the world-renowned Vatican Museum.
After Rome go north to Venice which stands on a series of islands in the famous Venetian lagoon next to the Adriatic Sea. The city’s main monuments include St. Mark’s Square featuring St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. The city’s most important part is the Grand Canal where fine Gothic and Renaissance buildings line up. Away from the main attractions, Venice is characterized by narrow canals, small squares.
After Venice visit Florence which is is one of the beautiful cities in the world due to the Medici family’s power and patronage. Florence is an open sky museum where you discover history and art through Piazza Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Renaissance palaces and masterpieces painted and created by Giotto, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Titian, Raffaello, Caravaggio kept in the Uffizi gallery and Pitti palace
Not far apart Siena and Pisa are the next tourist destinations in Tuscany region. Everybody has heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa which is perhaps the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. It is freestanding bell tower.The height of the tower is 55.86 m from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70 m on the highest side.
Turin is another place and it is famous for its automobile industry. Just think about Fiat. The city has recently hosted the Winter Olympics Games. When you are in Turin or Torino pay a visit to such places as Mole Antonelliana, the Piazza San Carlo and Museo Egizio.
And last but not least in Naples you encounter in the palaces, castles and nobles villas and experience the carefree spirit of the lanes in the lower class residential districts. Set between the sea and the hills, Naples amaze tourists with its artistic and cultural heritage. Naples also offers excellent base to visit the ancient city of Pompeii and the stunningly beautiful Amalfi Coast.
Learn more about Italy accommodation. Stop by and check out where you can find proper Rome accommodation
Florence Sightseeing Tours
March 23, 2010
The beautiful Italian city of Florence is world-renowned as the top venue for renaissance art lovers and is an archetypal Tuscan delight. Although commercial Florence sightseeing tours abound, they can be quite rigid in their approach and make you feel part of a herd. Florence easily permits the wandering traveler to independently discover its wonderful attractions.
In Florence, the place to start is the historic centre (centro storico), a vast area crammed with beautiful buildings, statues, landscaped gardens and art just waiting to be discovered. You’ll get more out of Florence sightseeing tours if actually stay there and do short walks to specific venues. Alternatively if your visit to Florence is short, there’s plenty to see in the centro storico.
A top attraction in Florence is the the impressive medieval fortress Palazzo Vecchio (old palace), which serves as Florence’s town hall. From there you’ll get wonderful panoramic views of the whole Florence, in addition to the amazing frescoes and sculptures housed within its exquisite chambers. Right in front of Palazzo Vecchio is the Piazza della Signoria, an al fresco museum containing the Fountain of Neptune overlooked by the statues of Cosimo and David.
Piazza del Duomo is one of the most popular portions of Florence renaissance art sightseeing tours with excellent reasons. St. John’s baptistry, the Opera del Duomo Museum, Loggia del Bigallo and Giotto’s Campanile are all unmissable examples of Florence renaissance art.
In Florence the Ponte Vecchio, an amazing historic bridge over the river Arno, is only a short walk away. This most unusual structure carries tiny but most impressive shops in Florence, most selling gold jewelery in amazing styles. Crossing the Arno takes you to the edge of the centro storico and to the slightly less-well frequented part of Florence known as Oltrarno.
Look out for the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. Piazzale Michelangelo, the highest point in Florence, offers for some great views of Florence. For the more adventurous, through the gate known as Porta Romana, (therefore outside the centro storico) try finding Poggio Reale, Arcetri (Galileo’s area of residence) and Bellosguardo.
Click here for more information on Florence Sightseeing Tours, or visit our European Vacation advice website.