A good choice!

We arrived in Florence by train and without a hotel reservation. The information office at the station put us in touch with the Europa Hotel. We were very pleased with it -- attractively decorated room, good breakfast, helpful service and attention from owner Gassim. The travel agency two doors away looked after later train reservations for us. The hotel was within walking distance of most of the main attractions and some very good restaurants. We would definitely return.

Best Hotel in Italy

I traveled in Italy for three weeks recently and stayed in eight different hotels, and Hotel Europa in Florence was the best of all for its price. It really was an incredible deal for all of the amenities they provided, but the best part was the helpful and kind staff, who is the family who owns the place.

The breakfast (included in the room rate) was great and had actual OJ (which was hard to find in Italy). The free (!) internet was a godsend and easy to use. The safety deposit box in the room was free as well. AND the best part was the mini-fridge in the room, which is a great money-saver if you buy water and sodas for cheap at a grocery store and store it for your stay instead of throwing away all your leftovers (saved us a bit of money during our stay in Florence, coca cola is VERY expensive there!) Lastly, I should mention the A/C (included in the room rate) which you can control via remote. The location was great as well, 3 blocks from a very easy to use (for us non-fluent Italian speakers) laundry place which had internet and cheap sodas (!). (Europa supposedly has laundry service but we opted to do our own.) The Duomo was down the street, as was the Accademia, and the bus to the train station was right across the street.

I can't say enough good things about the hotel. (They also have an elevator!) Best bang for your buck.

-Jenny He

The Europa was a hit with us!

We had a great time in Florence and the Europa was a big part of it. Wonderful rooms, but even more of a treat was the personal attention we received from Gassim and staff. Very helpful, and always good advice.

We stayed in the suites in July of 2004, with a family of five and had big, high-ceiling rooms with frescos on the ceiling. Although facing a busy street, our second floor rooms were quiet because of the thick walls and double windows.

Breakfasts were good, and we give the capuccino an "A"

Great value, nice people; we will stay there again on our next visit.

Lucked out with Hotel Europa

Florence - Hotel Europa, Suite 39, E140 for a suite (2 HUGE bedrooms one with a queen bed and one with 2 twin beds), huge private bathroom with a jet-massage shower, breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30, small refrigerator, and air conditioning. This was right off Via Cavour and about a 5 minute walk to the Duomo. Our favorite thing about the suite was that all our ceilings had original 16th-century frescos. The hotel was very quiet and having that large suite to ourselves was most luxurious! I'm not sure the regular rooms in the hotel are as nice... they were on a different floor and did not look to be as beautiful or large.

Word of warning - we had booked with Hotel Casci back in January and had confirmed in late May and received a confirming response from them. However, when we arrived they claimed to have had an email problem and had no room for us, despite the email I was holding dated only 2 weeks earlier. They quickly saw that I was going to pitch a fit in front of several of their customers and walked us over to Hotel Europa where we were given this gorgeous suite I described above for 5E less than we would have paid for a single room at Hotel Casci.

A hidden gem

This little 2 star hotel is upstairs on the Via Cavour, just a few minutes from the major tourist sites. We were there in May and agree with what other tripadvisors have reported. The rooms with a view from the back are delightful - ours had a lovely small balcony - and yes, the bathrooms are pretty tight - just big enough. The breakfast is the one area that could stand a little upgrade - too many items in packets.

We would agree totally with the comments about Mr. Gassim. A charming and totally helpful host, who made us sorry that our stay was so brief.

Great location, warm hospitality, comfortable rooms

We'd stay again at Hotel Europa and Suites in a heartbeat. We found the hospitality to be the finest we've experienced in Italy while the location, between the Duomo and the Academy, is perfect. Because they are situated on upper floors and far back from the street, guest rooms are unusually quiet. Small refrigerators are part of the deal--they're not minibars, as the hotel isn't selling anything but actually provides bottled water for free. Internet access also comes free of charge.

Two types of rooms are available, and we stayed in both during our four-night visit. The standard rooms are spacious, have lovely views of Brunelleschi's Dome and Giotto's Bell Tower, and small baths with tiny, funky showers. The suites, one floor lower, come with fancier furnishings and large marble bathrooms. Best of all is Mr. Gassim, the gracious proprietor who tried, successfully, to make our stay as pleasant as possible.