Hotel Sampaoli Florence

Reviews and Rates

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4.00

Via San Gallo 14 Florence, Tuscany, Italy, 50129, 39-55-284834

Check Rates and Availability

Check-In:

mm/dd/yyyy
Check-Out:

mm/dd/yyyy
Adults:

Travel Blogs by Travelers Who Stayed at the Hotel Sampaoli Florence
Florence, Galileo and Michaelangelo to name a few

Entry containing 63 photos titled: Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, Florence, crowded market streets in Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Duomo Florence, Florence streets, Florence, Florence, Florence, Piazza Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Galileo's tomb - Florence, Galileo's tomb - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Michaelangelo's tomb - Florence, Michaelangelo's tomb - Florence, Dante's tomb - Florence, Tomb Santa Croce - Florence, Nicolo Machiavelli tomb - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Galileo's Tomb Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Santa Croce - Florence, Florence, Pinocchio - Florence, Wood carving store - Florence, Florence, Plaza Vecchio Florence, Neptune Fountain Florence, Florence, Fake David - Florence, Florence, Florence, Ponte Vecchio Arno - Florence, Arno - Florence, Lucky Boar Florence, Florence, Hotel Sampoli hostel Florence

Florence, Tuscany, Italy heathertx75
Firenze

11:00 am Right now I'm sitting on the train waiting for it to leave, pick up Becka, and head to Paris. Then we have an hour to get to a different train station that will take us to the airport. I'm still not sure why we're doing that. We could easily take the shuttle to Beauvais from Paris. Maybe it's cheaper. We'll see. I was over excited this morning and showed up at the train station an hour early. While waiting I saw the cutest French kids. They were actually wearing berets! It was the fi...

Florence, Tuscany, Italy mamakarpus
Florence!

Hey guys!! Im not going to write a full entry or anything, just wanted to let you know I got to Italy alright. Things here are great so far, were exploring Florence today, taking a wine tour tomorrow, and then going to Cinque Terre (look it up its so cool). Then we go to Venice, then Pisa, then Malta and Sicily! This is going to be an awesome trip. The only problem is I do not speak nor understand a word of Italian. It makes life a little hard but interesting. Im keeping a journal while Im he...

Florence, Tuscany, Italy mamakarpus
Firenze 2

Last night was daylight savings time so we all got to sleep for an extra hour, which was nice. We got up pretty early, got ready, and went to explore Florence. We didn't realize that most of the big stuff is actually very close to each other, so we covered the entire city in one day. We went to a really cool cathedral, and walked through a lot of fun piazzas. We got to see the government building (which looked like a palace), and then somewhere in there we saw the David. That thing is so HUGE...

Florence, Tuscany, Italy mamakarpus
Chianti and Siena

Today we went on a tour of the Chianti region and Siena. This tour was absolutely amazing. We only paid 45 euros for it but it should've cost so much more. We left at 9:30 and headed to Monteriggioni. It's a small town inside of a castle like fortress walls. It was neat. Then we went to Castellina in Chianti, just to look around. It was a cute small town. Then we went to a winery for our wine tasting and light lunch. It was awesome. They not only made wine but honey, olive oil, lavender and r...

Siena, Tuscany, Italy mamakarpus
Cinque Terre

It's Becka's birthday! We woke up way early and caught a train to La Spezia. It's the closest town to Cinque Terre, the 5 cities along the coast we wanted to see. We were really nervous about going actually because the weather report was for rain and that would really just ruin the day. It turned out to be so amazingly beautiful, we were so lucky. From La Spezia we took another train to the first town, Riomaggiore. From there we walked to the next town. They have paths along the coast for peo...

Cinque Terre, Italian Riviera, Italy mamakarpus
Check Rates!

Historical Traveler Reviews of Hotel Sampaoli Florence

Unfriendly Service Except for Leonardo

from A TripAdvisor Member
Hotel Sampaoli is a simple hotel right at the center of major sites in Florence. It is also fairly close to the Santa Maria Station (make sure your train stops there and not at the Campo di Marte station which is farther). Make sure that as soon as you get there, you greet the reception with "buon giorno" (good morning), or "buena sera" (good-afternoon or good-evening) if you want better service. This hotel has little rooms and showers. It is basic but okay if all you need is a bed and a hot shower (if you are going to be out sightseeing all day). Leonardo was very helpful with showing us the major attractions on a free map of Florence. He also recommended good restaurants (we liked ZaZa and Garibaldi - ask him about them). There is no breakfast nor Internet included, but you can find a cheap Internet place closeby at Via Taddea at 1.5 Euros an hour (all other places around there charge up to 3 Euros an hour). Leonardo might not know about this place. We found it when we were walking around. The hotel does offer cheap and good Italian espresso (little cups) for 50 cents. Close to a place where you do laundry (ask Leonardo about this self-service lavanderia), there is a little "bar" nearby at the corner where they have good and cheap cappucinos for 1 Euro a cup and some cheap sandwiches. The house is a very old house (about 1,000 year-old). It smells. The other people working in the hotel reception were not very friendly. There is a McDonald's close to the train station. Ask for a map there and it comes with 2-for-1 coupons (be warned that Leonardo hates McD's, although he listens to North American music). Note that people in Florence are very traditional and not so open as in Rome. Nevertheless, it is worth the history and all of the art. Don't buy jewellery at the Ponte Vecchio shops unless you have a lot of money to blow. The central market in Florence is a great place to find cheap and good quality olive oils, balsamic vinegar, wines, limoncellos, etc, but be sure to look around first because prices vary considerably from one store to another (same with service). Ask first if they accept credit card as many stores don't. Other tips that we learned about which you might find useful are: * Make sure you validate your bus/train ticket before getting on or you can be fined about 30 Euros per person if checked. * Call your museums/galleries/destinations directly for reservations or you can be charged up to triple the price if you go through a third party. * Bring some Euros with you until you can get to a bank or ATM machine in Rome. * Check out the menus at restaurants before sitting down because prices vary considerably from place to place and you don't want to feel ripped off (we paid huge $ for places that looked cheaper and reasonable $ for great food at other places that had an expensive look).

Excellent Find!

from A TripAdvisor Member
I stayed at the Hotel Sampaoli in Sept. 2005 in a 3 bedroomed room, and it was excellent! Considering the priced being paid for the room, I was surprised to see how spacious and well-furnished it was. The staff were a great help, and the hotel is situated in a safe area. Only disadvantage with the place is that when you first try to find it, you may walk passed it if you don't look sharply enough for the discreet hotel sign (as happened to us for 10 minutes!). Great place for travellors and couples, although the narrow entrance staircase may not be so good for large families. Will certainly use this hotel again upon returning to the city, and would definitely recommend it.

What a great fun place!!!

from A TripAdvisor Member
This is a cute, simple hotel/hostel.

Rooms are clean, staff was helpful, location is great. I had a good time. Thank you !!!

Convenient little place, but...

from Euromoney
Generally a good place. I stayed here with my parents on a trip in early Oct 2005. The rooms were clean and small to medium size - not bad for a hotel in a medieval city where a lot of the buildings aren't built with modern hotel standards/sizes in mind. The staff were friendly and they offered us a discount as we were staying for 7 nights which they considered a long time. The advertised free internet access was off though which they didn't tell us until we arrived - due to "terrorist activities" apparently (!!) The only problem, and it's quite a big one, is that depite being VERY clean, some kind of insect(s) were living in my bed. I woke up on several mornings with very itchy lumps on my legs, hands and face. At first I put it down to mosquitos the evening before, but one morning just before we left I caught and killed a tick-like insect which had been running across my pillow - it had just bitten me. My parents also compained of bites in their room although they were less badly affected and are sure it was mosquitos - who knows? They need to burn their matresses! Otherwise not a bad spot

Nice & Clean

from jasse
We stayed at Hotel Sampaoli for a couple of nights in August 2004. This hotel is small and cozy. Our room has a ceiling fan which keep us cool in the summer. The staff is cool and welcoming. We had a shared double room and the bathroom is clean and is always available. Good location from the train station and the Accademia Galleria. Only downside is it's on the 3rd floor of the building and the stairs are pretty narrow (I guess it's quite typical in Florence).

Hotel Sampaoli Stay

from A TripAdvisor Member
I stayed here for a few nights at the beginning of June, 2004. The double room was very cozy with dark wood furniture and soft lighting (65 euros). The reception was friendly and welcoming. I will stay here again the next time I visit Florence.

Great small hotel in Florence!

from A TripAdvisor Member
This is a great hotel in florence. It's located only a few blocks from the train station and the duomo. It's clean, and has a good amount of character. The staff is friendly & helpful. The price is about 60 euro for a double room with a bathroom (no breakfast).

This place is very highly recommended! I'd go back in an instant!

Cozy, but a bit noisy

from A TripAdvisor Member
We stayed 2 nights at this hotel in the beginning of June 2004, we had booked the room 2 months in advanced using recommendations from this site. The hotel is located only two blocks away from the central market, a ten minute walk from the train station and a few blocks from the center of the city in a slightly seedier part of town but very convient for getting around and a well-lit restaurant next door. The hotel is located on a second floor with no elevator. Our room was somewhat small but nice for 2 people, with a nice-size closet, a double bed (with the usual two beds put together), TV, and a couple of chairs. The bathrooms are adequate but lack a shower curtain and tub, so the water splatters everywhere when you shower. Also, if you shower for more that 2 min, the water tends to cool down significantly. So if you're a couple, the second person will get luke warm, if not cold, water.

3 of the 15 rooms are located right outside the lobby, AVOID THESE ROOMS (we were in #5) because or the early and late night reception noise. When we asked to move, the only available room was down the hall over a loud late night restaurant. The young staff seems to rotate so often that we only saw the same person once in the 2 1/2 days we stayed at the hotel, but they all seem to speak English and are friendly. If it hadn't been for the loud lobby, the sand paper-like towels(which we had to request to be changed since they were stained when we checked in, and were not changed the next morning), and the annoying wet floor from the shower, we think we would have liked our stay better. They do have internet access by the lobby and you can burn your digital pics at no charge, which is a rarity in Europe.

Great little place

from rrz518
Very pleasant little place. Quite, safe, and CLEAN.

Staff was always friendly and available if needed. Room was tiny, but immaculate. I used the "shared bath" which was fine.

Neighborhood was quiet, and seems very safe. Don't let the funky stairs leading up to the place dissuade you; once you get in, it's bright, very clean, and very comfortable.

Excellelent value, helpful staff

from A TripAdvisor Member
We just spent a pleasant few days in Florence staying at the Sampaoli.

It's a small two star on the traditional Italian model - an upstairs appartment (in this case a duplex) in a very old building by the University, 100 yards from the Piazza San Marco and about 10 minutes walk from the Duomo or the rail station. This is a lovely neighbourhood of narrow streets, with plenty of bars and restaurants, as well as the wonderful covered market (Mercato Centrale) for all your gastronomic needs. The hotel itself is an interesting mix of student funky (young English-speaking staff, free internet, small library of books in English) and Italian trad (individually decorated rooms with nice solid Italian furnishings and tastefully framed Florentine prints on the walls). Most rooms have en suite showers/WCs although there isn't air conditioning (fans provided as well as mosquito nets on the windows).

If you want A/C ask about their annex a few streets further north. For the price we thought it was pretty wonderful - mainly because in peak season the Florentines arte often pretty brusque with tourists and these people were quite the reverse. (You get your own set of keys to the building so none of that bell-ringing stuff.)
Check Rates!

Check Rates and Availability

Check-In:

mm/dd/yyyy
Check-Out:

mm/dd/yyyy
Adults:
Click here for best prices for Hotel Sampaoli

Travel Research

Adults:
Check-In:

mm/dd/yyyy
Check-Out:

mm/dd/yyyy

Click each "Check Rates" button to view the sites you selected.

You have checked  of  sites

    Africa | Asia | Australasia | Europe | Middle East | North America | South America | Central America | Caribbean

    Copyright © 1997 - 2009 TravelPod.com, a proud founder of travel blogs on the web. All Rights Reserved.