Florence: Desirée Hotel (2 Star Guesthouse)

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Address: Via fiume 20 , Florence , Italy
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Lonely Planet review

Composed of two mirror-image apartments in a classically bourgeois, 19th-century building, this small, family-run hotel offers remarkable charms at these rates. It's also spitting distance from the train station, which has its own benefits for late-night arrivals and early-morning getaways.

Salmon walls, chandeliers, original mouldings and stained-glass windows onto a bright courtyard make the common areas inviting, if a tad grandmotherly. There are even glass-front cupboards full of knick-knacks, many of which inevitably feature the Virgin Mary. Rooms are airy and pleasant, especially those that face the back of the building; front rooms are more subject to the rumble of traffic in this busy area of the city. An interesting feature here are the tiled floors that grace many of the rooms; original to the building, they are designed to look like oriental carpets. Breakfast is included and served in a bright room that looks out onto a lovely patch of green framed by red-tile roofs.