Friday, August 12, 2011

NH Collection Firenze Porta Rossa (Florence, ITALY)

NH Collection Firenze Porta Rossa was one of my favorite hotels on this trip to Italy. I have always liked restoration projects on historic architectures and this is a prime example of that (12th century building), and a pretty successful one too I might add.




The hotel has a nice mix of modern elegance and classical design. The designers did well to keep a good chunk of history intact including the old lanterns, sculptures, glass windows and even an ancient elevator (which probably did not work anymore) from the renaissance times.




The hotel rooms were spacious in Italian standard. They managed to throw in a contemporary design and made it work to perfection. 



Breakfast was just adequate but it was the breakfast hall that created all kinds of buzz. What a magnificent place they've got here for breakfast and it has certainly put a smile on our faces every morning when we had breakfast here during our stay!





The location however was the main reason that we picked NH Porta Rossa in the first place. It's just steps from the Arno river and Salvatore Ferragamo Museum; and the rest of the tourist attractions were not too far off.

 

As much as we love this place, there were still some shortcomings that should be noted in case one's considering staying here:

For one, Wifi connection - internet passwords are given out at the hotel reception for 30 minutes free of charge. Then you need to ask for another password again and again. (That's why you see all these people wandering around the reception area at night.). For unlimited access in the rooms, it is chargeable. This is a bit annoying, why not simply make the wifi free to everyone?

Secondly, some of the rooms including ours, are facing a back alley and it could get pretty noisy in the morning when the garbage truck came to pick up rubbish from the night before.



Just a word of advice if you are arriving by car: There's a valet parking service at €25 per night which isn't bad at all. BUT do not attempt to drop your car in front of the hotel because you may never find it! The hotel is located in a pedestrian area with restricted access (and too many one-way roads in the proximity). Simply drop the car near the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum by the river and let the hotel know (the license plate number) so someone will come and pick it up.

Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Price: €€€
Address: Via Porta Rossa, 19, 50123 Firenze, Italy
Tel: +39 055 271 0911
Website: www.nh-collection.com/it/hotel/nh-collection-firenze-porta-rossa


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