Hotel Saulina

Decent for money. Not as advertised.

I stayed here 3 nights in September 2008 This hotel is advertised on Hotels.com as being a 4-star hotel. While I was there, I watched a very dissatisfied customer complain to the front desk that this does not appear to be 4-star quality. The front-desk response was "No, of course not. This is a 3-star hotel". He complained that his room safe was just resting in his closet, and not attached to the wall. He also had a long list of maintenance and cosmetic complaints with his room. I found the rooms to be decent. I had a "King" bed, but it was really just 2 singles pushed together. The front desk staff was extremely helpful. They provided me with sightseeing advice, train transport advice and very friendly service. They recommended that I drive (they also can arrange transport, but I have a car) to the nearby train station (4KM) and take the train to Florence. This was good advice. Much better than driving to Florence. Also took an easy train trip to Pisa. No internet in the rooms. There is free wifi in the lobby (which is in a separate building from the rooms). If you don’t have a laptop computer, you can rent their computer in the lobby (4 euros/hour, I think). We used their on-site laundry. 5 euros includes washer and soap. There is no dryer. We used their clothesline. We did not eat any meals at the hotel except the free breakfast (pretty good). Nearby restaurant La Luna was one of our favorite restaurants in all of Italy. Just a local, inexpensive place that’s about a mile from the hotel.

great value friendly staff

The saulina is a lovely hotel /villa located 15km from florence. You need a car if you stay here as the road is busy but only a couple of km to the railway station which is really cheap to get into florence. They have 2 pools and a pool bar only 4 euros for a big pizza really reasonable. The staff were helpfull and freindly and the wine groves is directly outside your window. We found this a great place to explore chianti we later went to viareggio to another accomodation and found the saulina area to be by far the best. Note there are a couple of cats that can come in to the open air restaurant we waiters do there best to keep them away. The food in the restaurant is great not the usual pizza restaurants you seem to get everywhere else and the wine is very drinkable and local. Its very good value for money and we will go back. Note there is also apartments for hire.

Tranquil and

Really enjoyed our stay. Though only one menu (many choices though) for our duration the food and wine were excellent. The setting was tranquil and we recommend the hotel. Room had aircon. Used the hotel as a base and did not use the pools or anything Make sure you have a car and satnav

Traveller's tip

A few miles to the station then train it in to Florence. Much easier and cheap