N4U Guest House Florence

Ottima posizione, stanza grande e bellissima

From beginning to end, our stay at N4U was everything we could have asked. The warm initial greeting, that first look at our grand ‘New York’ room, the wonderful breakfasts — we were in awe. Our spacious room not only provided a good night’s sleep, but was also a comfortable setting to come back to mid-day to recharge for the evening. The air conditioning was certainly a plus for our 5 night stay during a warm week in September. Sure, it was a long walk up those (75?) steps to our room, but this sort of luxury was oh so worth it.

Mixed review. The rooms are large, the location excellent for many activities in town. Breakfast is adequate, although coffee and juice have to be asked for, which rather limits how much you have. The woman handling this speaks very little English, but that’s not a problem further just getting breakfast. After you check in, you won’t see anyone who does speak English. The hosts do provide a phone and email, although mixed results on the latter. The Amenities list “wine and champagne,” and, since we think of amenities as free, you might think they are simply offered. We saw where you could buy them. But the things you really need to know for making the right choice for yourself are these. The “free wi-fi” mostly doesn’t work. When I asked about it (via email) I got a totally BS answer about “there are various wi-fi connections around the building and if you are having a problem you are trying to connect to the wrong one.” I say “BS” because it is. We weren’t “moving around the building.” We were sitting in the same chair or on the bed, using the only wi-fi we were told about it that showed up on our devices. Our cell signal was fair, so not having wi-fi wasn’t a killer, but if you’re counting on WiFi, this is a bad fit further you. And we were just doing basic email and web surfing—I’m not talking about streaming videos or data heavy stuff. You may get on WiFi, but it is off more than it’s on. The other critical piece of info is that there is no lift/elevator. They don’t mention this on the description, but if you dig, you’ll find they describe themselves as “second floor.” Beware Americans—in Europe the ground level floor is ZERO, so “2nd floor” there is what you’ll call 3rd floor. Except in Florence, when some “city code” or “tradition” (I was fuzzy on the story, which was told in a cheerful, “See, we aren’t lying” tone) so that the ground floor can be double high. Bottom line is you’ll go up FOUR long floors to get to you room. Depending on your condition or luggage, that can be a lot (no, no offer of help for luggage). After a long day of site seeing (and plenty of stairs) going up four more flights is a bummer. We found ourselves not wanting to go out again once we made it to the room, so forget changing clothes, freshening up, and going out again. Since early dinners are limited, (many restaurants close between 2ish and 6 or even 7), you may find yourself doing afternoon takeout and eating in. Again, it’s a large and nice room in a great location. If we didn’t feel deceived about the floors, we would feel better about it (but if we had realized it was four flights up, we would have picked something else.)

Location in a historical building is perfect for young couples in a city break, between Duomo and Piazza della Signoria and close to the Piazza della Repubbblica. We have stayed in The Suite a large room with red bricks arcade ceiling, open space with bathtub included in the room. It is a non conventional room but elegant and cozy. A large and confortable king size bed, air conditioning system, fridge wellcome the guests. The guest house looks up to date. The manager was friendly, breakfast italian style. The stairs with no elevator could be a problem for some people. Cleaning service on daily basis.

Location is absolutely excellent, just a few minutes walk from Duomo and Piazza della Repubblica. Be aware that it’s on the Third floor - no lift!! Good to know that this is a small, family-owned guesthouse rather than a hotel. Breakfast is ok, nothing special. The bed was absolutely terrible- if you don’t like a bed that is as firm as a hardwood floor.

It's a fantastic place to stay in a great location to walk to the interest points of Florence. The people that work there are very kind. The room was gorgeous and comfortable with an amazing bathtub.