I scoured long and hard to find the perfect hotel in Florence for our family trip. There are tons of choices, but triple or quad rooms can be difficult. We had a little gem of a place on our last trip 15 years ago, but it has since closed.

Hotel Kraft turned out to be another absolute gem! The icing on the cake was a rooftop pool, there are only a handful of hotels in Florence with a pool, let alone a rooftop one with a view of the Duomo!

Hotel Kraft was a short easy walk from Santa Maria Novella train station and we walked it with our luggage no problem. I had booked 2 triple rooms here, my parents with 1 kid and us with the other. They were right across the hall from one another so that was convenient. The rooms were nice and large with high ceilings and a good size modern bathroom.

 

The best part of this hotel though apart from great service, was the rooftop terrace/restaurant/lounge/pool. Just incredible! You can see for miles around and all the key points of Florence, the famous hills beyond the city, the Duomo and the bell tower of the Palazzo Medici. We spent evenings sipping Bellini’s and Perroni’s and enjoyed breakfast each morning al fresco. The last night we had a front row seat for the view of the sun setting on Florence. We only used the pool one day, but it was very enjoyable to have some downtime on a busy sightseeing trip like Italy is. It’s well worth it to take an afternoon to re-charge. And for our competitive swimmer son to get some laps in. We snuck out for a walk into town and shopping (had to go back and get Christmas presents for the boys they had seen earlier), but my parents and kids enjoyed the pool all afternoon. It was never too crowded

The hotel was just off the main center of Florence, but only a 10-15 minute walk to the Ponte Vecchio or Duomo. and just 2 blocks up from the Arno River. We strolled it many times. Walking being a bit difficult for my father, they easily jumped in a cab for a short few minutes ride back and forth when they needed to. We always walked. We visited the Accademia Museum and saw the real David. Then the replicas up at Piazzale Michelangelo and out in front of Palazzo Medici. We shopped on the Ponte Vecchio.

Around the corner from the hotel was our favorite gelateria, B.Ice. This became an afternoon treat and after dinner dessert daily. Within a block there were numerous restaurants, trattorias, etc… you simply cannot go wrong. Starving our first night we tucked into the first one we saw and it turned out to be phenomenal. The hotel recommended another place we went to the next night, also wonderful. The hotel’s restaurant itself was very good as well.

Florence is an incredible city, my favorite city in Italy! Not to be missed on a first time trip to Italy and a great base for day trips to the surrounding splendors of Tuscany.