The balcony view was the main draw in the booking for us. And we were right. In the warmer weather it would be lovely to sit out here for a lot longer. We did manage it across a few days even in winter, especially if the sun was on the balcony and we were in. At night it’s a magical view too. You can see some of the city wall from the balcony too. Santa Croce wasn’t a very busy square so some nice gentle people-watching. Watch some Medici documentaries before coming or there and visit the sites. Adds to the experience.
Back to the apartment, we had heavy bags - I seemed to remember a lift being mentioned somewhere but that was an error or wishful thinking on my part. So happy to have had some help carrying one upstairs. Coming down, I took a couple of packing cubes down separately which eased the load and I popped them into the bag when downstairs. Easy. The four flights of stairs kept us fit. The Duomo was genuinely easy after two weeks of regular climbing across a couple of accommodations like that.
The apartment is traditional, with the view grabbing points massively.
It was a short walk from Duomo and within a good radius from other sites. We came back for midday breaks. For anyone with these dietary requirements, we found a lot of gluten-free and veg menu restaurants in San Lorenzo which is about 10-15mins walk onwards the centre. The host recommended One and it was a lovely place.
This one comment is a generic one about flats in Europe we have stayed at - In cold weather, European apartments that have stone tiles can be really uncomfortably cold, so here we padded around in double socks until we found the thermostat in the hallway to help us keep a little warm. I did have a down jacket as well, but come prepared with additional clothing is the guidance in case you feel the cold easily outside and in, and ask hosts about heating or extra blankets etc if going in the cold. We stayed in another place where it never warmed up, even though smaller, and in fact, the circuit shorted every time we tried to warm the place up. I ended up wearing a fleece in bed! (It wasn’t in this apartment)
I had a confusion with Airbnb numbers and a missed deadline awaiting responses, so that’s the only thing that marred an otherwise charming stay at a traditional flat place, with an awesome balcony!
We loved the small touches that helped the stay be more comfortable. Thanks to the hosts for their thoughtfulness.