These are notes on Siena hotels that I made for for a trip that I'm planning in April of 2006. I'm a computer scientist and, other than as a consumer, I have no connection to the travel industry. No one paid me to include their hotel on this web page. Only hotels that have information on the web have been listed. You should do your own "due diligence" before staying at any of these hotels. If you have experience with any of these hotels, I would appreciate it if you would drop me an email (click on the mailbox icon at the bottom of the page).
After looking at a number of well reviewed hotels in Venice, the options in Siena seem much more limited. While I have not listed a few expensive hotels, the list of hotels on this web page includes a sizable fraction of the hotels that are close to Siena. The hotels that sound attractive to me are listed at the top. Sadly many of the hotels got either bad reviews or mixed reviews from people who have stayed there in the past. Siena hotels are also more expensive than I expected. Perhaps because competition is limited, especially for the better ones, they all tend to charge €90 or more per night for a single. These prices are only slightly less expensive than Venice. This came as a surprise because Venice has a reputation for being one of the most expensive cities in Italy.
Prices listed here are for April 2006 and for a single (sadly, I travel alone). I used The Barefoot Guide to Siena & the heart of Tuscany as a reference for this web page. I've only listed hotels that are within walking distance of the Siena city center. All hotels listed have rooms with private baths. You should verify the prices yourself. Some of the prices listed here come from the Tuscany Net web site, which is not always accurate. Some hotels have as many as four different pricing "seasons", so pricing depends on when you go. I would guess that during the Palio season (the Siena horse race), there could be a surcharge.
The city of Siena has a web page, http://www.terresiena.it which includes a hotel listing page that can be used to select hotels by rating (e.g., 2-star, 3-start, etc...). The web page also includes various tourist links as well.
Residenza
d'Epoca Palazzo Fani Mignanelli (Tuscany Net), Residenza d'Epoca
Palazzo Fani Mignanelli web page
Via Banchi di Sopra, 15
53100 Siena
Tel. +39+(0)577+283566
This is a very attractive hotel near the heart of the Siena City center (two meters away from the Piazza Del Campo). The hotel has 11 rooms.
The one review on www.tripadvisor.com was very favorable:
We spent one week in this charming small hotel in Siena. The hotel is on the 3th floor of a building and has a lift. The rooms were very nice, clean, and well equipped. The hotel is located on the main shopping street and just a few steps from the Piazza del Campo. It is one of my favorite hotels in Italy and a great value.
Other reviews I've seen on the Internet are very favorable as well.
I will always have good memories of my stay at the Residenza d'Epoca. I stayed at the Residenza d'Epoca for five nights and can recommend the hotel highly. The rooms are large and elegant. They have a couch which I liked because it gave me a place to read after a long day walking around. The room had an in-room mini-bar and they did not charge me for bottled water (admittedly a minor thing, but still a nice touch). The Residenza d'Epoca is located in the central shopping area and the crowds can be thick. The windows are double glazed (two sheets of glass) to keep the noise down. My room was in direct line of sight to a small cell phone tower, so the cell phone reception was excellent (in Venice I had to go outside to get use my cell phone).
The small size and the wonderful staff at the Residenza d'Epoca make you feel like you're a guest at a friend's home. The rate for my room included breakfast, which was good (coffee latte, blood orange juice, bread and salami).
When I had a problem Signora Cinzia at the front desk went out of her way to help get it corrected. I had a wonderful time talking to her colleague Signore Libero, although at times when we got to complex topics we both used his Italian/English dictionary.
The only thing that I lacked was an Internet connection, but there is an internet cafe not far away from the Residenza d'Epoca.
€90 for a single
Maps courtesy of http://it.mappe.yahoo.net
Hotel Arcobaleno
Via Fiorentina 32/40
53100, Siena, Italy
Tel. +39 0577 271 092
This small hotel is located outside the Siena city walls, about a 15 or 20 minute walk to the walls, which are then a ways from the Piazza Del Campo city center. Although I noted that the hotels listed here are within walking distance of Siena, I've included this hotel because it is so highly reviewed on www.tripadvisor.com. According to the reviews there is a bus stop very near the hotel, which for €1 will take you into Siena. The hotel also has a rather remarkable restaurant that is built into an old brick silo, with three floors.
€99 for a single.
Palazzo
Ravizza
Pian dei Mantellini, 34
53100 Siena
Tel. +39 0577 280462
This 30 room hotel is recommended in Charming Small Hotel Guide Tuscany and Umbria. They note, as I've discovered, that there are not a lot of good hotels in Siena. This hotel is very elegant and has recently been renovated.
€130 for a single
Hotel Santa
Caterina (Tuscany Net), Hotel Santa Caterina web
page
Via E.S.Piccolomini 7
Tel. 0577 221105
The Hotel Santa Caterian is classified as a three star hotel. It has 22 rooms. The Hotel is located just outside the walls of Siena, about a 15-20 minute walk to the Piazza del Campo. Breakfast is supposed to be very good, with a friendly staff. Especially after the decorating excesses of The Serene Republic (Venice), Hotel Santa Caterina is a welcome change with it's tasteful decor.
€98 per night for a single
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com where largely favorable. The only consistent comment was to try to get a room overlooking the garden rather than the street, since the street side rooms are noisy.
Hotel
Piccolo Oliveta (Tuscany Net), Hotel Piccolo
Oliveta web page
Via E.S.Piccolomini 35
Siena Toscana Italia
tel 0577.283930
This hotel is next door to the Hotel Santa Caterina, in a old converted farm house (e.g., like the Hotel Santa Caterina, it is about a 15 to 20 minute walk from the Piazza del Campo. It is classifed as a three star hotel. According to the Tuscany Net web page, the rooms have internet connections. This is not mentioned on the Hotel Piccolo Oliveta web page (which may be out of date).
€114 per night for a "double room, single use"
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com are largely very favorable.
Hotel Villa
Liberty (Tuscany Net), Hotel Villa
Liberty
Viale Vittorio Veneto 11
Siena, 53100
Phone +39 0577 44966
The Hotel Liberty is a ten minute walk from the Piazza del Campo. The hotel is classed as a three star hotel. The hotel has 19 rooms.
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com are very favorable. The worst thing that was said about the hotel was that some rooms had street noise and that they were charged for a second cappuccino.
€76 euros per night for a single.
Hotel Alex
Via G. Gigli, 5
53100 Siena Italy
Tel. +39 0577 282 338
I have been unable to find any reviews of Hotel Alex on the web. It is a three star hotel, located just outside the Siena walls, about 800 meters from the Piazza del Campo.
€85 for a single
Hotel
Antica Torre (Tuscany Net), Hotel Antica Torre
web page
Via di Fiera Vecchia 7
53100 SIENA
Tel. 0577 222255
The Hotel Antica Torre is classed as a three star hotel. The Hotel is located near the center of Siena (Piazza Del Campo). This little hotel is in an old Tuscan tower, with four floors (no elevator). It has only eight rooms. Each room has it's own bath.
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com were somewhat mixed. The most recent reviews were favorable.
€90 per night for a single (does not include breakfast, which is an extra €7)
Hotel Il Giardino
(Tuscany Net), Hotel Il Giardino
Web page
Via Baldassarre Peruzzi 33
Siena, 53100
Tel. +39-0577-285290
This is a modern style hotel, near Siena's city center. The hotel has a pool and an excercise center with free weights. I reminds me of places I've stayed when I've traveled on business, although the rooms have wood floors which makes them more charming than the standard business hotel room. But this is Siena and the hotel seems to lack the charm of this beautiful city.
€50 to 90 for a single.
This hotel got two good reviews on www.tripadvisor.com. The hotel is in a remarkable building. A mix of elegance with classic frescos. The only problem with this hotel from the point of view of a single traveler is that all of the rooms are doubles. As a result, there is only a small difference between the double and single rates.
The hotel is located 800 meters from the city center, outside the walls.
€100 to 115 for a double, single use.
The Il Casato is located in the 14th Century Palazzo Bardi. There are 18th century inlaid marble floors. The hotel is about 300 meters from the Piazza del Campo.
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com were mixed. The best that was said about this hotel was that it was reasonably priced and near the city center, but nothing to write home about. Although one person did comment that they really liked it.
€80 per night for a single
Hotel Villa Piccola Siena (Tuscany Net)
The Hotel Villa Piccola Siena has 13 double rooms. The Tuscany Net web site claims that the hotel is located close to the Siena city center. However, according to the reviews on www.tripadvisor.com, the hotel is a 20 minute walk to the city center. The rooms have internet connections. Because all of the rooms are doubles, this makes the Hotel Villa Piccola Siena an expensive choice for the single traveler.
€75 to 110 for a single. The season breakdown is remarkable complex for this hotel. April is broken into two different pricing catagories. So it is difficult to tell what the actual price would be.
Hotel Moderno (Tuscany net) (I could not find a custom web page for Hotel Moderno).
The Hotel Moderno is located about a ten minute walk from the Siena city center. It is classed as a three star hotel and has 62 rooms.
The customer reviews on www.tripadvisor.com were not terribly favorable. A number of people commented that although the hotel is named Moderno, it is badly in need of an update.
€70 per night for a single.
Hotel
Duomo (Tuscany Net), Hotel Duomo web
page
Via Stalloreggi, 38
53100 Siena
Tel. + 39 (0577) 289088
The Hotel Duomo is located about 300 meters from the Piazza del Campo in an old mansion. It has 23 rooms and is classified as a three star hotel.
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com were not terribly favorable.
€104 per night for a single.
Hotel
Chiusarelli (Tuscany Net), Hotel Chiusarelli web
page
Viale Curtatone, 15
53100 Siena
Telephon +39 0577 280 562
The Hotel Chiusarelli is located about 300 meters from the Siena city center. The hotel has 49 rooms, with Internet connections. They have a number of interesting tours, including a tour of the Chianti cellers (tour of Brunello).
The drawback of this hotel is that it is located near the football (to those in the US, soccer) stadium and a busy street. So the area is not as quiet as some hotels.
The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com are mixed. One disgruntled customer commented that the rooms are decorated in "college dorm style" and that the front desk staff was not helpful. Several people commented on the noise.
About €80 euros per night for a single