Hotel Helvetia & Bristol

My fiancé and I had an incredible stay at the Helvetia & Bristol hotel in Florence. The location is excellent, rooms are clean and spacious and the guest relations team really went above and beyond our expectations. We will certainly come back!

We arrived at the hotel on an afternoon for a 3 night stay. All photos I have seen of the interior suggest that it is quite light in the reception areas but in fact its quite dark-not a real problem, just an observation. Reception staff were excellent, friendly and knowledgable. We were quite surprised by the size of the room we were allocated; we were expecting a much larger room in a 5* hotel. For 3 nights this was OK but I’d suspect for a longer stay this could be somewhat claustrophobic. Possibly on booking again I would ask what the room size would be. Otherwise the room was OK and functional. The bathroom was well stocked with the toiletries and towels etc. but one thing I didn’t like was the fact that the shower was in the bath, which means climbing in and out, not something you would want to do on “getting older”. Again something to check when booking. Its a fabulous location for getting to all the locations you would likely want to see in Florence, easy to walk anywhere from here. On our last night we chose to eat in the hotel’s restaurant. A good menu with plenty to choose from with some vegetarian options as my wife is a veggie. I ordered the “Squash Soup” and was amazed by the taste and texture. Can honestly say I have never had a soup like this (other than I have made at home). I had to ask if they had used some meat stock in making, it but I was assured there was not. Absolutely delicious. For the main course I had the 40 day aged steak cut into strips and cooked rare to medium and served with creamed mashed potatoes and some seasonal veg. Can’t fault it other than I had to ask for the vegetables as they didn’t turn up initially. Again absolutely delicious. As for the rest of the hotel, the restaurant staff were friendly and very professional. On one day, we chose to use the spa for a couple of hours in the afternoon. A friendly helpful team here too. My only comment was that while in the large jacuzzi, there was a young woman with her phone and I think she was either filming herself or the jacuzzi; I was a little concerned that I might be in her video so on leaving, I raised this with the spa staff. There was little they could do as phones are permitted in the spa. Checkout was efficiently handled and the bill clearly explained; they called a taxi and this arrived within a few minutes Thank you for reading my review. A great hotel and would love to stay again.

Excellent hospitality, beautiful rooms , kind staff, fantastic location . I would just to suggest for better croissants for breakfast etc … if done by Massari pasticceria , the result is a big delusion !!! They taste as de-frozen !!! I couldn’t try the spa , I had no time for it … in any case it should be free for guests and not on payment!!

Awesome customer service. Location perfect. Very enjoyable. Concierge, Sarah, very helpful. Check-in easy. Provided recommendations of where to eat and what to see. Set up ride to train station upon departure. Room amazing. Highly recommend

Absolutely beautiful hotel! Our room was spacious and lovely, and the service was outstanding. The location of this hotel is perfect. It was very easy to walk to many of the interesting sites in Florence. We would highly recommend staying here!