Hotel Helvetia & Bristol

We booked two nights right before our wedding day, and everyone was so helpful! We had a beautiful, super clean room with all the right amenities - location was perfect, close to everything - and to relax the day after the big event, we had a wonderful room-service brunch (definitely way after the official breakfast times but the kitchen was so accommodating and understanding!) and an amazing spa sesh! All of the staff was so wonderful at handling our stress and did everything in their power to ease the nerves! Grazie mille everyone, we felt so welcomed and can't wait to come back for our anniversary!!

You can look at all of the beautiful pictures on line and read about all of the wonderful and unique amenities.....what separates this hotel from others is the people. We are fortunate to have stayed in countless hotels for multiple days over our seven plus decades.....the staff at Helvetia & Bristol (and by that we mean every member of that staff, not just a few people) are more professional and more caring and more friendly than any other staff that we have experienced during those years. If you are coming to Firenze, stay here....you will love it.

I stayed in the Helvetia & Bristol before its renovation. So, I was truly surprised to see how this darling hotel had taken off. The renovation has expanded it and made it even more luxurious and welcoming. It has a spa now, which is always a plus when you’re going to run miles and miles around Florence. It was beautifully presented and stopped by a group of wonderful professionals. My room was beyond lovely. I had one of the suites that was so comfortable and so luxurious I truly didn’t want to leave. Breakfast down in the restaurant is always a treat at the hotel. I love everything about that room-the silk wallpaper, the gorgeous tile, and the luxurious velvet seating just provide a wonderful way to wake up over a cappuccino. The breakfast was beautifully presented and delicious. Sara also deserves praise. She helped us navigate the reservations and find a reliable guide for the Uffizzi. She was patient and knowledgeable and kind. On the whole, I cannot imagine a better hotel for location, luxury or amenities than the Helvetia & Bristol. I have stayed at many other hotels in Florence over the years and would not hesitate to return to Helvetia.

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.