Hotel Cimabue

My first piece of advice if you’re arriving at the train station in Florence is to foot the 12 euro for a cab to Hotel Cimabue. Accustomed to 30 euro cab rides, we decided to walk the ½ mile or so to our hotel with our luggage, which ordinarily would not have been an issue, but the cobblestone roads and sidewalks of Florence make rolling luggage along them a bit dicey especially when you’re trying to navigate with your phone.
My friend and I purchased a 5-​city vacation package through Groupon that included our accommodations at Hotel Cimabue. Since we purchased our trip at a discount, we set our expectations low. We arrived around 11am and were hoping to check-​in early, but our room wasn’t ready, so the front desk told us we could leave our luggage in an open hallway where it appeared several other travelers had arrived before us and done the same. I was apprehensive leaving all of my luggage in an unmonitored hallway, but didn’t have much of a choice lest we lose 2 hours babysitting our possessions until our room was ready. We secured our bags with luggage locks and went out to get some food and explore the city. We came back at 1pm as suggested and our room still wasn’t ready, so we sat in the lobby and waited another 30 minutes for them to finish. The hotel seems to have just 2 staff members doing all of the cleaning, front desk, and breakfast/​bar.
The hotel as a whole was tiny and only had a handful of rooms, but ours was bigger than expected with tall ceilings and plenty of space for 2 to cohabit comfortably for a few days. Like every other European hotel we visited, our bed was 2 twins pushed together — small, but adequate. The bathroom was small and there was a weird smell emanating from the sink every time we used the water. I have no idea what it was, but it didn’t smell like it belonged there. Also like every other European hotel we visited, there was no shower curtain or wash cloths. Is this where the term «European shower» comes from?
The hotel had the heat cranked since it was December and seasonally chilly. We had no control over the thermostat in our room and opened our window to cool it down, but the cobblestone roads are conducive to extra noise as vehicles go bouncing along, and it was loud to keep the window open through the night.
The free breakfast included various breads with butter and jam, a limited selection of meat and cheese, cereal, fruit cocktail, juices, and coffee. Wifi was free and sufficient for a little bit of evening web browsing.
If you’re not hauling along 50 pounds of luggage, Florence is an entirely walkable city. Of the 5 cities we visited in Europe, it was my favorite. We hoofed it all over the place from Hotel Cimabue. On the day of our departure, we had the reception desk arrange a cab for us. They called a few minutes before we needed to leave and it was only a 7 minute drive or so to the train station.
If you prioritize efficiency over luxury, then you’ll find Hotel Cimabue sufficient for your needs. We got a great deal on the price through Groupon. I would stay again.

Outdated, ugly, old. Doesn’t feel clean, one of the worst hotels. Totally got ripped off from groupon.

Absolute worst hotel I’ve been to. They don’t serve much but not fresh croissants for breakfast, the hotel is completely outdated, understaffed, unclean, and overall a horrible experience.
Also, there was a power outage during one of the two nights I was staying in here.

This hotel was extremely dated, and our room was literally the size of a walk in closet. I read similar reviews on trip advisor but did not think it could possibly be that small until I saw it. You had to step over the toilet to get into the shower. It was in walking distance from the city center which was nice, and the staff was extremely helpful.