The best apartments in Florence

How to find, and reserve, the best rental flats in Florence in every price range and neighborhood

Booking apartments in Florence
www.venere.com
www.booking.com
www.homeaway.comPartner
www.belvilla.orgPartner
www.vrbo.comParnter
www.rentalo.com
www.hotelscombined.com

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Apartments
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More on how apartment rental works in Italy: info, tips, and advice
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Apartments for rent—often referred to by the British terms "flats to let"—are easiest to arrange through a rental consortium like those listed below.

However, you'll sometimes find better deals by contacting people privately in Florence via local papers and the Florence tourist office, which has a list of apartments you can contact directly (though it consists of just-the-bare-facts info: name, address, tel/website, number of rooms, and sometimes prices) as well as names of local rental agencies.

Do a lot of shopping around, ask many questions, look at pictures if you can get 'em. Work with agencies that specialize in that region or city and only ones that will help you find the place you want, not the one they want to sell you. Here are some leads.

Rental agencies and booking sites

Venere.com (www.venere.com) - A generalist booking engine is a great choice for nightly or short-term apartments. This major Italian booking service represents all sorts of accommodations, including apartments. The "self-catering" category (33 apartments in Florence) means the sort of rentals where you make your own bed. "Serviced apartments" (19 flats) are somewhere between an apartment and a hotel: you (usually) get a front desk and maid service (though perhaps not nightly), and includes a mix of hotels with apartment units and residence hotels.

note
I've inserted the Venere.comPartner results for Florence in a frame below, but you may want to open it in a separate window instead, to make things like using your browser's "Back" button easier; if you stay on this page, right click to get a browser functions menu for "back" and such.Booking.com (www.booking.com)- Another key generalist booking engine. Its selection of apartment isn't quite as broad as Venere's (14 apartments in Florence), but well worth looking into—what do you care how broad the listings are if among them is just the place you need?

HomeAway (www.homeaway.comPartner) - Probably the biggest (at least when it comes to Italy), with more than 8,500 rentals in Italy alone, of which around 250 are in Florence.

Belvilla (www.belvilla.orgPartner) - British branch of a Dutch company... but what do you care where they're based? What counts is that Belvilla has a vast catalog—nearly 1,500 properties in Italy, including a dozen in Florence—and, in my experience, some of the best prices on truly stellar rental homes.

VRBO (www.vrbo.comParnter) - The names stands for "Vacation Rentals By Owners," which is (mostly) exactly what this is: it cuts out the middle man or a rental agency (and the attendant fees) by allowing those with rental homes—nearly 200 in Florence—to advertise them directly to potential vacation renters. I say "mostly" because, as you might imagine, plenty of agencies post their offering here as well, but that's OK. So long as you find the right match for you, does the provenance of the perfect vacation home really matter? I've used this service to find everything from a flat in London to a South Carolina beach house.

Rentalo (www.rentalo.com) - More than 120,000 properties around the world, including 165 in and around Florence—how about a frescoed two-bedroom apartment in the city center for €775 a week or €130 a night? (Note that they also list some B&Bs and a whole lot of regular hotels; be sure to click on "Apartment/Condo" in the left-hand column under "Vacation Rental Types" to limit the list to rental apartments.)

Barclay International (www.barclayweb.com) - One of the world's premier rental agencies since 1963. (And yes, "premier" does mean "a bit pricey"). Excellent properties and service, though, throughout the major cities of Western Europe.

Interhome (www.interhome.us) - Thousands upon thousands of apartments and villas across Europe (and, er, Florida).

Villas International (www.villasintl.com) - Long-established agency, with properties in perhaps more countries than any other.

Craigslist.org (www.craigslist.org) - The biggest virtual classifieds section lists short-term rentals all over the world. Be sure to rifle through the craigslists of most major U.S. cities—doesn't matter if you live there or not—because lots of folks post rental ads for their Rome apartment on the Craigslists for New York, Chicago, San Fran, etc.

 

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This material was last updated January 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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