Hotel Bavaria

Housed under the eaves of the fine 17th-century Palazzo di Ramirez di Montalvo, this cosy inn provides rooms in the heart of Florence at remarkably reasonable prices. The catch is, you need to plan well in advance, especially if you want to stay between May and July.

To reach the hotel, you must mount several long flights of the original vaulted staircase. Enjoy views onto the elegant courtyard as you develop your quads. On the way up, you also pass the offices and storage facilities of Casa d'Aste, a large art auction house - an appropriate touch in the city of art. Inside the hotel, low beamed ceilings and ochre walls lend common areas a certain cosiness. Rooms themselves vary in size and shape, but tend to be large for this price range. They are decorated with antiques of varying degrees of authenticity; a number have the original beamed ceilings as well as bits and pieces of centuries-old frescoes.