We stayed at Hotel le Renaie for 14 nights for a very special reason, it was our honeymoon.

The hotel is situated in a beautiful location in the middle of the Tuscan countryside in the small village of Pancole, about 10 minutes from San Gimignano by car. Admittedly there is not much within walking distance of the hotel apart from a small church so we hired a car, which was well-worth the money.

The hotel itself is small and family-run and it has a real homely feel. All of the staff are very friendly and will go out of their way for you and most of them spoke very good English. The ladies on the front desk were lovely and very knowledgeable especially when we enquired about train timetables. We saw the owner of the hotel every single night during dinner and it was nice that he was there overseeing things and making sure service ran smoothly.

The hotel room itself was nice and airy and the bathroom looked almost brand new. When we arrived at the hotel we found that we had one of the smaller rooms at the back of the hotel with no balcony or terrace. It would have been nice to have had a terrace but sadly this was not meant to be and by no means did this spoil our stay.

The food was absolutely amazing, it was real home-cooked Tuscan food and we ate 3 courses each night with coffee afterwards. The hotel had a very impressive wine list and we enjoyed a nice bottle of local wine each night with our meal. We had no problems with the waiters/waitresses or their service, unlike some other reviewers, and in fact, they were very friendly and polite and did their job just fine.

The hotel gardens really were beautiful and colourful and there were so many different flowers and plants everywhere. It was lovely to sit in the gardens and read a book and have a drink in the afternoons. You could tell that the hotel and grounds are very well-looked after.

We would definitely recommend hiring a car if you are staying here for more than a couple of days otherwise you may be fairly restricted in where you go. We were able to visit Pisa, Lucca, Volterra, and Sienna, all less than an hour or so’s drive from the hotel. Be warned that parking in some of the towns and cities can be a bit problematic, especially Pisa and Sienna so you may prefer to park and ride. We decided to take the train to Florence, as we didn’t fancy driving (or parking) there and we found this to be a great experience. Italian trains are very efficient! The station is at Certaldo, roughly 15 minutes drive from the hotel and we managed to park the car there for free. It was roughly 40 minutes on the train to Florence and the train station is directly in the city centre so that when you get off the train you are right in the centre of Florence. Train tickets were about £8.00 for a return, which was very cheap considering it can cost that much just to park your car in the outskirts of some places.

Of all the places we visited, our favourite place was nearby San Gimignano (about 10 minutes drive away from the hotel). We absolutely loved it here and spent many an afternoon exploring the quaint little medieval town and its shops. A trip to the top of the tower (Torre Grosse) is a must and there are some great views at the top.

Overall, we had a fantastic honeymoon in Tuscany. Staying for 2 weeks meant that we had enough time to relax but we also did a lot of sightseeing too. You really can do as much or as little as you like here! If you want a nice relaxing holiday in a beautiful green location with great food and wine and a bit of sight seeing thrown in then this is the place for you. Don’t stay here if you are looking for night life, as the hotel had none but this was perfect for us.

We were extremely impressed with Le Renaie and will definitely like to visit again, maybe for a wedding anniversary in the near future.

This is a pleasant hotel in the village of Pancole, about 5 km from the hill towns of San Gimignano and Certaldo.

Very friendly and helpful reception staff. Rooms are simply furnished, clean and comfortable. Air conditioning was a bit noisy, but did the job.

Breakfast buffet was excellent. In the evening, we ate one night at the hotel, and the second at the sister hotel (2 kms away), as the restaurant at Pancole closed on Tuesdays. Food and service was of a high standard at both. Wine list at Pancole was excellent, with a good choice of local wines from the neighbouring vineyards.

Overall a welcoming family run hotel.

Arrived by car from Verrigio, was first given a room in the back, it was like a small box, we upgraded to a room with a balcony at a cost of £30 per night --ouch-.this was supposed to be free through Citilia ??
We were booked for three nights

The food was very disappointing, On the first night we waited for over an hour for the first course, the main course was not a lot quicker arriving, the quality of the food was very poor
I would suggest you stick to the simple meal, forget the a la carte

.The waitress and waiter were just youngsters who really had no idea, they served everyone on a ad hoc basis. terribly disorganised.

The air conditioning didn't work, but having complained they sent the owner of the hotel who tried to fix, but the fan came on but the cold air was not effective and did not work.
The little fridge stocked a variety of drinks, but the fridge was turned so far down the drinks were warm.
I couldn't sleep for two nights because of the constant barking of the family dog and the response from all other dogs in the area, this continued for over 5 hours for the three days, you either close the door and get uncomfortably hot or open the doors and suffer the barking
The location was brilliant, and the gardens lovely, The pool area needs cleaning, but the pool itself was ok.
You can find better hotels in the area.and much better food in the local cafe.
You won't want to spend more than a night here at best.
We were very disappointed,
We did have dinner one night in the sister hotel as the restaurant is closed every Tuesday. different class, first class food and service wish i stayed there instead

We spent 2 nights because we arrived without reservations and they had 2 rooms for only 2 nights available. (It was recommended to us by a family member) This is, as many of similar small hotels are, a family run hotel. We enjoyed the proximity to San Gim, quiet countryside, food and service. We found other nice accomodations for the next 6 nights. Although some people can and will find fault in any hotel, I believe hotels in the region have uniformly high standards that will please most.