My husband and I recently stayed at the Hotel Panorama for three nights. Although we had a heck of a time finding it walking from the train station, once we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. The employees at the front desk were not super friendly, but cordial and helpful. Our room was very simple, but clean and we had a lovely terrace to sit on with a great view of the city. Walking to the main attractions in Florence took about a half hour at most and the highlight of our trip was probably finding the central market with all sorts of very affordable meats/cheeses/fruits/vegetables which we bought and brought back to the room to eat on the terrace. I would definitely recommend this hotel for people looking for an affordable place to stay in Florence.

We stayed here in June 05. The hotel is more a block of self contained appartments, which has it's pros and cons.

The hotel was scarily clean and the room was in prestine condition, had all the facilities you could want with Air-Con and a great view.

We found the train to be a bit of a noisy distraction even with the windows shut but our sleep was undisturbed.

This hotel is great for exploring tuscany with a car. If you want to catch the train to florence (9.40 and 11.40) you can't be lazy and must be prepared to get up in the mornings, else you will have a wasted day. The old figline town (3 min walk) is quite nice, with some great restaurants. Check out the restaurant past the main square in the 4* hotel - a magic venue.

We found the owner to be unfriendly, cold and cynical - which isn't great if you are not clued up on the area.

I couldn't reccomend this hotel for Florence, and certainly not by car - If you want to travel around tuscany however, it's great and good value.

We stayed at the Residence Panorama in March of 2005. We traveled completly by train trough Italy, so we had a little confusion once we arrived at the main train station in Florence as to which train to take to get to Figline Valdarno. It is a small train, so it can get packed and most of our trips to and from Figline/Florence we had to stand for 20-25 minutes. It cost roughly $2(US) for a single ticket one-way. If you don't have a car, the train is your only alternative into Florence as a cab ride is $60-80(US). We arrived late at night and Augusto met us outside of the train station to take us to the hotel, which to our suprise wasn't even a minute walk. The hotel is literally right next to the station!

We had a 2 bedroom apartment for 5 people and it was more than enough room. There was no hairdryer in the room though, which was disappointing. The beds were hard and uncomfortable also and there weren't enough pillows to go around, but we found that to be true of all our hotels in Italy.

Figline was a quaint little town and was a nice getaway from the big cities. There are several bakeries and restaurants within minutes walking distance in town that are some of the best we went to. I would recommend this hotel to travelers who are trying to save a buck and don't mind staying outside of the main towns or traveling by train on a daily basis. The hotel is small, but nice, and a the rooms are good size. Make sure you check the train schedules in the evenings so you don't have to sit around for an hour waiting to get your day started!

We stayed at the Residence Panorama for four nights in June and found the hotel to be excellent.

If like us you have a car then it is located within easy reach of all the main tourist centres of Tuscany. If you are without a car, then being next door to the station (don't worry there is very little noise even on the station side of the hotel) you can still be in Florence within 20 minutes and without the problems of parking!!!.

The apartments contain everything you needed to self cater, were clean and roomy. If you don't fancy self catering then there are several excellent Restuarants within a couple of minutes walking distance.

Finally, with Augusto around don't worry about a thing!! He can answer any questions you may have, give you advice on where to eat or where to visit. We unfortuantely got a parking ticket on one day and didn't have a clue what to do. No problem, Augusto sorted all the paperwork for us. Its a shame there isn't someone as knowledgable, helpful and friendly as he is in every hotel....

Negative points?, quite simply we couldn't find any.