RELAIS SANTA CHIARA - TUSCANY CHARME

The hotel has a perfect position in the Tuscan countryside and the view is spectacular. The staff are also kind and welcoming. The breakfast is quite diverse and you can have it right in front of the pool area so you can enjoy the marvelous view. Unfortunately, the rooms aren’t quite so comfortable and they could use some remodeling. All in all it is a very nice place to enjoy a Tuscan escape.

Bit of a mixed bag, this. Great location just outside the town, and quite a large and welcoming lobby in the hotel. Room I had, along with the ensuite bathroom, was definitely on the small side. Maybe other larger rooms are available. Service in the breakfast room/restaurant a little patchy at times, but still good. One niggle: there was only one usable plug socket, and that needed an adaptor kindly supplied by Reception. So many hotels just haven't kept up with the fact that people these days want well-located mains and USB sockets. That aside, the room had a large balcony and great views over the Tuscan landscape.

Lovely small hotel within easy walking distance of San Gimignano. Good sized room with sofa, small balcony and views across the pool to the Tuscan hills. Air conditioning wasn't terribly effective but not too bad. Friendly and helpful staff and a decent breakfast to set you up for the day (mainly fruit, pastries, cold meats / cheeses and cakes). Pool area and sun loungers were not too busy and easy to relax after a day signtseeing. Car park was full but plenty of free parking spaces nearby.

Sadly there is little I can say to recommend this hotel. Having said that I will start with the good parts. Although very tired looking and in need of some investment (bedrooms & bathrooms) it is kept clean. The gardens and pool appear well maintained though we never used them during our stay. The veranda to our standard double bedroom was larger than the room itself and had a beautiful view of the Tuscan countryside which was stunning . On arrival Marco (on reception) tried to book us a taxi to a local vineyard tour we had booked on impulse a day earlier . Sadly seems a taxi service in this more rural location is scarce. Marco was a real star and explained the vineyard was on his way home and since his shift would be finishing soon he would take us. This was so kind of Marco who refused any payment from us. Thankyou Marco . Now for our not so complimentary comments regarding this hotel . The standard double bedroom Is tiny even by Italian standards. It was really awkward for two adults with cases to move about the room without bumping into one another. The bathroom was clean but in need of modernisation and was accessed by a sliding door .The shower was one of the smallest I’ve seen with a shower door that was would fall from its rollers at every opportunity. The shower tray looked stained yellow and dirty. See pictures. The bedroom appeared to have a triple mirrored sliding door wardrobe but it quickly was evident it was actually a partition between our room and the next incorporating the sliding door to our bathroom … bit weird. Sound proofing was awful. We could hear our neighbours on the toilet and showering , together with other night time noises I shan’t detail in this review. I doubt any money has been spent on our bedroom since the 1980s. There were no tea or coffee making making facilities in our room but there was a small fridge contains 2 glasses and 4 bottles of water. Breakfast was OK but not great and the waiting staff were not particularly welcoming . All in all I felt pretty disappointed with this hotel . It’s the 4th we have used on our current trip round Italy and is by far the worst . I don’t honestly see how it has 4* on this site .

Wonderful stay in Tuscany! Amazing Staff! thank you! we will come again next summer! The room was comfortable, nice view on tuscany hills. The staff at the reception was friendly and helful. Nice garden and pool. Wonderful breakafst, thanks to Lucia and Raji and Mic.

We have stayed here many times so know the rooms are very small, unless you have the larger rooms. Some rooms face the countryside and overlook the pool, some at the rear overlook another building and the car park/side road. What we did NOT know is the hotel has changed management and they have worded the category of rooms differently. We thought we had booked the larger room overlooking the stunning Tuscan countryside as we booked the larger room with Panoramic View, but we had not! We could see a tiny amount of San Gimignano, so apparently that was the panoramic view! Luckily we were only there for three nights not our usual 7-10. The other changes were the parking in spaces in the side road were no longer free, and yes they do charge for towels now. We parked on another road for free and used the same towels for 3 days as they dry in the sun. I feel the pool is fine for the size of the hotel and it was perfectly clean. Breakfast was fab, our air con was fine, and the staff very helpful when hubby lost his phone! Location is perfect for the beautiful town and a supermarket for goodies!