Where should I stay in Florence?

Oltrarno, the south bank of the Arno, is where to book your first Florence trip. Piazza Santo Spirito still feels like a working quarter. Leather workshops on Via Maggio open by 8am, and the smell of hide and polish drifts out alongside espresso from the bars lining the piazza. You're a 7-minute walk from Ponte Vecchio (rebuilt after the 1333 flood), 12 minutes from the Uffizi, and 15 from the Duomo. Rates run $100-230 per night for a 3- or 4-star, compared to $180-400 around Piazza della Signoria on the north bank. Palazzo Pitti, built for the Pitti family around 1458 and sold to the Medici in 1549, sits at the neighborhood's southern edge with the Boboli Gardens behind it. The trade-off shows up after 10:30pm. Restaurants on this side of the Arno close earlier than the Centro Storico, and the walk back across the bridge is quiet rather than lively.

Centro Storico between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria is the default, and it's the default for a reason. Florence Cathedral, started in 1296, might be 2 minutes from your door. Palazzo Vecchio, the city's town hall since 1299, could be visible from your window. In June, the stone pavement holds the day's 35°C heat well into evening, and you'll hear accordion players near the Baptistery (consecrated in 1059) until around 11pm. Budget $180-400 per night for a hotel, $130-250 for an apartment on a side street off Via dei Calzaiuoli. That $50-170 premium over Oltrarno buys you one thing that matters on a first visit. Every major site is under 10 minutes on foot. To be fair, the noise along Via dell'Oriuolo starts at 5:30am with garbage trucks, and foot traffic between the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio doesn't thin until 9pm in summer. Request a cortile-facing room, not one on Via del Corso.

Santa Croce, east of the centro, tends to be the neighborhood people wish they'd found before booking 3 nights near the Duomo. The 1294 Basilica di Santa Croce anchors the piazza. Michelangelo's tomb and Galileo's are both inside. The piazza is wide enough that you can breathe, unlike the narrow lanes around Florence Cathedral. Trattoria Cibrèo on Via de' Macci serves its signature chicken-liver soup for about €14 ($16), and the whole block smells of wood-fired ovens by 7pm. Rates sit at $90-200 per night, with good 3-star hotels around $110. You're 10 minutes on foot from the Uffizi and 14 from the Duomo. Past Borgo la Croce on the eastern edge, the neighborhood fades into residential blocks with limited dining. Book west of Via Giuseppe Verdi to stay in the useful part.

Skip the blocks around Santa Maria Novella train station unless your flight arrives after 10pm and you need somewhere to collapse. The stretch along Via Palazzuolo between the station and the Arno feels tired by Florence standards, with more fast food than trattorias. Hotels there save you $30 a night while costing you the experience of waking up somewhere that looks like Florence. The Novoli district northwest of the center has newer chain hotels near the Palazzo di Giustizia, but you'll spend €8-12 per taxi ride and see nothing on foot. One more thing for June and July visitors. Florence is currently hitting 34.8°C in the afternoons, and air conditioning is not standard in buildings converted from 15th-century palazzi. Confirm A/C in writing before booking any hotel under $150 per night. A room with 500-year-old stone walls and no cooling gets uncomfortable fast at 35°C.