Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Florence

Before you go

What happens when you get there

Museums and leaving the dog

The Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens, the Bardini Garden, Palazzo Vecchio and the Cathedral all refuse dogs, guide and assistance dogs excepted. Piazzale Michelangelo, the Giardino delle Rose, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio and the Mercato Centrale food hall are all fine with a dog on a lead. Book the museums for the hours a dog-sitter or the second human has the dog. That means settling before you book whether the dog can stay in the room alone: FH55 Grand Hotel Mediterraneo and FH55 Calzaiuoli allow it with the door sign up and reception told, while La Gemma, The Hoxton, the four Lungarno Collection hotels, Regency, Riva Lofts, IL Tornabuoni, the Excelsior and the St. Regis do not. Dog-sitting can be booked at Brunelleschi, Regency, Horto Convento, Il Salviatino, Residence Hilda and the Lungarno Collection.

Parks and dog areas

The Parco delle Cascine is the big one, 160 hectares along the Arno on the west side, with a fenced dog area by the Prato del Quercione near the Palazzina Reale, water bowls included. Closer in, there are fenced dog areas at the Giardini Caponnetto on the Lungarno del Tempio, at Piazza d'Azeglio in front of Hotel Regency, at the Giardino dell'Orticoltura off Via Bolognese and at Porta Romana. The city's rule is a lead no longer than 1.5 m everywhere else, with a muzzle carried.

Transport

One dog per passenger rides free on the GEST trams and the Autolinee Toscane buses, on a lead and muzzled, or in a carrier instead of the muzzle, and staff can refuse a dog when the vehicle is packed, which central Florence buses often are. Tram T2 runs from the airport to the station and the Duomo. On Trenitalia a small dog in a carrier up to 70 by 30 by 50 cm travels free, a bigger dog pays half a second-class fare on a lead and muzzled, and on regional trains it is kept out of the carriages between 7 and 9 on weekday mornings. Milan to Florence is under two hours on the Frecciarossa.

Dogs at breakfast

Rare. Hotel La Gemma is the only listed hotel with a plain yes to the breakfast room and restaurant. Palazzo Vecchietti and Velona's Jungle serve breakfast in the suite, which solves it another way. A clear no at Brunelleschi, FH55 Calzaiuoli, Four Seasons, Bernini Palace, Grand Hotel Minerva, Hotel Regency, Hotel Santa Maria Novella, Ville sull'Arno, IL Tornabuoni, Villa Cora, the Excelsior and the St. Regis.

Weight limits

Ten kilos is the Florence norm: Brunelleschi, both FH55 hotels, Grand Hotel Minerva, La Gemma, Number Nine, the Savoy and Villa Cora all stop there. Collegio alla Querce stops at 7 kg. The Hoxton and the Excelsior take 18 kg, the four Lungarno Collection hotels, Regency and IL Tornabuoni 20 kg, Sina Villa Medici 25 kg and Four Seasons 30 kg. The 25hours, Anglo American, Indigo, L'Orologio, Palazzo Vecchietti, Residence Hilda, Riva Lofts, Rivoli, Velona's Jungle, W Florence and the St. Regis publish no cap, so ask.

Fees

Free at Bernini Palace, L'Orologio, Palazzo Vecchietti, Velona's Jungle, The Hoxton, Hotel Santa Maria Novella and Il Salviatino, and at Residence Hilda against a EUR 500 refundable deposit. EUR 10 a stay at SoprArno, EUR 12 a night at Riva Lofts and Rivoli, EUR 20 at the 25hours and Horto Convento, EUR 25 a night plus EUR 35 cleaning at the FH55 hotels, EUR 30 at Grand Hotel Minerva and Number Nine, EUR 35 at La Gemma, EUR 50 a stay across the Lungarno Collection and at Sina Villa Medici, EUR 60 at Regency and the Helvetia & Bristol, EUR 80 at Villa Cora, EUR 100 at the Excelsior and St. Regis, EUR 132 plus cleaning at W Florence, EUR 250 at Four Seasons and Collegio alla Querce. Brunelleschi's EUR 137 is an optional pet kit rather than a fee.

Getting there

Florence Peretola is 20 minutes from the centre on tram T2, with Pisa an hour away by train. Nothing flies a pet dog in the cabin into the UK, and the direct airlines from London and Dublin do not carry one in the cabin outbound to Florence either, so most people arrive by rail through Paris and Milan or drive. The flights app has the detail by route.

Vets

Vet Hospital H24 Firenze on Via dei Vanni 25, on 055 232 2025, is open round the clock every day. Clinica Veterinaria Firenze Sud on Via Svezia 3, on 055 067 1745, is also 24 hours, south of the river near the Anconella park.

Best walks

The Arno embankments from Ponte Vecchio east to the Lungarno del Tempio and the Caponnetto dog area, the Parco delle Cascine along the north bank from Porta al Prato with the fenced dog run at the Prato del Quercione, the climb from Porta San Niccolò through the Giardino delle Rose to Piazzale Michelangelo and on along Viale dei Colli, the Giardino dell'Orticoltura and its dog area off Via Bolognese, and the lanes through the olive groves above Il Salviatino towards Fiesole.

When to go

March to early June and late September to November. Spring gives the rose garden in flower and cool mornings, autumn gives empty embankments and the Fiesole hills at their best. July and August regularly pass 35 degrees and the stone streets hold it into the night, so walk early, walk the river or the Cascine, and treat midday as room time, which is awkward at the hotels that will not let a dog stay in alone. The hill hotels, Il Salviatino and Collegio alla Querce, run a few degrees cooler. December is cold and quiet, and the museums are the one thing the dog cannot join whatever the month.