karen
April 2018
This is a lovely home in the heart of San Gimignano, well, but not luxuriously equipped. The property representative is wonderful - helpful, patient, funny -- nothing was too much trouble! She was a pleasure! We enjoyed our stay of one week. The apartment was spacious and, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms we had space to spread out. It is part of a lovely, ancient building so no elevator to help you up the two flights of stairs leading to the apartment. We had no trouble but some might. Be aware there is no TV, no wifi and not even a radio !! Satellite service was fair but planning day trips etc. was made difficult by lack of weather reports and route calculations...Service might depend on your phone plan - but for us, planning was difficult. Also - few wifi cafes anywhere in Tuscany. Do be aware of extra costs that might affect your holiday. First, there is a 500 euro CASH deposit required on arrival. Quite a chunk of our spending money. Although electricity is included, gas is not. For the two of us using the heating for the few hours a day we were in the apartment (it was cold) and doing no cooking, the charge was 104 euros for the week. Also, parking is not included. You must use the public parking which can sometimes be difficult to find in such a busy tourist area. Once we were forced to park a considerable distance away. Our daily/nightly parking charges in San Gimi totaled 160 euros for the week. Reading the listing carefully you will see that none of these "extras" are listed as included. Just be aware of how high the extra costs are and determine how that will affect your particular holiday. All in all a wonderful experience. The usual tourist crowds go away in the evenings and you are free to enjoy this ancient and beautiful city.