II Castelfalfi Hotel

We had a large room with an amazing view over the Tuscan countryside. Very comfortable room, nice spa, nice service. Also very sweet with young children. Nothing bad to say but it just comes short of perfect because of the concierge and the food. For example the concierge couldn't give any advice on activities/shopping not in the menu of the resort, when asked about the olive harvest he told us to go to the resort's gift shop to buy their branded oil...which is not the best and very expensive. Same for the wines. The restaurants are nice but have limited kids options and those options often cost more than adult main dishes...so in time of the curfew it was a challenge with a kid, some creativity on their side after the covid curfew took effect would have been the sign of a true 5 star hotel.

Four UK adults enjoyed a brilliant ten days here on half board , arriving two days before mandatory Covid test on arrival and returning home one night early to avoid quarantine on return. Hotel is spotlessly clean and staff super helpful and friendly at all times. Location stunning on hilltop with magical views of sunrises over mist filled valleys with lots of walking options in the surrounding estate and even (a rather expensive) truffle hunting expedition organised by the hotel with local man and dog (four found very quickly) Covid precautions excellent (we are NHS workers so can judge) and not too intrusive. Staff could magically produce a mask if you temporarily forgot yours! Restaurant ,choice of two .La Salle -four course meals we could hardly finish with great wine list and attentive staff especially Lara,Dario and Nicola who helped us with menu choices and wine lists. Service usually swift ,on the one occasion when there was a delay Dario came to apologise and kept us entertained in conversation in the meantime -thanks! Other restaurant -the trattoria, more traditional Italian meals again super service and lovely staff with great sense of humour (sorry I cannot remember your names but thank you!) Menus did not change when we were there ,some specials ,I suspect a Covid thing could do with a few more changes please if possible if staying more than a week. Breakfasts could get a little busy at peak times and sometimes had to remind waiters but I think everything different in Covid times and I genuinely feel they did their best. Credit to you all team! Reception staff also very helpful -again Marie and Michael I can remember and superb at providing practical advice on visiting nearby cities and Covid precautions etc. We also had on our last day a superb lunchtime meal on the terrace in lieu of the supper we had to miss due to flight rearrangements (thanks for agreeing this) This place is in the middle of nowhere so hire a car unless you plan to sit on a sun lounger and take local walks -ideally placed with Sienna,Florence and Pisa all an hours drive away. For us a great holiday in very difficult times and what made this place, apart from its idyllic location was the staff - all the best to you as I hear covid restrictions tighten again. Nothing is cheap here but if you like taking walks and drive yourself around you can save on some costs. Good luck to you all in these difficult times.

The assigned room was nice overlooking the iconic valley. Unfortunately, the hotel experience itself cannot be considered a true 5 star experience. Staff seemed stressed and did not personalize/anticipate any of the conversations besides a lovely lady with glasses by the outside spa-pool. Felt like the hotel is understaffed and simply cannot keep up with 5 star properties around the globe... Side note, all three mornings during breakfast the coffee/tea and water order was simply forgotten until we were about to leave. Wifi did not work (as room was not checked in as per the reception desk). Covid measurements were explained but are lacking details (e.g. registration process during check-in where used pens have to be put aside however passports and creditcard are being exchanged and kept in hand for several minutes?)

Spent 3 nights here. Ticked all the boxes, remote, beautiful location, great gym, spa, service. Would highly recommend for a relaxing long weekend or holiday. Only slight criticism is the food was a little bit hit and miss for what was supposed to be a fine dining restaurant, but on the whole even the food was of a good standard. We will defiantly come back.

We just returned from a couple of weeks stay at Il Castelfalfi and really enjoyed the experience. The hotel is extremely well managed, even more so with excellent sanitation procedures in place to protect against the spread of COVID-19, which was very reassuring. Special mention should go to the lifeguards on this respect, who were regularly cleaning the loungers and even the steps in the swimming pools. Our room was very clean and comfortable and we were treated each day to fresh water and regular other treats, including fresh fruit and a bottle of wine, which were nice touches. The choice of swimming pools is first class, as are the facilities in the gym and the hotel is very palatial. We only ate breakfast there during our stay, which was fabulous, made more so by the wonderful views of the area whilst eating. The waiting staff were both immensely friendly and efficient, a description which can also be given to all other members of staff we encountered during our stay. The singular negative is that whilst the hotel is obviously luxurious, some of its pricing seems unnecessarily expensive. Even with the 15% discount given for stating at the hotel, playing golf and tennis at the nearby golf club is disproportionately high and charging 12 Euros for a fruit smoothie around the pool is unwarranted. In this latter respect, the mistake was ours in not checking the prices before we ordered, but when we did query it, we were told it was because it contained fresh fruit, which seemed an unusual explanation as I hadn’t realised this was such an expensive ingredient, especially when the main constituent of the drink was ice anyway. I accept the fact that some of the hotel’s clientele probably won’t concern themselves with any form of pricing, but there will be many others, like ourselves, where the same is not true; I expect to pay more for luxury, but there is a balance to be struck for this and at the moment, I believe the hotel don’t have this right and are missing out on opportunities as a result. This quibble aside, we really enjoyed our stay and are grateful to the staff for helping to make this the case.