However I book my hotel I am now in the habit of dropping a quick email to their reception just to double check everything.  As so many hotels also offer spa deals it may also be worth checking before you book.  Grande Hotel Milano were quick to reply and offer 10% discount vouchers to the spa (we didn’t use them because we booked a package including massage - but they also give discount tickets for local restaurants etc.) and were just super helpful about providing all kinds of local information.  Their English is not perfect, but it is far far better than my Italian!

We chose this hotel, aside from the good reviews, because it was just a few minutes walk from the spa.  It’s also about 100 yards from the bus stop, so it took us all of about ten minutes to arrive, check in, drop our bags in our rooms and then walk to the spa.

We decided to opt for two single rooms as this was only slightly more expensive than a double - but as the hotel wasn’t that busy they very kindly upgraded us both to comfy double rooms. 

The hotel itself is really quite simple.  Although there’s a funky whirlpool feature bath, after getting back from the spa there’s no need even for a shower.  There were a couple of strange little things - the hand towels are little bit papery (the regular towels are fine), and there’s no shower curtain, so when I did take a shower in the morning I managed to soak the floor - and I couldn’t find a bin, but... this is not the place to worry about these kind of details.

It’s set on the approach into the town and I had a room at the front so it’s not silent, but there’s just a little rumbling traffic mixed with the sound of the wood pigeons.  (And some 8am church bells on the Saturday.)

There’s no great view as such, some pretty trees, a very small garden to one side, standard mini-bar prices (2-3€) and a quiet downstairs bar - but it’s all you need, because when you step outside the hotel you have in one direction an incredible spa, in every direction the stunning Tuscan countryside, within five minutes there are great local restaurants and a tourist office and at 20 minutes walk you have a classical Tuscan old town to explore.

I slept like a log here after our day at the spa, and woke up so hungry that I really got to make the most of the breakfast - which is where this hotel really shines.  There’s a range of local bread, cheese and meat, fruit, yoghurts, I believe there was even cereal but I kind of ignored it (for goodness sake there was a cake table!), as well as the coffee.  Not a pot, a cappuccino made to order (and then another one because they were being nice).  I particularly loved the cute covers for the cheese and meat that work on levers or something - just the best way to start the day.  Hmmm where’s my coffee pot?

Although the staff didn’t speak much English we got by, I even managed to check out and leave my bags with them (although I got my bus timetable and travel advice from the tourist office) and cappuccino is a universal term after all!  If you’re interested they also told me that if you’d rather get a taxi it costs about €25 from the train station - but then you’d miss that great bus journey!