Le Balze

On arrival at Le Balze we were met by David who was very friendly and upon guiding us around the villa it became quickly evident that Le Balze was everything we had expected from the details and photos provided in the To Tuscany website. The house and furnishings are lovely and most comfortable. The garden and surrounding landscape are beautiful, and the swimming pool (and associated furniture) are fantastic - the best I have had to date in a private rental.

This was a beautiful and relaxing holiday, a perfect balance of visiting beautiful places and chilling out in perfect surroundings.

The pre-checkout inspection was undertaken by Sandra who was charming and a pleasure to meet.

This was our first holiday with To Tuscany, and it won't be the last!

Many thanks Dympna.

Obviously, a car is essential for getting around. Then again, that is the case for most of Tuscany. We found that the location of Le Balze, relatively close to autostrade A1, was very good for visiting most places. Places visited, and all beautiful, were: Siena - marvellous, especially the views from the torre. San Gimignano - magnificent. Gaiole in Chianti Castell Brolio - Took the classic tour at this fantastic winery. Bought several reds. Can't wait for Christmas!! Cortona - Views from the top of the village (at sunset) are wonderful. Firenze - Went on the train from San Giovanni Valdarno, easy. Loro Ciuffenna - My favourite local village. Unspoilt Italy. Just loved sitting outside drinking with the locals. Restaurants: My favourites were in Loro Ciuffenna - Ristorante Pizzeria Va Pensiero and Ristorante La Torre. The restaurant next to the villa, Osteria l'Casolare, is also very good and, of course, very convenient. We had a wonderful evening there with the owners - charming people.

Heerlijk huis en zwembad! perceel is ruim van opzet. groentetuin. overkapping voor de auto.

Restaurant naast het huis, heerlijk eten en aardige mensen. Geen last van gehad qua geluid. San Giovanni is een leuk stadje en daar kan je zo met de trein naar Florence.

Etwas zu abgelegen

Highligts von Le Balze sind das übergroße Grundstück und der große Pool. Weiter ist die Küche positiv hervorzuheben. Das Gebäude selbst ist elegant eingerichtet. Da wir nur zu zweit waren, haben wir nur das große Schlafzimmer genutzt. Hier wären zum Schutz gegen Stechmücken Fliegengitter an den Fenstern wünschenswert.

Idealer Ausgangspunkt um die Toscana zu erkunden. Einzelne Orte hervorzuheben, wäre Eulen nach Athen zu tragen. Aufgrund der leicht gebirgigen Gegend sowie der kleinen Straßen ideal für das Cabrio.

We stayed at La Balze for five weeks.During that time our children joined at various times . We loved the Villa and location. This was our first visit to Tuscany and won't be our last. There were two very minor issues during our long stay and they were resolved quickly and the owners couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. The villa is as description and as previous reviews have said there is now a lovely 'conservatory' area. The air conditioning isn't quite as described with payment being made by whole day ( and from what I could tell for a minimum of a week) it was expensive and we decided to go without. This was ok most days but some evenings were very hot. The house is cool and generally during the day AC wasn't needed. Expectionally well equipped the house made a super base from which to base our holiday. Mosquitos were a bit of a pain (as with anywhere in Italy the time of year) and the mosquito nets on the windows are actually net curtains which are semi successful. A super villa , lovely owners and a wonderful place to stay.

Hint -only issue was that we found it difficult to book retaurants. Often they are closed during the day, phone reception is not great and by the time they answer the phone in the evening they are fully booked (we were there during Peak holiday time). Better to pop in before going out a day or two before and book in person.

We visited a wide range of places, quiet and not too touristy; Cortona, Poppi, Arezzo. Bit busier; Lucca, Montepulciano Very busy; Florence, st Gimignano, Venice and Siena. Favourite -Siena There is a restaurant next door but this was closed for a couple of weeks during our stay. We did visit and it was good. Favourite restaurant by far was La Posta Del poeta, five minute drive away and super food. We paid 25euros each for the set tasting menu we went twice and had 8/9 courses for that price, chef passionate about his food and he went out of his way to cater for special diets.

Pool, Garten, Nähe zur Osteria: sehr gutes Essen !! Freundlicher Service

Osteria direkt gegenüber; Ristorante La Torre in Loro Ciuffenna, Heiße Thermen in San Filippo, Arezzo,

Die Lage des Hauses, die schöne Einrichtung & der saubere Pool.

Das Haus ist sehr gut ausgestattet, Sauberkeit und Größe des Pools super. Tolles Grundstück mit einem Gemüse- und Obstgarten, der von den Gästen genutzt werden darf. Tolle Sache.
Von den zwei Terrassen wurde eine zum Wintergarten umgebaut. Es ließen sich allerdings nur zwei Türen problemlos öffnen, schade. Vielleicht sollten die Inernet-Bilder entsprechend aktualisiert werden. Die Stühle auf der offenen Terrasse waren sehr unbequem.

Arrezzo, Florenz, Pisa, Siena und Lucca.

Wir wurden sehr herzlich und liebevoll empfangen. Das Haus hat ein sehr schönes Ambiente, besonders hervorzuheben ist der wunderschöne Pool.
Lara und David haben sich schon freundschaftlich um uns gekümmert. Als wir sie brauchten waren sie sofort zur Stelle.

Die Osteria L'Casolare gleich um die Ecke hat uns außergewöhnlich gut gefallen. Das mittelalterliche Örtchen San Gimignano sollte man unbedingt neben Florenz und Siena gesehen haben.

Wunderschöner Garten mit einem tollen Pool. Das Haus war sehr gut ausgestattet. Der Empfang gestaltete sich sehr herzlich.
Die Klimaanlage war sehr teuer, was uns seitens der Vermieter jedoch erst am letzten Tag bei Schlüsselübergabe gesagt wurde. Sollte man sich für den Gebrauch einer Klimananlage entscheiden, dann lieber vorab den Preis abklären.

Il casolare, das ist das Restaurant in direkter Nachbarschaft. Arezzo hat uns sehr gut gefallen. Gute Einkaufsmöglichkeiten (Supermarkt) in Terra braccilione. Die wichtigsten Ausflugsziele in der Toscana sind allerdings meistens 1 Stunde Fahrzeit entfernt.

The accommodation overall was excellent with three good size bedrooms. a large kitchen and eating area, a comfortable lounge and warm and sunny day room. The pool and area was lovely with picturesque views across the valley. It's in a reasonable spot for getting out and sightseeing.
There are only two bathrooms which for 6 adults means a bit of queuing in the morning but this is only a minor point.

There are many places to visit and you won't be disappointed by any of them. On this trip we visited San Gimignano which is lovely to wander its narrow streets for the day taking time to sit and eat lunch while people walk by. There are many good eating places but our favorite is Ristorante Badia a Coltibuono at Gaiole in Chianti (SI). The food is excellent with spectacular views across the chianti countryside.

De ruime opzet, en de bedden. Prima ingerichte keuken. Ruim voldoende handdoeken en keukenlinnen. De snelle reactie om wat kleinigheden te herstellen.
Uitgebreid welkom met een drankje en een hapje. Lekkere ligbedden bij het zwembad.

Een heerlijk diner klaar gemaakt door de chef.
Douche gelegenheid. De douche deuren sloten niet helemaal goed zodat het voor de douchecabine ook nat werd. Geen ruimte om shampoo ed neer te zetten.
Wij vonden de stoelen bij de buitentafel niet comfortabel.

Het restaurant naast de vakantiewoning. Florence en Sienna