Hotel Review: Best Western Genoa City Center
Genoa happened to be our first stop in Italy during 2014 and we were warmly welcomed to the city on a cool evening in January. Genoa isn’t one of the top tourist cities in a country filled with the likes of Rome, Venice and Milan but that sure doesn’t mean it has little to offer. Set right on the coast, the city cascades down the sides of the hillside and has a small town feel any traveler can admire.
Seeing as we only had one night to spend in Genoa we wanted to find a centrally located hotel we could easily explore the city from. Best Western hotels don’t have a reputation in the states for being the top of the line but we thought we would give the Best Western Genoa City Center location a shot and boy were we surprised.
“One of our favorite features of the hotel was the free use of iPads located in both the lobby and the restaurant for all guests to use…”
.
Located down a beautiful cobblestone street off one of the oldest squares in the city, the Piazza de Ferrarri, the hotel is tucked into what feels like a hidden alley lost somewhere in history but with a gorgeous modern touch.
The lobby, bright and welcoming feels more like a home than a hotel chain and the friendly staff made us feel right at home. One of our favorite features of the hotel was the free use of iPads located in both the lobby and the restaurant for all guests to use the hotels free wifi on.
If you want a room with a magnificent view of Genoa, choose 822 located on the eight floor. The room boasts a large balcony which offers almost 360 degree views of the city which can really help to orientate you when arriving in a new city, especially at night. We always opt for the highest room we can get when traveling to a new city as, especially in Europe, where many cities are hard to navigate on the ground through quint streets winding through tall buildings without having an overall view of the city to help with your sense of direction.
The rooms really shattered our false perception of Best Western hotels and had us feeling in the lap of luxury for a budget price. The room was large and spacious, offered every amenity we could imagine and the wifi worked great even on the eighth floor (something very important to us travel bloggers!)
Being that we only had one night in Genoa, we of course wanted to have the most authentic Italian dinner we could. We spoke with the front desk who recommended a wonderful restaurant off the main square, just a short walk away, and even called ahead and made us a reservation. The food was amazing to say the least, and we could have stayed and drank wine all night, the perfect romantic dinner for the both of us on our only night in town.
NERD ALERT! We were delighted to find an HDMI port on the TV, which allowed us to hook up our apple TV and then air play Netflix straight to the television from our laptops and watch “How I Met Your Mother” from bed. It’s the little things that make the difference isn’t it!?
We awoke to a truly stunning view of Genoa and enjoyed basking in the sun a bit before checking out. The free breakfast was truly endless and not your typical combo of sweet bread and fruit. An endless spread of bacon, sausage, every style of eggs, French toast, pancakes, cereals, pastries, fruit, meats, cheeses, you get the idea. The gourmet coffee didn’t hurt either. All in all we left stuffed and surprised at the complete spread of a free hotel breakfast.
Sadly, we had to be on our way after breakfast and sad to leave Genoa, a city we now have high on our list to return to. A taxi was called for us which promptly arrived 30 seconds later and whisked us off to the airport without a hitch.
To say we were pleasantly surprised by our experience would be an understatement to say the least. The Best Western Genoa catered to our every need, offered a great location, helpful staff, free high speed internet and a view that can’t be beat and all for a very affordable rate.
While we only had a short stop in Genoa, we have a lot more of Europe to see and will be keeping an eye out for any Best Western hotels along the way and hoping they provide the wonderful experience we had in Genoa.
Price: 127 Euro
Location: Right off the Piazza de Ferrarri
Wifi: Free throughout the hotel
Breakfast: Free and AMAZING
Best Perk: HDMI input in TV
