Hotel Universo - Lucca

The location of the hotel is great. There is a carousel and a skating rink next to the hotel. I needed to use ear plugs to sleep.

Superior double on the Piazza. Room very noisy until after 2 a.m. Best to have an interior room. Unable to procure extra pillows from night staff until after 11 p.m. Received extra pillows next morning from cleaning staff, very courteous. Location excellent.

This was our fourth visit to the Universo - and that speaks for itself. The staff are kind, discreet and considerate. We were given every consideration. Its position is second to none. It is a hotel for the more discerning. It is also wonderfully situated on the main Piazza Napoleone, for attending the all year round daily Puccini concerts at Chiesa San Giovanni and the exceptionally beautiful city of Lucca

Authentic Italian hotel, nothing fancy but has what you need in a great location.

Very well placed hotel. Nothing detrimental. Easy walk from station with cases. Staff pretty helpful. Beds comfy. Worth a stay. Good value for money.

Very nice stay, good holtel and nice room in a fantastic location. breakfast not at the same level of hotel stars, good quality food but poor selections.

A once stylish, elegant hotel in an ideal position close to rail & bus links. It is now old & tired, with a cold unfriendly reception & a sub-standard breakfast. Despite its perfect location & pleasant rooms, it will soon become seedy without investment in staff training & better mattresses. The television, quite unacceptably, does not offer CNN or BBC World news services.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our 4 night stay in Hotel Universo. High standards of cleanliness throughout the hotel and helpful staff. We would certainly stay in Hotel Universo again when visiting this area.

Yet again Hotel Universo was a wonderful place to stay. I have and would recommend it to fellow travellers.

Hotel good. Breakfast so-so. Good location. Some of staff very friendly and helpful.

This hotel has the most perfect location in central Lucca; drinking a glass of local red wine on the jasmine-fragranced terrace overlooking the Piazza del Giglio was a delightful experience. It’s only a 5 minute walk from the railway and bus stations. My room was much larger than I usually get as a single traveller, but it was tired and dated. It was dark, required the a/c to be on all the time, had no handle on the wardrobe, and had a tiny TV with the most limited range of TV stations I’ve encountered in many years of holidaying in Italy. The worst aspect was that, when I returned to the room on the second night, the room smelled like someone had had a hog roast in it! This must have had something to do with its proximity to the restaurant kitchen. The breakfast room was very crowded one morning (I think there was a coach party), and the breakfast was adequate but lacking in imagination and variety.

Superb hotel accomodation, gives you the luxury of 19th century grand hotels at a very reasonable rate. Best location in Lucca, combines elegance with comfort and efficient and discrete service.

Hotel is situated in an excellent location in the centre of Lucca. Yet it is also close to the train station, hence makes it easier to explore the rest of tuscany. Excellent value for money. I highly recommend it.

The staff was exceedingly helpful and friendly. The breakfast was the best I had experienced to that point. The hotel is well located, and the price was incredible. My room was noisy the first night (facing the square where construction was taking place). They moved me to an inside room, larger and very quiet. I was very happy with the selection. It surpassed my expectations.

A very civilised, courteous and kindly staff made us very welcome on our third visit to this very central hotel. We will most certainly return

Very hospitable. We will return

A great hotel in a good location within the city walls. Large well appointed bedroom and bathroom. The couple travelling with us were allocated a room that had a drains smell but were relocated without quibble when the problem was identified

Easy to find and within walking distance of railway and bus station and what you want to see and visit during a stay in Lucca. The reception staff were helpful and competent. Absolutely value for money.

This is a very centrally located hotel and quite luxurious so very good value for money. The staff however were sometimes abrupt and unhelpful and gave us wrong tourist information. Wifi is expensive. We would however recommend it and stay there again.

The location is a perfect in the middle of a town's central piazza.

The location was excellent and the staff were very helpful. The only thing I would make a negative comment about was the heat in the room. The air conditioner didn't work and when I asked if this could be fixed was told that it couldn't. The heat in the room was immense and when we opened the window I was eaten alive by mosquitos. Can I suggest that the hotel either invest in mossie nets or air conditioners that work? Apart from that the price and location made for an excellent stay.

This hotel is truly a magnificent 16th Century building. Easy to find, within walking distance of both the rail and bus stations (no need for taxi's here! and the bus fare was only 3 euros each with a regular direct service from Pisa Airport). The reception staff spoke english and were friendly. The rooms were very large and clean. We opened the shutters and Wow! a fantastic unhindered view of the whole Piazza. The full buffet breakfast was very substantial and plentiful. The jasmine on the hotels piazza terrace was in full bloom (June) and was just an aromatic intoxicating delight. I would say that the Universo Hotel is the most ideally situated hotel in the whole of Lucca and every site is within walking distance. Highly recommended and without any faults.

A great central hotel on the square and the only one with an outside seating area,where you can eat breakfast or just sit and watch the world go by

Having a theatrical background we appreciated the location and history of Lucca and the Universo Hotel. We were in a quaintly decorated 'Pansey' room, walls, ceiling, wardrobe! Opened to a Church and felt it was all good value. The olive oil toiletres generous and the buffet breakfast included in the price.

Location of the Hotel is excellent. Room was quiet in the rear of the Hotel, abreviated view of roof tops.Thought parking was part of Hotel but was several blocks away outside city walls, directions given by staff to parking area. Breakfast marginal, cappuccino available but never offered found out when heard other guest request same. Reception staff helpful. would definitely return due to location and price.

Hotel is showing it's age and needs to be brought up to the times. The bath tub is dated with a hand spray wand in lieu of a shower. Hand towels were cotton cloths rather than terry. Overall look was tired. Desk services while helpful, was not forthcoming with suggestions on questions asked.

Well located hotel in this most beautiful of cities. A converted palace the rooms are very pleasant and the reception area spacious and well cared for although the carpet is a little worse for wear. Our rooms weren't ready until 2pm which is what was stated in the literature, but we felt we could have been checked in on arrival at 12.30. Reception staff are friendly and competent which was just as well as we were under threat of return flight disruption due to volcanic ash. Does anyone really appreciate how stressful this situation can be. Not having either CNN or BBC World on the TV system did not help as Italian news bulletins were few and far between and then impossible to understand. The internet was of course also in Italian so we were heavily reliant on the reception staff, and they were as helpful as they could be. Nice rooms although there was a bit of building rubble on the top shelf of my wardrobe. Our rooms overlooked the main square which was nice but a little noisy late at night. Despite these comments I would stay at Hotel Universo again.

I would highly recommend Hotel Universo. Breakfast very good,(eggs,prosciutto crudo etc,.if you want a cappucino for breakfast you´ll just ask for it and won´t be charged.) The Hotel is old and has a beautiful architecture,if you are interested in estetiqúe contra a modern unpersonal businesshotel..Choose Hotel Universo! Room nr 64 has a balcony. I´m happy to have chosen this room.Although some noise from 07.00 in the morning;they are cleaning the streets at Piazza San Giglio just outside the room;for what? Just to make the wonderful Piazza and the old town in Lucca clean and welcoming. Thanks to Hotel Universo and Lucca. I wish to get back.

Good central location overlooking large square with views of distant hills.

Very close to the main places of interest in Lucca. The room I was given was a little small, but it was a stay for leisure and for visiting the city, so I didn't spend much time in the room

We could not believe the price we paid for this hotel when we booked, and expected to have a 3rd rate room and a shared bathroom, but we received a small room with double bed and a bathroom and we were very please. The location of the hotel is excellent, and all the facilities and breakfast were great

The hotel is on a large square in a nice town. The hotel has a nice interior. Close to rail station by foot. There was a restaurant below the room window which generated talking noise except on the day it was closed.

Excellent location. Friendly staff. Had to wait for a table at breakfast which we weren't thrilled about. Breakfast very average. The bedroom was fairly basic and not the same as depicted on website,so a little disappointing.The windows may as well have been open as they blocked no sound from outside at all. If you don't want a noisy stay this probably is'nt the place for you. However, we love this bustling city and all it has to offer.

Wery nice Hotel ,

We only stayed one night but were more than happy with our accommodation and were pleasantly surprised to find a lift as we had been lugging our luggage up and down stairs up to that point. It was great. The hotel is lovely and located so close to the train station. The piazza beside is beautifully treed with nice cafes and coffee places. Lucca of course is wonderful and even though our one day there was rainy we loved it anyway. The big antique market was on that weekend.. The food in Tuscany is amazing. We noticed the difference with the first bite we took. We would definitely return to Lucca and the Universo Hotel.

We stayed in Lucca for 3 days and the hotel was so wonderfully placed in the middle of everything. Although it is an older building it is charming and well run. I would stay again.

Iy's a very nice hotel placed inside a wonderful vintage building. Because of its position in the historic centre of Lucca it's not easily reachable by car. But the sorroundings are astonishing.

Was a lovely 3 star hotel in a beautiful spot with friendly and helpful staff. The rooms we were in were spotless and very comfortable. Hope to return next year. Very good value for money compared with what else was available.

Hotel Universo was an excellent choice and I would readily go back there again and recommend it as a place to stay in Lucca.

This was a great stay, however I would be concerned if staying there on nights of music performanaces. The staff was very accommodating, the breakfast was wonderful and the room was comfortable - all at a great price.

Good value for central position. Staff good. Good breakfast. Will stay there again

We stayed at the Hotel Universo for three nights for a short break to visit Lucca.I chose the hotel through the venere web site which I have used several times in the past and have never been disapointed.Once again a good choice was made.The hotel was excellent value and a good central location to explore the city.A ten minute walk from the railway station.The room was spacious well maintained and very comfortable.A good choice for breakfast and All the staff were pleasant, efficient and gave good service.I have already recommended the Hotel to friends who intend to visit Lucca in the next few months.

This is a very nice hotel in a good location. I think I got a good deal on the room, 59 euro a night, so I was more than pleased. The room we had was bright and cheerful.

My 23 year old daughter and I hadn't had a holiday together in 12 years and she had never been to Italy (my favourite country). When we opened the door of our room and found that we had a balcony to the front just over the main entrance canopy we were over the moon. However, all the deliveries and cleaning of streets etc seem to start at around 4am and as our room was actually one side of the piazza the slightest sound outside even someone talking was acoustically multiplied by 10. My daughter slept through every thing but unfortunately I couldn't. Our room wasn't that clean - my daughter found an English magazine under our bed that was a month old; some of the carpets were somewhat tired. Well thats all of the low points, now to the good stuff - the staff were excellent and because of them and the wonderful, central and easy to find location we loved the hotel. Six years ago I had a day trip to Lucca and that is why I chose the city for this holiday, but to spend a week there was fantastic...shopping is amazing (better than shopping in New York I thought) but search down every little street if you can - you'll be amazed what you find and where the shops are. Hire out a bike - we did 3 times, and make sure you ride 'on top of' the wall and perhaps take a picnic and stop under the trees and take in the views. Buses and trains are so cheap and easy - Lucca has a railway station just outside the ancient city wall and a bus station inside. A day trip by train to Florence cost E2.70ea each way and took aprox one and a half hours - Viareggio on the coast is 20mins away(make sure you get your ticket validated at the station before getting on the train). My daughter was smitten - and plans to go back but with someone who can share the romance of the city with her - mum will be staying at home this time - blast!! ! Enjoy!

The hotel was a little difficult to find. Directions to the big piazza next to it would have been easier. We loved the hotel. The breakfast was good. The only negative is the noise of the piazza. Starts at 6am with deliveries to the restaurants, finishes near midnight when the restaurants close. The only quiet day was the day it rained. Location is good (but anything in the walls is handy). We loved Lucca. We would stay here again if we had a room off the piazza.

Hotel très bien situé, chambres spacieuses et propres, facile d'accès. Charme du batiment et de la grande place.

A little bit more light in the bedroom would have been better.

Excelent hotel... Very quite... And really clean and tidy. Lucca is very small but this hotel is located just beside a nice square. The breakfast is excelent. We were in different places in tuscany like Siena, Florence, San Giomiano and pisa and the best hotel was the one in Lucca "Universo". If you decide to go there I would recomend you this hotel.

Hotel Universo was close to train station. Centrally located in old Lucca in a very attractive piazza. Lovely Hotel, providing typical Tuscan Hospitality. Clean and reasonably priced.

A 1 night stay. Excellent location.To be recommended.

Perfect location and staff were very welcoming and willing to answer any questions with a smile. Great Pizza restaurant in the square outside the hotel - also very friendly staff and good prices.

Arianna the resepsionist was fantastik. Helpfull and competent.

Great location - centrally located and very good restaurants near by.

The hotel is well placed to explore Lucca and is clean and very welcoming. We only stayed for the one night and found the breakfast to be very below standard as well as the beakfast room.

Enjoyed it and the hotel staff were very good. However, we had to transfer from the original triple room on the first day as the 3rd bed was only a pathetic camp bed (the other was a double)and broke before we slept in it! The hotel transferred us to a better room where there were 3 genuine beds, although the view was not as good. Better info is needed on what exactly is a triple room. The original triple was unsatisfactory for the price paid but the new room was OK.

Great location - bit 'tired' but generally fine. Breakfast poor - not stocked up and inadaequate variety

Hotel was in a great location, close to where the buses terminate which is great considering we both had luggage to carry. Our room had a fantastic view overlooking superb Piazza, slightly noisy in the evening but not really a problem. Breakfast was a bit more limited than anticipated but acceptable. Great base to explore Lucca, not too cheap but no hotels are in Tuscany!

The room was rather small for a double, and although clean, smelt very strongly of stale smoke, even in the bedlinen and pillows. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The buffet breakfast was excellent.

FIRST VISIT TO TUSCANY--BUT CERTAINLY NOT THE LAST. HOTEL WAS EXCELLENT AND PERFECTLY PLACED TO EXPLORE THE EXQUISITE CITY OF LUCCA. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

We enjoyed our stay here. Easy to find, close to the rail station and within the center city walls. Excellent breakfast! Plenty of closet space. Walls were a little thin so we did overhear next door. We would stay here again.

Excellent location, walkable from train station and of course everything within old city

A wonderfully sited hotel, but there was a conference the weekend we were there, but the hotel had not advised us, as most of the piazzas were covered in plastic. We had been in Lucca before it is beautiful and the hotel has great character. The family room was at the front of the hotel and our young children were very impressed by the 2 storey room.

Hotel is excellently located on one of the main squares in Lucca, easy walk from train station- perfect place to watch the procession for the Luminara di Santa Croce on September 13th. The hotel is large and a little faded and for E180 per night, the room wasn't splendid, although pefectly adequate. Our view was of a dingy back alley, although many rooms overlook the square and theatre.

There is no bar or restaurant at this hotel, however there are many close to it's location.

Very nice Hotel inside the walls. Central to everything and very clean. Would go back to this hotel next time I visit the lovely city of Lucca.

Great hotel for a lovely city. Great location, good ambience.

We have been disapointed for have not been welcomed at least with a formal smile by the young man who was the desk manager at our check in. More than that: There was no porter, and although we were 63 years man and a 78 years lady, he did not helped us in carrying the luggage to the elevator. And wath is strange (in ither word) he does not respond to greetings.

Dato il prezzo elevato e la presenza di stanze poco confortevoli non è consigliabile questa struttura se non per la sua felice collocazione.

The breakfast room table layout is poor making it difficult to find/use seating

A wonderfully well located hotel in a fascinating little city. Very clean and comfortable with helpful and friendly staff. The Universo has a very relaxed atmosphere and we will certainly be back. Since the rooms do overlook one or other of the main squares there can be some noise from outside but this was never intrusive and tended to cease before midnight. I have no hesitation in recommending the Universo to friends and colleagues.

The Universo Hotel is lovely with excellent staff, in particular, the friendly and extremely helpful Bruno. The breakfast room is pleasant and you can also eat outside. The setting is exquisite, the ambience relaxing. The two restaurants on either side are very good indeed. The hotel rooms are variable in design as might be expected in an old hotel so ask for more choices if you aren't happy with the first offer. The staff are more than happy to give you a range of choices in the same price range. This is truly a fine and comfortable hotel.

Very good room and service.

There is no internet facility in my room and no shower curtain in bath room.

We found it very quick and easy to book our accommodation which more than lived up to our expectations. Everything went without a hitch and we were delighted with our stay.

I had stayed at the Universo previous to this visit and don't remember it being as noisy. since it is surrounded by 2 large piazzas, the noise level was just too much at times. there is often a large event going on in one of the piazzas, plus it is a meeting place for many people in general at all times, night and day and the noise and conversations just carried up. of course we preferred to have our windows open as the weather was so nice. the view was great, so sometimes that helped us tolerate the noise. the staff was fine, helpful, cheerful, etc.

A nice hotel, well located in a lovely town, but heavily overpriced when compared with similar accomodation in Rome - Euros 170 at the Unoverso versus Euros 140 at the Villa San Pio in Rome. Breakfast at the Universo offered inadequate choice, moderate quality food and was poorly presented. The bathrooms need extensive upgrading and the quality and taste of the public rooms was disappointing.

Guide book spoke of faded glory. We had trouble with the plumbing in one of our rooms, and had to change. The new room was not much better, the shower water did not drain away. There was quite a bit of noise from the laundry van outside very early in the morning. The breakfaast was minimalist with no service at all, even for tea and coffee. But on the whole the hotel was pleasant and it felt rather grand staying there. I would stay again for the site. The booking with venere, which i altered worked perfectly. Thankyou!

We were disappointed that there were no parking facilities at the hotel, and the distance we had to travel to a car park was long and arduous. Had we have known this we would have stayed outside the city walls. We booked at short notice and found this very good and efficient and will be happy to book with the company again in the future.

Thank God our room turned out well. The 'airconditioned room I requested was a small, low ceiling attic room. No way was I paying that much for that room. Very misleading. He gave us and un-air conditioned room (#6) that was quite large and had a nice bath....but the only A/C we could have was to open the windows. In reading their guest book, I saw where some compared it to the "Bates Motel" as in the movie "Phsyco". It could had been a BAD experience. Lynne Coppoletta Also very had to get to once you found it. And parking was near impossible.

The hotel provided good service. However, all rooms do not have air conditioning.

Our stay was very nice. The location was right in the center of activity. Breakfast was included and you could sit inside or outside. The price quoted was not what we paid, however. Unfortunately I didn't have my confirmation to show them. We were charged 570 Euros, when it was supposed to be 510 Euros. Can you find out why?

We enjoyed the Hotel Universo in Lucca. Our room was very spacious (ample floor space and high ceilings. We had 3 single beds in it as we were a group of 3 travellers. We had a lovely view through high French doors over the piazza. However, there was no air conditioning and it was noisy in the evenings. The location was very central and in the heart of the old, medieval walled town. We would stay at Hotel Universo again.

When we arrived on place, we heard about a cheaper price for a room that didn't compare on the web page. And the breakfast is really deceiving... no taste at all in all stuffs!

Hotel Universo is adjacent to a wonderful plaza that was buzzing with young people on Saturday night and in front of another that was filled with a lovely antiques market on Sunday. We also had a very nice meal next door at Restaurant Giglio with friends celebrating a special birthday--which Giglio was happy to accommodate. Our friends had booked a cheaper pensione and were sorry they hadn't been at Universo. We'd definitely go back again.

Hotel mentions a pick-up service from the station. This is not so; when I rang they could not come and said it should not be on their web details. There is no bar in the hotel! The lift was out of order, although I believe they were painting it rather than it being broken. Hotel was as expensive, if not more, than those in Milan and the breakfast was not of the standard as the one we had in Milan and the price was the same.

I tought that the room was disapointingly bare and had very poor quality for the price. TV with ONLY italian channels. There was no chair to sit and read except on the desk. There were to little lamps in the room. The bath was much to small, in length and width. One morning there was no towel in the bathroom.

This hotel is beautifully located and well maintained. However the staff at the front desk treated us with disdain. They obviously deal with too many tour groups and don't have to try too hard to fill their rooms - hence their lack of warmth. I would not stay there again because of the staff.

I connot be foundo coat hanger and branket spare.

The desk manager of Hotel Universo was incredibly rude to us. His computer had crashed earlier in the day of our arrival and he was having difficulty getting his act together. One of the members of our group got locked inside her room when the doorknob jammed and he refused to help her get out. I would not stay there again. There must be comparable places in Lucca with more accomodating staffs.

Impersonal hotel with little real care or initiative shown by the staff. Nice room but the bed was very hard and we were plagued by mosquitos.

Very small room. Excellent breakfast provided. Very helpful staff. Not good ventilation in room.

BASICALLY A GOOD HOTEL WHICH WOULD BENEFIT FROM HAVING MORE ROOMS AIR CONDITIONED. WE FELT THAT IT WAS A BIT PRICEY FOR A PLACE LIKE LUCCA