Karma Borgo di Colleoli — Hotel in Palaia

My Tips for Visiting Karma in Tuscany (Flying into Pisa & Hiring a Car)||1. Car Hire at Pisa Airport||Car hire is located about 500 metres from the main terminal. Exit the airport and turn right — the signage isn’t great at first, but once you spot the signs, it’s more obvious.|A hire car is a must if you want to explore properly. Italian drivers can be a bit “spirited” — I definitely held my breath a few times! That said, we had no incidents, so don’t let it put you off.||2. Arriving at Karma||The site itself is non-vehicle, so it’s not immediately clear where to go. A satnav is definitely useful. About 150m before you reach reception, you’ll spot a derelict church on your right — this is where the unmade car park is where you will ultimately park.|Reception is in a building on the left & they will take you luggage by golf cart to you room. You’ll notice a large plant pot blocking the vehicle entrance — that’s your clue you’re in the right place! Ignore the signs for parking to the left down the hill; they’re confusing. We weren’t the only ones who ended up down a dead-end looking for it!||3. The Hotel||Great hotel with super friendly staff, there is a washing machine - reception will supply the tab to wash with & its €4 to use.|We only ate in the restaurant once — it was lovely but we needed simpler food.|We didn’t have a kitchenette in our accommodation, just a fridge, so we made do with salads and cold meals if we didn't fancy going out.|A family from Australia picked up a hot plate and frying pan from a local electrical store and left it there when they left. Great idea! I’d probably go for an air fryer if I had the chance again — Lidl had everything.||4. Eating Out & Shopping Locally||The nearby village of Palaia has a great restaurant called Bacciomeo — book via WhatsApp. It’s through an archway and inside the main house, do not be put off by the "cafe" before it. Food was excellent & the beer & wine were reasonably priced.|Peggio Palaia pub has a good selection of draft beers.|There’s a pizzeria right by reception — good food, very close, and house red was just €8!|Palaia has a small convenience store, but we found a Carrefour supermarket in Forcoli that had everything we needed.||5. Days Out||Pontedera:||The Vespa Museum is free and genuinely interesting.|Plenty of supermarkets, including Lidl.||San Gimignano & Siena:||We did both in a day — totally worth it.|Siena’s cathedral is incredible. We didn’t book tickets in advance, but that might save a few euros and some queuing time.||Florence:||To be honest, we found it a bit of a let down after Siena — though still worth seeing.|Queued 45 minutes for the cathedral. In hindsight, I’d have gone off to explore the city and come back later — the queue looked much smaller after lunch.||Pisa & Lucca:||Stopped in Pisa to see the tower (of course!), then moved on to Lucca, a beautiful walled city that’s well...

FANTASTIC WEDDING VENUE

Myself and my wife got married in Borgo di Colleoli in August 2021. We were blown away by the beauty of the tuscan hills surrounding the venue. The apartments are stunning, and all designed differently which is an added bonus (all have air con🥳). Our guests had booked almost all the rooms (we had 96 guests in total) and this gave us the chance to see many different apartments. Every single one we saw were designed to a really high standard. The feedback from our guests was very positive.

Irene (the manager) and the reception staff Allesandro and Illaria were amazing to work with! Everything we had asked for was done, and they were so friendly. Irene was also our wedding planner, and I would highly recommend her to other couples as she is so friendly, caring and she did an amazing job to use different areas of the Borgo for the various events.

The night before the wedding, we had a pizza party on a terrace beside the large pool. She organised long white tables and chairs that were beautifully decorated. The chef and catering team served cold cuts, salads and pizzas. We had music from a local man (that Irene recommended) and he really got the guests in the party mood. By the end of the evening, we were all singing and dancing together. A super start to the event.

The following day was the wedding. We had the mass at 2.30 and afterwards, Irene had welcome drinks on the lawn overlooking the rolling hills. Canopè's, cheeses, cured meats etc were served with wine and beer. At 6.30 we had our dinner in the courtyard, where we ate jerusalem artichoke risotto, then a pork ragu and finally fillet steak. The food was out of this world, and the wine and beer was flowing. At 9pm, we made our way to the patio beside the big pool for the after party. Guti and simone (Musicians) were set up there and there was a bar with 3 lovely staff to accomodate us. We danced the night away and had a sing-song into the early hours. Irene was on-site for much of the night to help make sure everything ran smoothly (I could not thank her enough).

Irene also recommended our photographer (dominico) who we were delighted with, and organised hair and make-up for the ladies.

All in all, we had the most wonderful wedding, and I would not hesitate to recommend any other couples to use this as a wedding destination.

Irene and her team worked so hard to make it special for us, and for that we are forever...

I really want to give this two different reviews. My first review would be of this beautiful dated 1424 Renovated Farm house and all the views of this spectacular property. Walking through the property, you can't help but feel like you live there and are surrounded by the amazing views and original architecture. You can see how this was a self sustaining property for many generations. Two pools that offer both quiet and tranquil vistas, along with a restaurant that is the center of the resort. I'd give that part a 5 out of 5. Parking is adjacent to the resort and they have a golf cart to assist you with bringing in groceries and luggage. ||The second review would be of the rooms on the other hand are tired. All the necessities are there. Small kitchen with espresso pot, and various kitchen items, but the beds are hard, the linens are tired and are not refreshed every day. You certainly can call for fresh linens but they don't offer any room cleaning or updates during your stay. Hence only giving the rooms a 2 out of 5 stars. |The other part of my review is that this resort, while absolutely beautiful in its authenticity, is a 30 minute drive up and down the mountain each time you want to head out of town. We loved the location to all the places we visited, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignamo, as well as other cities. Drove to Milan and traveling was not an issue by car at all. The staff is very helpful and always available to help in any way. I had a medical issue, and they called for a DR to come to our room and I was blown away by that. Small town village with big hearts. |The restaurant service was horrible. One of our orders didn't come out the first night, the desserts didn't come either, then another night we went, a meal was served ice cold and one of our family members watched while we all ate, as he was waiting for his dinner to be redone. Its a shame, because the charm of the restaurant is so appealing and yet, the service was horrible so it made us want to look elsewhere for meals. Laundry facility on site is a single washer and dryer that are on their last legs. Bring Euro's with you and soap. |I'd say stay here if you want to escape city life and enjoy the beauty of Tuscany in a small resort where it is quiet and charming. But if you are looking for more accessibility to other cities and things to do, maybe look further...