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We stayed two nights at Castello di Casole, A Belmond Hotel in April 2026, as the final and most expensive stop on a five-day Tuscany road trip. It cost around €1,400 a night. I went in genuinely expecting it to be the best hotel experience of our lives.
It wasn’t. And I’ve been trying to work out how to write this review honestly, because the room was the single most beautiful hotel room I have ever set foot in, and I still probably wouldn’t go back. Well, unless I become a billionaire one day.
Here’s the whole thing, good and bad.
Where is Castello di Casole
The hotel sits on a private hilltop estate near Casole d’Elsa, in the province of Siena — properly in the middle of nowhere, in the best sense. For context from our own driving:
- Monteriggioni: about 20 minutes
- Volterra: roughly 40–45 minutes (it took us an hour and twenty with car-sickness stops)
- Siena: around half an hour
You need a car. There is nothing within walking distance, and that’s rather the point.
The suite: the most beautiful room I’ve ever stayed in
We had a suite on the grounds, about five minutes’ walk from the main building where the courtyard and restaurants are. It had a proper living room with a kitchen, a generously sized bedroom, a gorgeous bathroom, and an enormous private terrace looking straight out over the Tuscan hills. No neighbours, no overlooking, nothing but countryside.
The design is absolutely gorgeous. It’s retro Italian — mid-century pieces that are either genuine finds from auctions or faithful recreations inspired by the designers of that era. Every single item was beautiful. We got curious and started looking things up online while we were sitting there: the sofa alone was €10,000.
I took an absurd number of photos for interiors inspiration, fully aware I will never source anything remotely like it. If you care at all about design, this room is worth seeing. The people they worked with are seriously talented, and it genuinely felt like staying inside a designer’s project rather than a hotel.
The layout is a real problem if you have a baby
This is the practical warning I wish someone had given me.
- The quickest route between the suites and the main building and pool is an uphill gravel road. With a toddler who wasn’t yet walking confidently, that was tricky. We carried Mila most of the time.
- A pushchair is essentially not an option for the on-grounds suites. If you need pram access, you have to be in the main building. The rooms there are near everything; the suites are not.
- If you’re heading to dinner in heels, know that you’ll cross gravel. You can take a buggy, but there’s still a stretch of it, and it won’t do your shoes any favours.
None of this is a dealbreaker on its own. But at this price point, walking your child up a gravel hill twice a day is a strange thing to be doing.
The service didn’t match the price
We’ve stayed at Reid’s Palace in Madeira and the Copacabana Palace in Rio, both also Belmond properties, and at both the service was genuinely exceptional — that’s a large part of what you’re paying a Belmond rate for. Here, it simply wasn’t there.
Nobody checked in on us. Nobody asked how we were doing. Staff were unfailingly polite, and if you walked up to reception with a question they’d answer it — but that was the ceiling. There was no attempt at warmth, no going above and beyond, no sense that anyone particularly cared whether we were having a good time.
The comparison that stung was the hotel we’d stayed in two nights earlier: Certosa di Maggiano near Siena, a family-owned converted monastery at roughly a third of the price. They knew a baby was coming and had a high chair set up at our table at breakfast before we’d asked. Everyone there was lovely. At Castello di Casole, the staff felt like employees; at Certosa, they felt like hosts.
The food, which is where it really came apart
The fine dining restaurant
We hired a babysitter for Mila — she was lovely, and expensive — and went to the hotel’s fine dining restaurant for the tasting menu.
We paid over €600, and it was not good. Not “not worth the money” — half the dishes simply weren’t delicious. I’ve eaten far better for a fraction of that, including a €26 carbonara at Certosa di Maggiano two days earlier that remains the best I’ve had in my life.
Two orders came out wrong
On two separate occasions we were brought the wrong items. The worst of them: we ordered a small portion of baby food for Mila from the kids’ menu, and were brought a full adult portion — then presented with a €37 charge for it. It was a waiter’s error and it was waived when we raised it, so credit where it’s due. But we had to notice it and have the conversation, and that’s not what you expect at close to €1,400 a night.
Lunch is a €40 sandwich
The casual lunch option serves sandwiches. A club sandwich is €40–45. It’s enormous — realistically shareable between two — but nobody actually orders a single sandwich for two people, so in practice you’re spending €80-odd on lunch. And it isn’t a remarkable sandwich. No luxury ingredients, nothing that explains the number. It’s simply the price.
What there is to do (and how little we did)
Two nights sounds like plenty. We managed surprisingly little, and it’s worth understanding why before you book.
Day one: we arrived around 4pm, swam in the pool, had dinner. That was the day.
Day two: we’d intended to drive out and explore, but the April weather wasn’t great in the morning and our toddler’s nap schedule was doing its own thing. By the time we could actually leave it was 2pm — and the little farmhouse we’d wanted to visit and eat at was closing at 2:45. So we didn’t go anywhere. We spent the day by the pool, wandered the grounds a bit, ate at the hotel, and had the tasting menu at 7pm.
Day three: breakfast, then we checked out and left around 11am.
The estate is beautiful and the grounds are genuinely lovely to explore, so a slow day there isn’t a hardship. But if your plan is to use it as a base for daily excursions, note that April mornings can be grey, and that a lot of the surrounding villages and farmhouses shut in the early afternoon.
Is Castello di Casole worth it?
Here’s my honest verdict: it’s a gorgeous property with an extraordinary room, and the combination of mediocre food and absent service meant it wasn’t worth €1,400 a night to us. We won’t be back.
I’d expected the best hotel experience of our lives. Instead, my favourite hotel of the entire trip was the mid-priced, family-owned one down the road.
If you’re going anyway — and I understand why you might, because those suites really are something — then I’d suggest:
- Book a room in the main building or near it if you have a baby or a pushchair, even if the suites look better in photos.
- Skip the tasting menu. Eat in the surrounding towns instead, or keep it casual on site.
- Treat the estate as the destination, not a base. You’ll spend more time on it than you think, so pick a room you’re happy sitting in.
- Manage your expectations on service. It’s polite and competent. It isn’t warm.
FAQ: Castello di Casole, A Belmond Hotel
How much is Castello di Casole per night? We paid around €1,400 a night for a suite in April 2026. Rates vary by season and room type.
Is Castello di Casole family friendly? Partly. There’s a kids’ menu and babysitting can be arranged, and our babysitter was excellent. But the on-grounds suites involve an uphill gravel walk that doesn’t work with a pushchair, so request a room in the main building if you’re travelling with a baby.
Is the fine dining restaurant at Castello di Casole worth it? Not in our experience. We paid over €600 for a tasting menu for two and half the dishes weren’t good.
How far is Castello di Casole from Siena and Volterra? Roughly half an hour to Siena and about 40–45 minutes to Volterra, with Monteriggioni around 20 minutes away. You’ll want a hire car.
Which Tuscany hotel would you recommend instead? Certosa di Maggiano just outside Siena — a family-owned converted monastery at around €450 a night, with far better food and much warmer service.
If you’ve got any questions, message me on Instagram — I’m @lizatripsget.
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