5 Best Hostels with Shared Kitchens in Florence
5 top-rated hostels with shared kitchen in Florence Handpicked for travelers who want the best.
Florence is a restaurant-inflation trap. Every plate inside the central triangle (Duomo / Signoria / Santa Croce) costs 20-30% more than the same plate in Oltrarno or San Lorenzo, and the 2-3 EUR coperto charge is universal. If you're staying four nights or more, cooking your own dinner twice a week is the difference between leaving Florence with 200 EUR of food memories or 400. Five hostels here have invested in actual working kitchens (multiple hobs, enough fridge space for the week, some counter surface), and we ranked them. The Mercato Centrale and the Conad on Via Nazionale supply the pantry for 4-5 EUR a meal.
Florence is a food city where the best meals are markets, not restaurants. The Mercato Centrale (open until midnight upstairs, until 14:00 downstairs) has a butcher, a bread counter, a cheese stall and a wine shop within a four-minute walk from most hostels in this list. Sant'Ambrogio market on the Santa Croce side is cheaper and less touristy. A kitchen-equipped hostel turns those markets into your weekly grocery run: 4 EUR pasta + 3 EUR sauce + 5 EUR wine = a better dinner than half the trattorias in the centre. Florentines cook at home more than you'd think from the restaurant density; hostels with kitchens are playing to that local rhythm.
🍳Why Florence is Perfect for Shared Kitchen
The 2-3 EUR coperto (cover charge) + 10-15% service at central restaurants means a 12-EUR pasta actually costs 17-18 on the bill. Cook it yourself for 3 EUR using Mercato Centrale ingredients and the savings on a 4-night stay buy you a proper 45-EUR bistecca night once.
Italian supermarket culture works in your favour: Conad and Esselunga stock decent Chianti at 5-7 EUR, fresh pasta from the deli at 2 EUR per 250g, and deli-cut prosciutto for 18 EUR/kg. Five minutes from any hostel in this list. A full hostel dinner runs 4-6 EUR a head.
Sant'Ambrogio market (8-14h daily except Sunday) is the local's grocery. Prices are 30-40% lower than Mercato Centrale, and stalls close by noon. Walk 12-15 min from any hostel on Via Faenza; it's the authenticity upgrade if your kitchen-hostel stay is four nights or more.
Traveler's take
“I cooked three nights at 'RE-Dama and two at YellowSquare, and the difference is infrastructure. 'RE-Dama's kitchen has four hobs, two ovens, a big fridge with labelled shelves, and clean counter space. YellowSquare's kitchen is big but chaotic at peak hours (19:00-20:30 is a scrum). Emerald Palace has a two-hob kitchen that's functional for pasta but not for anything beyond. Ostello Bello and My Friends have smaller kitchens suited for solo cooking or two people. If your Florence plan includes cooking 3+ meals, 'RE-Dama is the pick. If it's just pasta twice in a week, any of them work.”
Our Top 5 Picks
Hostels in Florence with shared kitchen, sorted by guest rating.
YellowSquare Florence
Viale Redi / northwest Santa Maria Novella
Wonderful
2,671 reviews
9.0-rated party-grade hostel on the edge of Santa Maria Novella, famous for a rooftop pool with Duomo-ridge views, nightly events, and a free-pasta dinner that regulars build the evening around. The Florence branch of the Italian YellowSquare chain, 15 minutes on foot to the train station.
From
€29//night
Why travelers love YellowSquare Florence
“2,600+ reviewers land on three things: the rooftop (pool in summer, sun-deck year-round, Duomo view either way), the free-pasta dinner at 20:00, and the events schedule. Complaints are predictable for a party hostel: noise carries, the common areas are packed in peak summer, and the walk from the station feels long at midnight. Locker padlocks must be brought or rented.”
'RE-Dama Hostel
Careggi / Rifredi
Excellent
2,175 reviews
8.9-rated quiet-side hostel in Careggi-Rifredi, north of the centre near the university hospital, with a proper shared kitchen, included breakfast and one of the warmest welcome teams in any Florence review set. Tram and bus to Santa Maria Novella station in 15-20 minutes. For budget travellers who trade five minutes of commute for a good night's sleep.
From
€27//night
Why travelers love 'RE-Dama Hostel
“Reviewers from Ireland to Brazil to Australia land on the same point: the staff goes out of their way, the breakfast is homemade not bulk-pack, the Rifredi location is quieter than the centre and the commute isn't bad once you know the bus. The most common complaint is precisely that commute — if you're doing Florence in 48 hours, Rifredi costs you 30 minutes a day in bus time.”
Emerald Palace
San Lorenzo / Mercato Centrale
Excellent
4,845 reviews
8.9-rated central-central hostel 350 metres from the Duomo, tucked inside the San Lorenzo market maze on Via dell'Ariento. Rooftop terrace with direct Brunelleschi-dome views, shared kitchen, breakfast on the top floor. The 'stayed-here-because-of-the-view' hostel of the Florence scene.
From
€31//night
Why travelers love Emerald Palace
“Reviewers across 4,800+ stays agree on two points: the location is unbeatable — inside the San Lorenzo market a short walk from the Duomo — and the rooftop view of the Brunelleschi dome is the photo they didn't expect to get at hostel prices. Complaints are structural: old palazzo means narrow stairs and no lift, AC can be loud in some rooms, and the San Lorenzo market closing at 19:00 makes the street quieter than tourists expect at night.”
My Friends
Via Faenza / Santa Maria Novella
Excellent
1,833 reviews
8.8-rated small family-run hostel on Via Faenza, 450 metres from Santa Maria Novella and the same block as Ostello Bello and Archi Rossi. Classic-style rooms, warm welcome, small shared kitchen, no bar and no events — the quiet alternative on Florence's hostel street.
From
€28//night
Why travelers love My Friends
“Reviewers name staff (Italian and Portuguese first names recur in the last year's reviews) at an above-average rate and call the value-for-location ratio the reason to book. Complaints are the flipside of small-hostel: bathrooms are shared on the corridor for most dorms, there's no bar or social programme, and the rooms are classic-style rather than new.”
Ostello Bello Firenze
Via Faenza / Santa Maria Novella
Excellent
2,589 reviews
8.6-rated Florence outpost of Italy's Ostello Bello chain — the one that built its reputation on free buffet dinners, a volunteer-run social programme, and hostel bars where the staff remembers your name by night three. On Via Faenza, 400 metres from the station, a 10-minute walk to the Duomo.
From
€33//night
Why travelers love Ostello Bello Firenze
“Reviewers across 2,500+ stays keep returning to three things: the social programme (named volunteers Annie, Manuel, Andriy, Tommasso are called out more than the hostel manager), the rooftop bar at sunset, and the feeling of being welcomed rather than just checked in. Complaints are classic party-hostel flipside: noise until midnight on bar nights, the breakfast is less generous than some expect from the price, and the 8 and 10-bed dorms get boisterous in August.”
💡Tips for Choosing a Hostel with Shared Kitchen in Florence
- 1Shop at Mercato Centrale downstairs (not upstairs food hall) before 13:00 — the actual market stalls close, the prices drop, and the queues are short. Upstairs is for eating, downstairs is for cooking.
- 2The 'RE-Dama kitchen is the only one of the five with four full hobs and real counter space. If you're planning to cook for 3+ people or for more than pasta, book 'RE-Dama specifically.
- 3YellowSquare and Plus kitchens hit peak cramming 19:00-20:30. Cook at 18:00 (pre-dinner) or 21:00 (post-dinner) to skip the scrum. Fridge space is first-come: label your groceries on arrival.
- 4Florentine pasta rules: fresh pasta (Conad or Mercato Centrale) cooks in 2-3 minutes, dry pasta 8-10. Sauce is usually ragù (Bolognese but Florentine), aglio olio, or cacio e pepe — simple, fast, travel-kitchen-friendly. Don't attempt risotto in a hostel kitchen.
- 5Leave your kitchen cupboard supplies (olive oil, salt, pasta, tinned tomatoes) labelled with your bed number and check-out date. Long-stay guests happily inherit groceries. Most Florence hostels have a 'guest shelf' culture — check the fridge on arrival for leftover wine.
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