Tuscany
Florence
Book your Uffizi and Accademia slots weeks ahead, sort the right Duomo pass, fly into Vespucci or Pisa, and give this Tuscan-art capital three full days.
Best length
3 nights (4 with a day trip)
Airport
Florence Vespucci (FLR), ~5km NW; or Pisa (PSA) ~80km
Airport to centre
T2 tram ~20 min from Vespucci; train ~1h20 from Pisa
Best base
Centro storico for first-timers; Oltrarno for local evenings
In short
Florence at a glance
Florence is a 3-night art break, not a week-long city: stay inside the centro storico or just over the river in the Oltrarno, book your Uffizi, Accademia and Duomo dome slots weeks before you fly, and walk everywhere because the historic centre is barely a mile across. Fly into Vespucci if you can, or Pisa and ride the train across.
The short version
- Book Uffizi, Accademia (for David) and the Brunelleschi dome climb weeks ahead — these three sell out and there is no good walk-up option in peak months.
- Stay in the centro storico near Santa Croce or San Lorenzo for first trips; cross to the Oltrarno (Santo Spirito) for a quieter, more local evening base.
- Florence is a walking city: the centre is about a mile wide, so a hire car is pure liability and even taxis are rarely worth it.
- Fly into Florence Vespucci (FLR) and take the T2 tram for 20 minutes, or into Pisa (PSA) and ride the train across in about 1 hour 20.
- Three full days covers the Uffizi, the Duomo complex, the Accademia and a slow Oltrarno afternoon, with room for one Tuscan day trip if you stretch to four nights.
Florence rewards a tight, well-planned trip more than almost any city in Italy. The historic centre is barely a mile across and packed with the heavyweight Renaissance set pieces — the Uffizi, Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia, Brunelleschi’s dome over the cathedral — which means the planning that matters happens weeks before you fly, not once you arrive. Book those three timed slots early on the official sites (tickets.uffizi.it and tickets.duomo.firenze.it, not a reseller), because the walk-up queues are long and the dome climb in particular sells out in peak season. Get that right and the rest of the city is yours to wander on foot.
Three full days is the practical sweet spot: one for the Uffizi and the Duomo complex, one for the Accademia and the lanes around Santa Croce, and one slower day across the river in the Oltrarno, finishing with the skyline from Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset. Stretch to four nights only if you want to add a Tuscan day trip to Siena or the Chianti by train. Where you stay barely changes your walking time — the centro storico, San Lorenzo and the Oltrarno are all within fifteen minutes of each other — so choose on atmosphere and price. First trips work best in the centro storico near Santa Croce or San Lorenzo; cross to Santo Spirito in the Oltrarno if you want a quieter, more local evening base.
A few specifics worth knowing. For the Duomo, the Brunelleschi Pass (€30) is the only one that includes the dome climb; the Giotto Pass (€20) gets you the bell tower instead, so don’t pay for the wrong one. If midday crowds put you off the Uffizi, the 4pm late ticket is both cheaper (€20 online) and thinner. The mistake first-timers make is treating museum entry as petty cash — the big three run to roughly £90 a head, so budget for it up front. Skip a hire car entirely: the centre is a ZTL camera zone, and the T2 tram from Vespucci is €1.70. Eat one street back from the Duomo or Ponte Vecchio and the food bill drops sharply.
Sort the three bookings, pack comfortable shoes, and Florence does the rest.
Plan your Florence trip
Keep a first trip focused: book the big timed sights, then leave room for neighbourhoods and food.
Top things to do in Florence
Florence Cathedral (Duomo) & Brunelleschi's Dome
Two things trip people up here. First, the cathedral nave is free — you do not need a ticket to walk in under the dome — but the only paid bit worth the money is climbing the dome itself, and that needs a Brunelleschi Pass with a timed slot booked weeks ahead. Second, the free entry has a security queue that can run past an hour in summer, while the climb is 463 steps with no lift. Book online at the official site (tickets.duomo.firenze.it), nowhere else, and bring photo ID for the climb.
Galleria dell'Accademia (Michelangelo's David)
Book a timed Accademia ticket online before you go — the Red Point fast lane lets pre-booked visitors walk in, while the on-the-day Blue Point queue can run 15–60 minutes in peak season. Pay the small reservation fee gladly; it buys you the entry slot rather than a wait in the sun. David is the headline, but the four unfinished Prisoners lining the hall to him are the quietly better thing to see. Allow about an hour, or 30 minutes if you only want David.
Pitti Palace
The €16 Pitti Palace ticket is one ticket for several museums at once — the Palatine Gallery is the reason to come, with Raphaels and Titians hung salon-style frame-to-frame rather than spaced out like the Uffizi. Skip it if you're short on time and already doing the Uffizi the same trip; the two are a lot of grand-master painting back to back. If you do go, pay the extra for the combined Pitti + Boboli ticket and use the gardens as the decompression the Uffizi never gives you.
Uffizi Gallery
Book a timed-entry Uffizi ticket online before you fly — slots for the popular mid-morning hours sell out two to three weeks ahead in spring and summer, and the buy-on-the-day queue can run to two hours. Head straight upstairs to the Botticelli rooms (10–14) for the Birth of Venus and Primavera before the corridors fill, then work back through Leonardo and Michelangelo's Doni Tondo. Allow about two hours for the essentials, three if you want the Caravaggios on the lower floor.
Bargello Museum
The Bargello is Florence's sculpture museum, three minutes' walk behind the Duomo, and it holds the world's best Italian Renaissance sculpture collection — Donatello's groundbreaking bronze David, his marble David and Saint George, Verrocchio's David, Giambologna's Mercury and four Michelangelos including the Drunken Bacchus. Unlike the Uffizi and Accademia it rarely sells out, so a same-day or day-before ticket is usually fine. Allow 1.5 hours; buy the standalone €12 entry unless you also want the Accademia, in which case the €26 48-hour combined ticket is the better buy.
Boboli Gardens
The Boboli is a formal Medici hillside garden behind the Pitti Palace — terraces, statue-lined avenues, the cypress Viottolone and long views back over the Florence rooftops, not flower beds. Buy a garden-only ticket if that's all you want; the combined Pitti + Boboli ticket bundles the palace and the Bardini Garden next door for not much more. Watch the closure trap: it shuts the first and last Monday of every month.
Every Florence attraction guide
Where to stay first
The areas that make a first visit easier — not an exhaustive directory.
Centro storico (Duomo / Santa Croce)
£££ premiumThe walkable core around the cathedral and Santa Croce: everything within ten minutes on foot, the liveliest restaurant and bar scene, and the easiest first trip. You pay for it and it can be noisy, but you save time every single day.
Best for: First-timers, short stays, sightseeing-first trips
San Lorenzo
££ mid-rangeA few streets north of the Duomo around the Mercato Centrale food hall. Central and well priced for the location, handy for the Accademia and the station, though the streets nearest the leather-market stalls get busy and a touch grubby by day.
Best for: Foodies, value near the centre, rail arrivals
Oltrarno / Santo Spirito
££ mid-rangeOver the river: artisan workshops, wine bars and Piazza Santo Spirito's evening buzz, with fewer coach groups than the north bank. Slightly further from the big museums but far more relaxed, and the better choice for a second visit or a calmer base.
Best for: Repeat visitors, local evenings, couples
Santa Maria Novella (around the station)
£ valueConvenient for trains and the airport tram, and where the cheaper hotels cluster. Fine for one night or a transit stop, but the blocks immediately around the station are the least charming part of central Florence.
Best for: Tight budgets, late arrivals, onward rail travel
Airport to city centre
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| T2 tram from Vespucci (FLR) to Unità / Santa Maria Novella | ~20 min | €1.70 single | Buy at the platform machine; cheapest and easiest |
| Taxi from Vespucci (FLR) to the centre | ~15-20 min | €22 fixed day rate (€25.30 at night), +€1/bag | Good for late arrivals or lots of luggage |
| Train from Pisa (PSA) via PisaMover to Florence SMN | ~1h20 door to platform | PisaMover €5 + train about €9-€10 | Use if your flight only goes to Pisa |
| Coach from Pisa airport (Autostradale) to Florence | ~1h10 | about €15-€17 single | A direct alternative to the PisaMover-plus-train hop |
When to go
Sweet spot: Late September into October is the sweet spot: warm enough for the Oltrarno and Piazzale Michelangelo, far cooler than high summer, and quieter for the museums. April to mid-May is lovely too but watch for the Easter and early-May holiday crush.
July and August are hot and heaving — the stone streets trap the heat and the Uffizi queues are at their worst, so avoid August in particular. November, February and March are cheap and calm but grey; December is good for quieter museums and Christmas markets. Book spring and autumn weekends early, as UK demand for Florence is heavy.
What it costs
UK return flights to Florence Vespucci are often £60-£160 from London Gatwick and a handful of regional airports; Pisa is usually cheaper and better connected (Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2, BA from £40-£120 outside school holidays), then add the train across.
Daily budget per person
Florence's hidden cost is the museum stack — Uffizi, Accademia and the Duomo pass alone are roughly £90 a head, so build that into the budget rather than treating tickets as petty cash. Eating one street back from Piazza del Duomo or the Ponte Vecchio cuts your food bill sharply.
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