Florence City Guide
Plan a Trip to Florence
Florence trip planning comes down to five decisions, and this page is the index to them: how many days, when to come, what to book before you land, which day of the week to avoid for what, and what the city adds to your bill. Each one has its own page below with the full detail; here you get the short answer and the link. Every figure comes from an official source, and the date it applies from is stated with it. Everything the plan points at — sights, tickets, day trips — is indexed on things to do in Florence.
Quick answer Days, bookings, the Monday trap and the tax, in four lines
Two full days cover Florence properly and three do it comfortably. Book five tickets ahead and nothing else: the Uffizi and the Accademia first, then the dome pass, the Vasari Corridor and the Brancacci Chapel. Keep Monday off the state museums and Sunday off the cathedral. Budget €3.50 to €8 per person per night in tourist tax on top of the room, and do not drive into the centre.
Key takeaways
- Pick the length first: one day, two days or three days — a fourth and fifth day are day trips, not more city.
- Book the Uffizi timed entry and the David timed entry as soon as the dates are fixed; the comparison of every ticket shows what walks up.
- Check the weekday before the slot: what closes on a Monday and the month you are coming.
- Then the practical layer — fares, the airport tram and the ZTL and which area to sleep in.
Start here: three questions in order
How long have you got? One day is a route, not a choice: the Uffizi at 08:15, the cathedral, Ponte Vecchio and the hill at dusk. Two days adds the Accademia, Santa Croce and the Oltrarno. Three adds Pitti and Boboli or a day out of the city. Beyond three, extra days are day trips — Siena, Pisa, Chianti — rather than more Florence.
When are you coming? The month changes the ticket you should buy before it changes the weather. November takes the Dome and the Bell Tower out for maintenance; the first Sunday of every month is free at the state museums and therefore the busiest; and 25 December and 1 January close nearly everything.
Are you bringing a car? If yes, read the ZTL rule before you book the hotel, because a hire car and a hotel inside the camera gates is the one mistake on this page that arrives as a fine months later.
Answer those three and the rest of this page is a checklist.
Every planning page, in the order you need them
Twenty-four pages, grouped by when in the planning they matter. Read down each group in order, or jump straight to the one your trip is stuck on.
How many days, and what fills them
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Florence map — every sight, pin by pin
Every sight, free viewpoint and named food spot from this guide on one filterable map.
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Florence in 1 day
A timed route from the 08:15 Uffizi slot to vespers at San Miniato, with walk minutes.
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Florence in 2 days
Timed slots, entry costs and a weekend-or-Monday swap so nothing on the plan is shut.
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Florence in 3 days
A day-by-day plan built from official hours, with a cost table and what to book first.
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Is Florence worth visiting?
Yes for the art, food and walkable centre — with the honest caveats on crowds, heat and cost.
Money and tickets
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What Florence costs per day
Three daily budgets built from official ticket prices, real room rates and the bus fare.
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Every ticket compared
Nineteen ticketed sights in one table, and which five actually sell out.
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The Firenzecard break-even
What the card covers, what it leaves out — the Duomo — and how many museums break even.
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Free things to do
The cathedral nave, the first-Sunday museums and San Miniato at vespers, every claim sourced.
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Monday and Sunday openings
Which sights open on Monday, which churches shut on Sunday, and a timed plan for each day.
Getting there and around
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Airport to the city
Tram T2 in 20 minutes on a €2 ticket, the real taxi tariff and the Pisa-airport route.
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Getting around Florence
Walking times between the sights, the 90-minute ticket, taxis and the ZTL cameras.
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Transport strikes — the dates and the guaranteed trains
The official strike registry, the protected hours that still run, and how to save the day.
Read about Transport strikes — the dates and the guaranteed trains
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Staying connected: eSIM, roaming, wifi
Whether your own number already works in Italy, and what an eSIM actually saves.
Where to stay
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Where to stay, area by area
Six areas by walk time to the Duomo, noise, tourist tax and ZTL rules, on a map.
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The neighbourhoods compared
Six areas compared — what each contains and what it suits — to pick your half-day.
On the ground
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Best time to visit
Month by month from thirty years of climate data, with the closures and free days.
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A rainy day, planned
How often it rains, what the weather actually closes, and a timed indoor plan.
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The dates that change a trip
Easter's exploding cart, Calcio Storico, the fair weeks and the free museum Sundays.
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Safety and the scams to expect
Street approaches, camera fines on hire cars, and the numbers to call if it happens.
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Tap water and the fountains
The utility's own water analysis, the free fountains, and how to order tap at the table.
If this is you
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Florence with kids
What children pay at every sight, which climbs they can do, and a timed family day.
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Accessibility: step-free doors and lifts
Which doors are step-free, which sights have a lift, and which climbs have neither.
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Gluten-free and vegan Florence
What AIC certification really guarantees, and eleven sourced places to eat.
What to book, and in what order
Five bookings decide a Florence trip and everything else can wait until you are standing there. The rule in each row is from that venue's own site. The last column is when to make the booking.
Book the dome slot before the Uffizi slot. It is the only one that cannot be changed once paid, so it is the fixed point the rest of the trip is built around.
| Ticket | The rule | Where to book | When to do it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The dome climb | €53 with the Duomo pass; the slot is fixed; names and ID checked | Duomo tickets | First — it is the rigid one |
| Uffizi | Timed and nominative; reserved entry €16 | Uffizi tickets | As soon as the dates are fixed |
| Accademia | Timed; €28 with the audio app | Accademia tickets | The same day you book the Uffizi |
| Vasari Corridor | Reservation mandatory and nominative; Friday evenings 3 July to 20 November 2026 | the Vasari Corridor | Once the Uffizi day is certain |
| Brancacci Chapel | Ten people at a time, thirty-minute visit; closed Tuesdays | the Oltrarno | About a week ahead — our estimate, not a published rule |
Everything else — the Bargello, Pitti, Boboli, the Medici Chapels, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, Museo Galileo, the churches — rarely sells out on an ordinary day, so a reserved entry there buys a fixed hour rather than a place. Every timed ticket is on the tickets index, and whether a pass beats single tickets is worked through on the Firenze Card.
Closed days: Monday, Sunday and the first Tuesday
The closures that break a day, taken from each institution's own opening page. Read the day column before you fix a slot; the last column is what to do instead.
There is no single closing day in Florence. The state museums shut on Monday, the churches half-shut on Sunday, and four venues take a different weekday each.
| Day | Closed | Open instead |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Uffizi, Accademia, Pitti, Bargello, Medici Chapels, Orsanmichele; Boboli on the first and last Monday of the month | Palazzo Vecchio, Museo Galileo, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, the Duomo monuments, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Museo Novecento, Brancacci, Palazzo Strozzi |
| Sunday | Cathedral nave to visitors; Santa Croce opens only from 14:00; Santa Maria Novella from 13:00; San Lorenzo; the Laurentian Library | Every museum, Boboli, and San Miniato al Monte from 08:15 |
| Tuesday | Brancacci Chapel; Museo Galileo closes at 13:00; the Opera del Duomo Museum on the first Tuesday of the month | Everything else |
| Wednesday | Palazzo Medici Riccardi | Everything else |
| Thursday | Museo Novecento; Palazzo Vecchio closes at 14:00 | Palazzo Strozzi, open until 23:00 |
Three dates close the city rather than a museum: Easter Sunday and 25 December for the whole Duomo complex, and 25 December with 1 January for the state museums. The weekday grid in full is on what opens on a Monday; the museum-by-museum hours are on the museums hub and the churches on the churches hub.
The first-timer checklist
Eight things in the order they need doing, from booking the flight to walking out of the airport. Costs are the published figures behind each step, and every row links to the page on this site that holds the detail.
| Step | When | What it costs | Where the detail is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pick the length and the month | Before you book anything | Free | Best time to visit |
| Book the dome slot | As soon as dates are certain | €53 (about $62) | Duomo tickets |
| Book the Uffizi and the Accademia | Same day as the dome | €16 and €28 | Uffizi tickets and Accademia tickets |
| Choose an area, then a room | Before the flight if you can | Tourist tax €3.50 to €8 per person per night on top | Where to stay |
| Decide whether a pass pays | After the tickets are chosen | €85 (about $99) for 72 hours | The Firenze Card |
| Check the weekday of each slot | A week before | Free | What opens on a Monday |
| Plan the airport arrival | The week before | €2 tram (about $2.30) | Getting around |
| Give the hotel your plate if you drive | On arrival, not at check-out | Fine amount not stated | The ZTL rules |
Anyone travelling with children should read the age rules before booking the museums: the free-entry thresholds differ by up to seven years between venues. That comparison is on the Florence with kids page, linked in the list above.
Getting in and around, briefly
The airport is 5 km out and tram T2 covers it in 20 minutes on an ordinary urban ticket: €2 (about $2.30) for 90 minutes on the whole bus and tram network, on the Autolinee Toscane fare sheet in force since 1 August 2026, or €3 if you buy it from the driver. A carnet of ten rides is €18.20, and there is no daily pass on the sheet at all. Inside the walls you walk.
Santa Maria Novella station to the Duomo is about 13 minutes; the Duomo to the Uffizi about 9. The only regular ride a visitor takes is bus 12 up to Piazzale Michelangelo. The car is the exception.
The ZTL cameras run Monday to Friday 7:30–20:00 and Saturday 7:30–16:00, with a summer night ZTL Thursday to Saturday 23:00–03:00 from the first Thursday of April to the first Sunday of October. A hotel inside the zone can register your plate if you hand it over on arrival. Trains out to Pisa, Siena, Lucca and Bologna are priced by distance band rather than by route, so check the fare live.
All of it, with the tables, is on buses, the tram and the ZTL in full.
What the city adds to the bill
The tourist tax is charged per person per night by the accommodation and paid at check-out, for a maximum of seven consecutive nights. Children under 12 are exempt. These are the 2025 rates, which the city's tourism site still publishes as current.
The rate follows the category of the property, not the price of the room, which is why the tax on a modest holiday flat matches a three-star hotel.
| Accommodation | Per person per night | Approx. USD |
|---|---|---|
| 1-star hotel or campsite | €3.50 | about $4 |
| Youth hostel or religious guesthouse | €4 | about $5 |
| 2-star hotel | €4.50 | about $5 |
| 3-star hotel, B&B, holiday flat | €6 | about $7 |
| 4-star hotel or historic residence | €7 | about $8 |
| 5-star hotel | €8 | about $9 |
For a couple on three nights in a four-star that is €42 (about $49) handed over at the desk. Which district to sleep in, and what each one costs you in walking time and evening noise, is on which district to sleep in.
The four bookings most first visits make
The two timed tickets that shape the trip, an orientation walk for the arrival evening and the coach day that covers three Tuscan towns. Prices and ratings are the platform's own. Figures current in Q3 2026.
from €16
Florence: Uffizi Gallery Reserved Entry Ticket & Audioguide
listed at $18.53
Reserved timed Uffizi ticket with a downloadable audioguide app in 6 languages and unlimited time inside. Nominative ticket — bring matching ID.
Check Availability
from €28
Best seller
Florence: Timed Entry to Michelangelo's David + Audio App
listed at $33.30
Reserved timed entry to the Accademia for Michelangelo's David with a digital audio app. Slot is binding; collect the ticket 15 minutes before.
Check Availability
from €17
Florence: Highlights Walking Tour with Expert Guide
listed at $20.27
90-minute small-group highlights walk (Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio) in 8 languages, with free luggage storage. Runs rain or shine.
Check Availability
from €49
Best seller
Florence: Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip with Lunch
listed at $56.76
12-hour coach day to Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano with a winery lunch; guided Siena walk and cathedral only on the English option. Eight languages.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own. Dollar figures are the listed prices. The platform bills in your account's currency.
Once the plan is set
The twenty-five sights, ranked and mapped
What is actually worth the ticket, numbered to a map with the time each one needs: the ranked list of sights.
Nine of them freeDay trips compared with the train
Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, Chianti, Lucca, the Cinque Terre and Bologna, each weighed against doing it yourself by rail: every day trip compared with the train.
Fares by distance bandThe museums, one page
Hours, prices, closing days and how long each one takes: the museum table. Or return to what to see in Florence.
Monday is the trapPlanning a trip to Florence: questions
How many days do you need in Florence?
Two full days cover the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Duomo complex and the Oltrarno; three make it comfortable and add Pitti and Boboli. Beyond three, extra days are day trips rather than more city. The routes are on three days in Florence, and the ticket that decides the shape of day one is the Uffizi timed entry.
Is three days in Florence too long?
No. Three days is the length the city's own museum pass is priced for, and it is the first length that lets you take a morning slowly. If you have more, spend day four out of town — see three days in Florence and day trips.
How many days do you need for Florence and Tuscany?
Three in the city plus one day per trip out: Siena and San Gimignano together, Pisa, Chianti, or the Cinque Terre. Five to seven days covers the lot comfortably. Compare the routes on day trips or take the three-town coach day.
What do I need to book in advance in Florence?
Five things: the dome pass, the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Vasari Corridor and the Brancacci Chapel. Everything else rarely sells out on an ordinary day. The order and the rules are in what to book, and every timed ticket is on the tickets index.
What is closed in Florence on a Monday?
The state museums: the Uffizi, the Accademia, Pitti, the Bargello, the Medici Chapels and Orsanmichele, plus Boboli on the first and last Monday of each month. Palazzo Vecchio, Museo Galileo, Santa Croce and the Duomo monuments stay open — the grid is in closed days and on what opens on a Monday.
How much is the tourist tax in Florence?
€3.50 per person per night at a one-star hotel or campsite up to €8 at five stars, with €6 covering three-star hotels, B&Bs and holiday flats, for a maximum of seven nights. Children under 12 are exempt. The table is in what the city adds to the bill.
Can I drive into the centre of Florence?
Not without consequences. Camera gates run Monday to Friday 7:30–20:00 and Saturday 7:30–16:00, plus Thursday to Saturday 23:00–03:00 in summer, and a hotel inside the zone must register your plate on arrival. Park-and-ride sites sit on the edge — see getting in and around and the full ZTL rules.
How much should I budget for a Florence trip?
We do not publish holiday budgets, but the parts this site can source are these. The five advance tickets are priced one by one on the tickets index, the tourist tax is €3.50 to €8 per person per night, and transport is €2 a ride. Children under 18 enter most museums free, see Florence with kids.
Planning Florence, on Video
Three planning videos worth the time before you book: a full trip-planning walkthrough, a day-shaping guide and a tips list from a long-running travel channel.
How to Plan a Trip to Florence, Italy | Florence Travel Guide
A start-to-finish planning walkthrough covering dates, bookings and the shape of a first visit.
Video: Sharing the RoadHow to Plan Your Magical Day in Florence - a Travel Guide
How a single Florence day fits together on the ground, useful before you choose one, two or three.
Video: DW Travel13 Tips for a FANTASTIC Trip to Florence
The practical mistakes first-timers make — bookings, closing days and the walking distances.
Video: Matt's Travel TipsVideos load from YouTube only when you press play.
Prices, hours and terms are set by the venue or operator and confirmed at checkout.
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