FlorenceTravel Guide
The cradle of the Renaissance in the heart of Tuscany. Brunelleschi's dome, the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio and Tuscan cooking make it an open-air museum of a city.
Is Florence right for you?
April–June, September–October
Mid-range. Comfortable without planning around money, expensive if you stop counting.
We publish a multi-day route for this one.
Our editors pick it for a trip with children and a trip with one other person.
April–June, September–October
Mid-range
Typical cost profile for visitors
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SienaFinding Florence
Reading Florence
Florence's Unmissable Experiences, Ranked
The Sweet Side of Florence: Desserts, Cafés and Markets
- ItinerariesFlorence in Three Days: The Perfect Route Through the Heart of Tuscany10 min
- StaysWhere to Stay in Florence: The Neighborhoods and the Classic Hotels2 min
- ItinerariesOne Perfect Day in Florence2 min
- The ListThe essential first-time Florence bucket list, ranked13 min
- ItinerariesFlorence with kids: a family day that actually works2 min
- StaysBoutique or grand: how to choose your Florence stay2 min
Florence, place by place
Everything below is named in one of our own stories about Florence. The line under each is the sentence that recommended it, and the link goes to the piece it came from.
Where to stay
The areas and addresses our writers put first
Héloïse Delbos
Fiesole and the hills
Above the city, the village of Fiesole offers cool air and a panorama of the entire valley.
Santissima Annunziata and the quiet east
FlorenceA few blocks northeast of the Duomo the crowds thin abruptly.
The Oltrarno
FlorenceAcross the river, around Santo Spirito and San Frediano, Florence still works with its hands: gilders, leather workshops, neighborhood trattorie.
Hotel Savoy
FlorenceThe grande dame here is the Hotel Savoy, the Rocco Forte property on Piazza della Repubblica, polished and utterly central.
What to see
The things that justify the trip
Tzenik
The Uffizi Gallery
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Titian, and a corridor of Roman marbles — all inside the Medici's former administrative offices, strung along the Arno.
Steve Barker
Michelangelo's David at the Accademia
Photographs do not prepare you for the scale, or for the tension in the hands and the neck.
Juli Kosolapova
Boboli Gardens and Palazzo Pitti
Behind the Medici's vast palace on the south bank climbs a Renaissance garden of cypress avenues, grottoes, amphitheatres and fountains.
Ponte Vecchio and the Oltrarno
FlorenceCross the medieval bridge with its goldsmiths' shops jettied out over the water.
Bargello
FlorenceThe Bargello, a former prison and barracks a few minutes from the Duomo, holds Donatello's bronze David, commonly described as the first free-standing nude bronze cast since antiquity, displayed in the round with no g…
Brancacci Chapel
FlorenceThe Brancacci Chapel, inside Santa Maria del Carmine in the Oltrarno, holds Masaccio's frescoes on the life of Saint Peter, the cycle that later Florentine painters came to study.
Things to do
Walks, tours and days out we would book again
Climb Brunelleschi's dome
FlorenceThe cathedral's red-tiled dome has dominated the skyline since the fifteenth century, and climbing between its inner and outer shells — 463 steps, no lift, and passages that narrow to shoulder width near the top — rem…
What we'd do in Florence
See and do
- The Uffizi Gallery
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Titian, and a corridor of Roman marbles — all inside the Medici's former administrative offices, strung along the Arno.
Read: Florence's Unmissable Experiences, Ranked - Brunelleschi's dome
The climb between the shells of the cathedral's dome — narrow, steep, medieval — passes within arm's reach of the frescoed interior and ends on a terrace above the rooftops, with the hills behind Fiesole closing the horizon.
Read: The essential first-time Florence bucket list, ranked - Michelangelo's David at the Accademia
Photographs do not prepare you for the scale, or for the tension in the hands and the neck.
Read: Florence's Unmissable Experiences, Ranked - Ponte Vecchio and the Oltrarno
Cross the medieval bridge with its goldsmiths' shops jettied out over the water.
Read: Florence's Unmissable Experiences, Ranked - Boboli Gardens and Palazzo Pitti
Behind the Medici's vast palace on the south bank climbs a Renaissance garden of cypress avenues, grottoes, amphitheatres and fountains.
Read: Florence's Unmissable Experiences, Ranked
Eat and drink
- Schiacciata alla fiorentina
Come Carnival season, every bakery window fills with this flat orange-scented sponge cake, dusted with icing sugar and stenciled with the Florentine lily.
Read: The Sweet Side of Florence: Desserts, Cafés and Markets - Cantucci and vin santo
Tuscany's twice-baked almond biscuits — often associated with nearby Prato — arrive at meal's end with a small glass of amber vin santo for dipping.
Read: The Sweet Side of Florence: Desserts, Cafés and Markets - Hot chocolate in the historic cafés
Around Piazza della Repubblica, Florence's grand cafés — some with roots reaching back to the 18th century — serve cioccolata calda so thick the spoon stands at attention, crowned with whipped cream.
Read: The Sweet Side of Florence: Desserts, Cafés and Markets
Where to stay
- Portrait Firenze
owned by the Ferragamo family — overlooks the Ponte Vecchio itself; its suites feel like a stylish Florentine apartment.
Read: Where to Stay in Florence: The Neighborhoods and the Classic HotelsCheck ratesad · Booking.com
Practical essentials for Italy
Euro (EUR)
Italian; English is spoken in hotels and tourist businesses but thins out quickly in smaller towns
Type C/F/L, 230V 50Hz (Type L is the Italian three-pin)
Frecciarossa and Italo high-speed trains link the major cities in a few hours; in town you buy a local paper ticket such as Rome's €1.50 BIT and validate it as you board.
Service is included and tipping is uncommon — a few euros for genuinely good service is plenty, and the coperto on the bill is a cover charge, not a tip.
Tap water is safe to drink everywhere, although restaurants will normally bring bottled.
Right-hand side; a UK or EU photocard licence is accepted, though hire companies commonly require an International Driving Permit as well.
112 (single European number; the old 113, 115 and 118 route to it)
Country-level guidance, checked against official sources. Currency, fares and entry rules change — confirm anything time-critical before you travel.
