Florence packs the Renaissance into a centre you can cross on foot in half an hour, which is why it fills up. The Italy page already covers the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale Michelangelo, Michelangelo's David at the Accademia and the climb up Brunelleschi's dome; this page is the rest of the city.
The cathedral square holds three more climbs and visits on one family of passes: Giotto's bell tower, the Baptistery and the cathedral museum. North of it, around San Lorenzo, are the Medici tombs and the food market. South, Palazzo Vecchio and Santa Croce anchor the old city, and across the Arno the Oltrarno keeps the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens and the artisans' workshops. Above it all, San Miniato and Fiesole give the views.
Most museums close on Mondays and many sell timed tickets, so plan the week before the day.
A fenced terrace about 85 metres up, straight across from Brunelleschi's dome, so the dome ends up in your photos.
What it is
Giotto laid the first stone of the cathedral's bell tower in 1334, and its 414 steps, with no lift, end on a fenced terrace about 85 metres up, looking straight across at Brunelleschi's dome. That is the reason to climb it even if you also do the dome: the dome is in your photos.
How to do it
The tower is on the Giotto Pass, €20, which also covers the Baptistery, the cathedral museum and Santa Reparata for 72 hours; you must book a time slot for the tower, and bookings cannot be changed. It opens daily, with the last slot at 18:45.
Good to know
A full restoration began in March 2026: the climb stays open, but scaffolding may cut part of the view, and the tower closes for maintenance from 9 to 13 November 2026. Leave big bags at the deposit at Piazza Duomo 38/R.
See the original Gates of Paradise in the cathedral museum
Piazza del Duomo 9
1 and a half to 2 hoursBook ahead
Ghiberti's original gilded bronze doors and the Pietà Michelangelo carved for his own tomb, indoors behind the cathedral.
What it is
The doors on the Baptistery are copies: Ghiberti's original gilded bronze Gates of Paradise, cast between 1425 and 1452, stand indoors in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, behind the cathedral. The same museum holds the late Pietà Michelangelo carved for his own tomb, with his face on the hooded Nicodemus, Donatello's wooden Penitent Magdalene and a full-size reconstruction of the cathedral's medieval façade.
How to do it
It opens daily from 8:30 to 19:00 but closes on the first Tuesday of each month. The cheapest way in is the Ghiberti Pass, €15, which adds the Baptistery and Santa Reparata.
Good to know
Be aware that the Baptistery's vault mosaics are under restoration and not visible in 2026, so give the museum most of your time. In the Baptistery, shoulders and knees must be covered.
Florence's town hall still works as one, with Vasari's battle scenes inside and the Duomo seen from its tower.
What it is
Florence's town hall is still the town hall, and its museum route runs from the Salone dei Cinquecento, about 52 by 23 metres under Vasari's battle scenes, through the painted apartments of the Medici dukes.
How to do it
You come in through the courtyard Michelozzo designed in 1453. In 2026 the museum cost €18, free for under-18s, and the Torre di Arnolfo a separate €20; the tower is the climb to do if you want the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria from above. The museum opens 9:00 to 19:00 but only until 14:00 on Thursdays, and the tower closes at 17:00 (14:00 on Thursdays), with the ticket office shutting an hour earlier. Booking the tower ahead is recommended.
Good to know
Check the weather: the tower does not open in rain, and children under six are not allowed up.
Climb through the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace
Oltrarno, Piazza de' Pitti
Half a day for bothNo booking needed
A Medici garden climbing a hill in terraces and grottoes, with olive groves south of the city in view from the top.
What it is
The Medici's garden climbs the hill behind the Pitti Palace in terraces, avenues and grottoes, and the slope is the point: from the top, by the Porcelain Museum, you look out over the olive groves south of the city.
How to do it
Walk down the cypress avenue of the Viottolone to the Isolotto, a fountain island in a moat. Tickets cost €10 on the day or €13 booked ahead; Pitti and Boboli together are €22 or €25. Besides the palace entrance, you can enter at Annalena on Via Romana, at Porta Romana or from the Forte di Belvedere, which avoids the queue in front of Pitti.
Good to know
Boboli opens at 8:15 and closes between 16:30 in winter and 19:10 in summer, last entry an hour before, and is closed on the first and last Monday of each month.
See Michelangelo's New Sacristy in the Medici Chapels
Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini, San Lorenzo
About 1 hourNo booking needed
A room Michelangelo designed and whose tombs he carved, where his architecture and sculpture work together.
What it is
Behind the church of San Lorenzo, the Medici Chapels hold two very different burial rooms. The Chapel of the Princes is the grand dukes' mausoleum, an octagon lined floor to dome with inlaid coloured stone. The New Sacristy is Michelangelo's: he designed the room and carved the tombs, with the reclining figures of Night, Day, Dawn and Dusk, and it is the closest you get to seeing his architecture and sculpture working together.
How to do it
The entrance is on Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini, at the back of the church. A ticket costs €11; booking is optional and adds a €4 fee.
Good to know
It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 to 18:50, last entry 40 minutes before closing, and is closed on Mondays. Entry is free on the first Sunday of each month, without reservations.
Find Michelangelo's tomb and Giotto's chapels in Santa Croce
Piazza Santa Croce
1 and a half hoursNo booking needed
The church where Florence buried its great names, with Michelangelo and Galileo facing each other and a Giotto fresco cycle fully visible again.
What it is
Santa Croce is the Franciscan church where Florence buried its great names: Michelangelo's tomb is on the right aisle, Galileo's opposite, and Dante has a cenotaph, though he lies in Ravenna. At the east end, the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels hold Giotto's frescoes, and the restoration of the Bardi chapel's Life of Saint Francis is finished, so it is fully visible again.
How to do it
The visitors' entrance is not the main door but on the north side, in Largo Bargellini. Leave time for the cloister, where Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel is reached from the first courtyard.
Good to know
The church opens Monday to Saturday from 9:30 to 17:30, with no admission after 17:00, and on Sundays and religious holidays only from 14:00. Keep the ticket: it gives reductions at Casa Buonarroti and the Galileo Museum.
Hear the monks sing vespers at San Miniato al Monte
San Miniato al Monte, Via delle Porte Sante 34
About 1 hour with the walk upFree
Gregorian chant every evening at 18:30 in a green and white Romanesque church above the city.
What it is
San Miniato, the green and white Romanesque church on the hill above Piazzale Michelangelo, is still a working monastery, and every evening at 18:30 the monks sing vespers in Latin and Gregorian chant. Before it, look at the 13th-century apse mosaic and the inlaid marble floor of the nave, then step outside for the view over the city from the church steps, higher and quieter than the Piazzale below.
How to do it
On foot, walk up from Porta San Niccolò past the Piazzale; bus 12 from Santa Maria Novella also climbs the hill. Entry is free and needs no booking.
Good to know
Arrive a little early, sit, and do not walk around once the service has started. The church is open Monday to Saturday from 9:30 to 13:00 and 15:30 to 19:00, and on Sunday from 8:15 to 13:00 and 15:30 to 19:00, but not for visits during services.
Eat a lampredotto sandwich at the San Lorenzo market
Mercato Centrale, San Lorenzo
1 to 2 hoursNo booking needed
Cow's stomach simmered for hours and sliced into a roll dipped in broth, from a market counter open since 1872.
What it is
Lampredotto is Florence's street food: the fourth stomach of the cow, simmered for hours with tomato, onion, celery and parsley, sliced into a round roll whose top is dipped in the broth, and finished with salsa verde and, if you say yes, chilli. The lampredottai sell it from kiosks around the centre, and the classic counter is Da Nerbone, feeding market workers on the ground floor of the Mercato Centrale since 1872.
How to do it
Entrance on Via dell'Ariento, about 900 metres from Santa Maria Novella station. The upstairs food hall, a separate business with dozens of counters, is open every day from 9:00 to 23:00.
Good to know
Go in the morning: the ground floor is the working market, with butchers, cheese and produce, and it closes in the afternoon and on Sundays.
Goldsmiths, bookbinders and gilders working with the door open onto the street, and small arched windows where families once sold wine.
What it is
Across the Arno, the streets between Santo Spirito, San Frediano and Porta Romana still hold the city's working artisans: goldsmiths and engravers, bookbinders and marbled-paper makers, gilders, inlayers and bronze casters, many with the door open onto the street. The artisans are often happy to show interested visitors the techniques handed down for centuries.
How to do it
As you walk, look for the buchette del vino: small arched openings in palazzo walls, the oldest about 20 centimetres wide and 30 high, through which families sold wine from their estates by the flask. A local association counts 184 still visible in Florence; the ones it has verified carry a brass plaque. A few, such as Babae on Via Santo Spirito, serve through theirs.
Good to know
Workshops open on working hours, so go on a weekday.
Take bus 7 up to Fiesole's Roman theatre and the view
Fiesole
Half a dayNo booking needed
A hill town older than Florence, with a Roman theatre cut into the slope and a view down over the Duomo.
What it is
Fiesole was an Etruscan and then Roman town on the hill five kilometres north of Florence, older than the city below. A few steps from its main square, the archaeological area has a Roman theatre with its stone seating cut into the slope, the vaults of the baths and the base of an Etruscan temple.
How to do it
Bus 7 from Piazza San Marco reaches the main square, Piazza Mino, in about 25 minutes. The area costs €7, or €10 with the archaeological museum. Then walk up the steep lane from the square to the convent of San Francesco for the view down over Florence and the Duomo.
Good to know
The area opens 10:00 to 18:00 in October and 9:00 to 19:00 from April to September; from November to February it closes at 15:00 and on Tuesdays.
Walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the view over Florence
Florence
1 to 2 hours with the walk upFree
From the terrace above the Arno, Florence fits in one frame: the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio's tower, Santa Croce and the bridges.
What it is
Giuseppe Poggi laid out Piazzale Michelangelo in 1869 on the hill just south of the Arno, with bronze copies of Michelangelo's David and the four Medici Chapel allegories in the middle.
How to do it
Walk up rather than ride: the Rampe di San Niccolò start on the riverbank opposite the National Library and take you up through gardens. Then keep climbing a few minutes to San Miniato al Monte: turn round at the top of its steps for a view that many think beats the piazzale, and look for the monks' shop next to the church.
Good to know
Every tour bus pauses here, so come an hour before sunset or after dark, when the city lights come on.
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera early on, the Caravaggios near the end: enter the Uffizi with a booked slot and a route.
What it is
Go in with a route: Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera come early on the circuit, while the Caravaggios, the Medusa among them, come near the end, when most people are flagging. The Vasari Corridor runs one way over the Ponte Vecchio and ends in the Boboli Gardens, so you cannot walk back in.
How to do it
The Uffizi opens Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15 to 18:30. Tickets are named, and the pricing runs backwards from most museums: €25 if you buy on the day, €29 if you book ahead, which fixes your entry time. In high season the extra €4 is what keeps you out of the long walk-up line. Add the Vasari Corridor only with the supplement booked at least two hours after your gallery slot.
Good to know
It closes on Mondays, 1 January and 25 December. The first Sunday of each month is free.
Cross the Ponte Vecchio early, then see it from Santa Trinita
Florence
20 minutes, longer at sunsetFree
The only Florence bridge the retreating German army spared in 1944, its jewellers' workshops still hanging off both sides.
What it is
The bridge has stood since about 1345, and on 4 August 1944 it was the only bridge in Florence the retreating German army did not destroy. Jewellers took over its shops from the butchers in the late 1500s, and the little workshops still hang off both sides. The row of windows running along the top is the Vasari Corridor, reopened in December 2024 and visited only with a booked Uffizi supplement.
How to do it
Cross before 9:00, when the wooden shutters are still closed and you see the shape of the bridge rather than a crowd. Pause at the open terrace in the middle by the bust of Benvenuto Cellini. For the classic picture, walk one bridge downstream to Ponte Santa Trinita at sunset.
Good to know
Leave the padlock at home: attaching one to the railings brings a fine.
Time needed
20 minutes, longer at sunset
Best time
Before 9:00, shutters closed; sunset from Ponte Santa Trinita
Florence's own airport, Peretola (FLR), is linked to the centre by the T2 tram to the Unità stop beside Santa Maria Novella station. Many international flights land at Pisa instead, an hour or so away by train. High-speed trains from Rome, Milan, Bologna and Venice arrive at Santa Maria Novella, a short walk from the cathedral.
Getting around
Walk. The centre is compact and closed to private traffic (a camera-enforced ZTL), so leave any hire car outside it. Buses cover the hills: line 7 goes from Piazza San Marco to Fiesole and line 12 climbs past Piazzale Michelangelo to San Miniato. Taxis wait at the station and the main squares; they are rarely hailed in the street.
How many days
In must30's view, three full days: one for the cathedral complex and the Uffizi, one for the Accademia, the Medici Chapels and Santa Croce, and one in the Oltrarno for Pitti, Boboli and the workshops, ending at San Miniato for vespers. Add a fourth for Fiesole or a day in Chianti.
When to go
April to June and September to October are the best months to walk the city. Summer is hot and crowded, and the queues for the Uffizi and the Accademia are longest. Mondays are tricky: the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Pitti Palace and the Medici Chapels close, while Palazzo Vecchio and the cathedral complex stay open. The Boboli Gardens close on the first and last Monday of each month.
Where to base yourself
Anywhere inside the old centre puts you on foot from everything. The streets around the Duomo and Santa Croce are the most central; the Oltrarno, around Santo Spirito and San Frediano, is quieter and more local, with good trattorias. Near Santa Maria Novella is practical for trains and day trips, if less charming.
Questions travellers ask
How many days do you need in Florence?
Three in must30's view: enough for the cathedral complex, the Uffizi, the Accademia, Santa Croce and a day in the Oltrarno. Two days cover the main museums if you book them ahead; a fourth lets you go up to Fiesole or out to Chianti.
What is open in Florence on Mondays?
Palazzo Vecchio and its tower, the cathedral, Giotto's bell tower, the Baptistery and the cathedral museum open on Mondays, as do churches such as Santa Croce and San Miniato. The Uffizi, the Accademia, the Pitti Palace and the Medici Chapels are closed, and the Boboli Gardens close on the first and last Monday of each month.
Which Duomo pass do I need in Florence?
The Brunelleschi Pass if you want to climb the dome, which also covers the bell tower, Baptistery, museum and Santa Reparata. The Giotto Pass covers everything except the dome, with a booked slot for the bell tower. The Ghiberti Pass covers the museum, the Baptistery and Santa Reparata only. All are valid for 72 hours.
Is the Florence Baptistery worth visiting in 2026?
Less than usual. The mosaics of its vault are under restoration and hidden from view, so go mainly for the building and spend the time at the cathedral museum next door, where Ghiberti's original Gates of Paradise are on display.
How do I get from Florence to Fiesole?
Take bus 7 from Piazza San Marco to Piazza Mino, Fiesole's main square: about 25 minutes, every 20 to 30 minutes. Buy the ticket before you board. The Roman theatre is a few steps from the square.
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