Italy · City break

Florence City Guide

The Renaissance up close. Florence looks like a painting you can simply walk into, and it stays compact enough to cover most of it on foot. Art, lanes and squares sit close together, so you can just drift along. You set off, and one ready-made day route from the stop takes care of the rest.

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Our walking tour of Florence

The walk starts at Santa Maria Novella station and takes you in 11 stops (about 5.8 km) on foot right across the Renaissance old town, over the Arno and up to the city's finest viewpoint. These are the highlights.

Florence on foot with Duomo, Uffizi & viewpoint

From the station through the Renaissance old town to the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, the Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio, across to the Palazzo Pitti and up to Piazzale Michelangelo with the best view over Florence. Then back via Santa Croce, Piazza della Repubblica and Santa Maria Novella as a loop to the station.

Bahnhof Santa Maria Novella. The 1934 main station is a celebrated example of Italian Rationalism and your starting point. Just across the square, the marble façade of the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella is worth a first look.
Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral). The symbol of Florence. Brunelleschi's mighty brick dome of 1436 crowns the cathedral of green, white and pink marble. Climb the 463 steps and you're rewarded with a panorama over the whole city.
Piazza della Signoria. The political heart of Florence since the Middle Ages, an open-air sculpture museum, with the Neptune Fountain, an equestrian statue and the Loggia dei Lanzi full of statues. A copy of Michelangelo's David stands in front of the palace.
Palazzo Vecchio. The fortress-like town hall with its 94 m Arnolfo Tower has been the seat of civic power since 1299. Inside, the vast Hall of the Five Hundred with Vasari frescoes and the Medici private chambers dazzle.
Uffizien. The Uffizi holds the world's foremost collection of Renaissance painting, from Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus' to Leonardo and Caravaggio. Allow plenty of time.
Ponte Vecchio. The famous bridge of 1345, the only one spared by the war, is built over with tiny goldsmiths' shops. Above runs the Medici's secret Vasari Corridor.
Ponte Santa Trinita. The elegant arched bridge downstream offers the loveliest view of the Ponte Vecchio, especially in the golden evening light, the classic Florence postcard shot.
Palazzo Pitti. The mighty Renaissance palace on the south bank was the Medici residence and later home to Italy's kings. Today it houses the Royal Apartments and the Palatine Gallery full of Raphael and Titian; the Boboli Gardens rise behind it. Just a few lanes on lies Piazza Santo Spirito, the living-room square of the Oltrarno.
Giardino delle Rose (Rosengarten). On the way up to the Piazzale, the free rose garden invites a pause among over a thousand roses and citrus plants on a slope with a wide view over the rooftops of Florence.
Piazzale Michelangelo. The broad viewing terrace above the south bank offers the most famous view over all of Florence, with the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and the Arno at your feet. A bronze copy of David stands at its centre. Loveliest at sunset.
Basilica di Santa Croce. One of the largest Franciscan churches in the world is Italy's hall of fame. Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Machiavelli are buried here, with a cenotaph for Dante. In front lies the broad Piazza Santa Croce, stage of the historic Calcio Storico.
Piazza della Repubblica. The broad square on the site of the ancient Roman forum is framed by a triumphal arch and the venerable cafés Gilli and Paszkowski. A historic carousel turns at its centre. A lively meeting point in the heart of the city.
Piazza di Santa Maria Novella. The elegant square is dominated by the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, whose green-and-white marble façade by Leon Battista Alberti ranks among the masterpieces of the Renaissance. A calm stop just before the station.
Zurück am Bahnhof Santa Maria Novella. Back at the start, the loop closes again at Santa Maria Novella station. From here regional and high-speed trains run across Tuscany and all of Italy.

Planning your visit

One day is enough, two are more relaxed. The route from Santa Maria Novella station runs 7.5 kilometres and picks up the cathedral, the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti in fourteen stops before climbing to the Piazzale Michelangelo. If your time is short, skip the climb and stay in the centre, where almost everything sits side by side. Book the Uffizi and the cathedral ahead. Thirteen addresses are ready for the evening.

Going out & nightlife

Rooftop bars

La Terrazza (Hotel Continentale). Small rooftop terrace right by the Ponte Vecchio with one of the finest views over the Arno and its bridges, stylish and accordingly sought-after.
SE·STO on Arno (The Westin Excelsior). Glazed top-floor bar-restaurant with a sweeping view over rooftops, the Duomo and the Arno, arguably the widest panorama in the centre.
Empireo (Plaza Hotel Lucchesi). Relaxed rooftop bar with a small pool on the Arno bank near Santa Croce, looking towards the Duomo and the hills to the south.

Nightlife quarters

Piazza Santo Spirito (Oltrarno). The Florentines' bohemian favourite square, a market by day, packed with bars and young people on the church steps by night, the heart of the Oltrarno nightlife quarter.
Sant'Ambrogio & Santa Croce. Around the Sant'Ambrogio market and Piazza Santa Croce cluster lively trattorias, wine bars and aperitivo spots, less touristy than the centre.

Food & restaurants

All'Antico Vinaio. Florence's most famous schiacciata shop, with generously filled Tuscan flatbread sandwiches to go, almost always with a queue. Cheap and legendary.
Mercato Centrale (Obergeschoss). On the upper floor of the San Lorenzo market hall, a modern food hall with stalls for pasta, pizza, bistecca and wine, open in the evening too.
Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Trattorien). Florence's must-eat is the bistecca alla fiorentina, a thick T-bone steak from Chianina cattle. Go-to spots are trattorias around Santa Croce and in the Oltrarno (booking advised).

Bars & clubs

Mad Souls & Spirits. Small, creative cult cocktail bar in the Oltrarno, laid-back and usually busy. A classic of the Florence bar scene.
Locale Firenze. Spectacular cocktail bar in a Renaissance palazzo with courtyard and winter garden, elegant and atmospheric for a late drink.
Bars am Santo Spirito. Around Piazza Santo Spirito the evening runs long, with small bars, live music and people on the square deep into the night.

Stage & concerts

Teatro della Pergola. One of Italy's oldest theatres (1656), a sumptuous tiered auditorium; today mostly drama, concerts and chamber music.
Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Modern opera and concert house, home of the renowned Maggio Musicale festival, with opera, ballet and symphony concerts.

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Practical information for Florence

Public transport

Operator. Two companies, one fare. Autolinee Toscane, known as at, took over all public road transport in the Tuscany region in 2021, replacing the former ATAF in Florence as well. The tram, with lines T1 and T2, is operated by GEST S.p.A., a separate company that nonetheless falls under the same fare system. For travelers this has one pleasant consequence, there is no separate network with its own rules, just a single region-wide price list. Florence falls into the Urbano capoluogo tier, alongside Arezzo, Carrara, Grosseto, Livorno, Lucca, Massa, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Siena. The same ticket therefore also works in these cities, which helps on a day trip to Pisa or Siena. The network also includes the towns neighboring the Metropolitan City of Florence, as well as Certaldo and Empoli, which however fall under the cheaper Urbano maggiore tier.

Network. Trams and buses. The centre is so small you will hardly need them.

Modes of transport. Bus · Tram · Regional train within the city area

Operating hours. For the tram, the times are published exactly. Both lines start every day at 5 a.m. The last T1 from Villa Costanza runs at 12.12 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 1.38 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, the last T2 from the airport at 11.58 p.m. or 1.15 a.m. respectively. Frequency is high. Monday through Thursday the trams run every 10 minutes between 5 and 6.30 a.m., then every 4 to 5 minutes until 8.30 p.m., every 10 minutes until 11.30 p.m., and every 22 to 25 minutes in the final hour. On Saturdays the daytime frequency is every 5 to 6 minutes, while on Sundays and public holidays the trams run every 9 to 11 minutes until 1.30 p.m. and every 7 to 9 minutes after that. On Fridays and Saturdays service continues until 2 a.m., then at intervals of 16 to 25 minutes. For the bus lines, Autolinee Toscane doesn't publish an overall figure, only a timetable per line as a PDF. What is documented there is the night service, which kicks in from 10 p.m.

Night service. Florence overhauled its night network on June 11, 2026. Since then, 24 bus lines cover the period from 10 p.m., according to Autolinee Toscane, until 2 a.m. Three lines were added entirely new, 18, 22 and 60. Eight existing lines were rerouted for the night. Line 6 takes over the area of the daytime line 20, line 9 runs to Cavallaccio, Ponte a Greve and Leopolda, and line 13, which runs between Piazzale Michelangiolo and the station during the day, now ends at the Stazione Orti Oricellari stop so that the transfer to T1 and T2 is short. Line 17 replaces the missing line 11 at night and now runs all the way to Parco delle Cascine, which previously was only served until 9 p.m. Line 23 connects the T2 tram stop Guidoni via the Santa Maria Novella station with Sorgane and Bagno a Ripoli. Lines 30 and 35 to Campi Bisenzio now end at Piazza Togliatti and add frequency on the Via Baracca–Porta al Prato stretch. The C1 minibus line runs as a new cross-town route from Parterre via Cavour, San Lorenzo and the Uffizi to Porta Romana, cutting right through the old town. Thirteen other lines were already running after 10 p.m. before, including 1, 2, 7, 12, 25, 28, 33, 55, 56, 57 and the minibus lines C2, C3 and C4. On top of that comes the tram, which runs through until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Buying tickets. There are four ways to get a ticket. First, the classic paper sale through Autolinee Toscane counters, vending machines and official resellers, meaning tobacconists, newsstands and bars. In Florence, several hundred such outlets are listed, including at Piazza della Stazione right in front of Santa Maria Novella. Second, the vending machine at the tram stop, since GEST installs its own ticket machines at the stations. Third, digitally via app or SMS. Fourth, buying on board, and here it's worth taking a closer look. A ticket from the driver costs 3.00 euros instead of 2.00 euros, the sale is only guaranteed as far as operations and safety allow, and it is suspended during an ongoing ticket inspection. Autolinee Toscane explicitly advises bringing small coins, since the driver is not required to give change. Every ticket must be validated, or activated, when boarding, otherwise it is considered invalid.

App and payment. Autolinee Toscane has its own app called at bus, through which single tickets and cards are sold. Several third-party apps are also enabled alongside it, namely Tabnet, Urbi, Telepass, DropTicket and blink. Passes and cards are additionally available in the web shop at shop.at-bus.it, which requires registration. The most convenient option for short visits is Tip Tap, which has been running since March 28, 2024 across the whole of Tuscany on all buses and on Florence's tram network. You simply tap your Mastercard, Visa or American Express debit, credit or prepaid card on the validator, and wallets on smartphones and smartwatches work the same way. A green light means paid, a red light means declined, and there is no paper receipt. The price doesn't change as a result. Within the city network a single tap at boarding is enough, likewise on the tram, but on the intercity lines you have to tap both when boarding and alighting, because fares there are calculated by distance. If you transfer within the validity period, you tap again, the system recognizes the card and doesn't charge twice. One card only buys one ticket per tap, so for companions you need a second card or a regular ticket. And the most important restriction, tickets bought with Tip Tap are not valid on the regional trains within Florence.

Which ticket. New prices have applied since August 1, 2026. The standard city ticket, Urbano capoluogo, costs 2.00 euros and is valid for 90 minutes from validation in Florence, but only 70 minutes in all other Tuscan cities. Within these 90 minutes you may transfer as often as you like, switch between bus and tram, and also use the regional trains at the nine city stations. The ten-ride card, Urbano 10 viaggi, costs 18.20 euros. That works out to 1.82 euros per journey, ten single tickets would cost 20.00 euros, so the saving comes to 1.80 euros over ten journeys. Those who buy by SMS pay 2.40 euros plus the SMS fee of 0.29 euros with TIM, Vodafone, WINDTRE, Very Mobile and Fastweb, for a total of 2.69 euros. From the driver a ticket costs 3.00 euros, half again as much as at the machine. There is no day or multi-day card in the city fare. The next tier up is already the personal monthly pass at 42.20 euros, equivalent to 21 single tickets, followed by the quarterly pass at 104.50 euros and the annual pass at 342.80 euros. Discounted tickets under Tuscan law LR 100/98 cost 1.50 euros, but they are tied to eligibility requirements. Tickets bought before August 1, 2026 at the old price remain valid until January 31, 2027.

Fare zones. Within Florence there are no zones, a single price covers bus, tram and the regional trains at nine city stations. Trips into the surrounding area run on the Extraurbano fare by distance tier, with the first tier up to 10 kilometers costing 2.00 euros.

Tip. The walk from the station to the cathedral takes ten minutes.

Getting there

Main station

Location. A terminus right in the centre; everything important is within walking distance.

Long-distance trains. Santa Maria Novella has 19 platform tracks for passenger traffic and is the only stop in Tuscany on Italy's main rail axis. Trenitalia runs Florence on several Frecciarossa lines, including Turin–Milan–Reggio Emilia AV–Bologna–Florence–Rome–Naples–Salerno with extensions to Brescia, Bergamo, Arezzo, Perugia, Bari, Lecce and Reggio Calabria, as well as Venice–Padua–Bologna–Florence–Rome–Naples–Salerno with branches to Udine, Trieste and Fiumicino Airport, the Rome–Florence–Bologna–Verona axis toward Bolzano, and the cross-country link Rome–Florence–Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa. Frecciarossa runs exclusively within Italy, there are no direct international trains from Florence under this brand. That Italo also serves the station is evident from the two lounges in the building, Trenitalia's Freccia Lounge and the Italo Club lounge. 18 of the 19 tracks are step-free via ramps, and tactile guide strips lead to selected platforms. Inside the building there is a ticket office, luggage storage, a pharmacy, a bookshop, bars and restaurants, and the Polfer rail police patrol the access gates. In front of the station are bus and tram stops, bike rental, bike-sharing, car-sharing, scooter-sharing, car rental counters and electric vehicle charging points.

Opening hours. The station opens and closes with the day's first and last train, there are no fixed hours. The Sala Blu, the assistance service for travelers with reduced mobility, is staffed daily from 7.45 a.m. to 10.30 p.m.

Airports

FLR

Into the city. About 20 minutes by T2 tram. The Aeroporto stop is a two-minute walk from arrivals and departures. One piece of luggage up to 10 kg and 55x40x20 cm travels free, larger items need their own ticket.

Frequency. Daily from 5 a.m., first departure toward the city at 5.00 a.m., last at 11.58 p.m., or 1.15 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Back to the airport from 5.10 a.m., last at 12.20 a.m., or 1.50 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Every 4 to 5 minutes during the day.

PSA

Into the city. Take the PisaMover to Pisa Centrale station, then transfer to the train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella. Frecciarossa trains on the Rome–Florence–Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa cross-country route also call at Pisa Centrale.

Local quirks

Wine windows. Old palazzos have small windows set into their façades, the buchette del vino. Some are selling wine through them again.
The 2-euro ticket also works on the train. In Florence, the Urbano capoluogo ticket doesn't just cover bus and tram, it also covers regional trains between nine city stations, namely Firenze SMN, Rifredi, Statuto, Campo di Marte, Le Piagge, Le Cure, Rovezzano, Castello and San Marco Vecchio. From Santa Maria Novella to Campo di Marte or Rifredi, you can travel for 2.00 euros in a few minutes straight under the city, instead of sitting in bus traffic. There is one exception. If you paid contactless with Tip Tap on board, you may not use it on a regional train, that requires a regular paper or app ticket.
There is no day pass. In Florence's city fare there simply is no day, three-day or weekly ticket. The official fare sheet from August 1, 2026 lists only four items for city transport, the 90-minute ticket at 2.00 euros, the SMS ticket at 2.40 euros, the driver purchase at 3.00 euros and the ten-ride card at 18.20 euros. Everything above that is a monthly, quarterly or annual pass, registered to one person and linked to an Italian tax code. For two to three days, the only option left is to weigh single tickets against the ten-ride card.

Good to know

Currency: EUR €
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · F · L
Time zone: Europe/Rome
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 90 km/h, 110 km/h on expressways, motorway 130 km/h

In rain, the motorway limit is 110 km/h instead of 130, and 90 instead of 110 on expressways. Drivers who have held their license for less than three years may drive at most 100 km/h on the motorway and 90 km/h on expressways. Within built-up areas, 50 km/h is the rule, though signposted city roads allow up to 70 km/h.

Tipping. Not expected. Bills often carry a coperto or servizio. If you were happy, round up.

Tolls. Most motorways are tolled. Take a ticket on entry, pay on exit. No vignette.

Access restrictions. Many historic centres are closed to non-residents. Cameras read the plate and the fine arrives home months later. Hours and boundaries differ from city to city.