Getting There

BY PLANE--Most international travelers will reach Florence via the airports in Rome or Milan, proceeding on to Florence via train (see below). There are also direct international flights into Pisa’s Galileo Galilei Airport, 97km (60 miles) west of Florence; several budget airlines fly here from other European cities. Around 15 daily Autostradale buses (www.airportbusexpress.it; tel. 02/3008-9000) connect downtown Florence with Pisa Airport in just over 1 hour (14€ adults; 7€ children 2–12). Sky Bus Lines (www.caronnatour.com) runs the same route, with the same prices, 5–8 times daily.

A few European airlines, including British Airways and Vueling, also serve Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci Airport (www.aeroporto.firenze.it/en; tel. 055/306-15), sometimes called Peretola, just 5km (3 miles) northwest of town. Opened in 2019, a new tram line (T2) is the most cost-efficient way to reach the center from there (1.50€ each way). Trams depart every 4–9 minutes from 5am to midnight. Journey time to Florence’s rail station is 20 minutes. Taxis line up outside the arrivals terminal: Exit and turn immediately to the right to find the rank. They charge a regulated flat rate of 22€ for the 15-minute journey to the city center (24€ on holidays, 25.30€ after 10pm; additional 1€ per bag).

Florence is also connected with Bologna Airport, by the Appennino Shuttle (www.appenninoshuttle.it; tel. 055/5001-302), which runs 10 times each day and takes between 80 and 90 minutes; tickets cost 20€, 8€ ages 5 to 10, free ages 4 and under (25€/10€ if you pay on board, cash only). Buses arrive at and depart from Piazzale Montelungo, between Florence’s Santa Maria Novella rail station and the Fortezza da Basso.

BY TRAIN--Most travelers arrive in Florence by train. This is the Tuscany region’s rail hub, with regular connections to all Italy’s major cities. To get here from Rome or Milan, take a high-speed Frecciarossa or Frecciargento train (1.5 hr.; www.trenitalia.com) or rival high-speed trains operated by Italo (www.italotreno.it). High-speed trains run from Venice (2 hr.) via Padua and Bologna; and also direct from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport.

Most Florence-bound trains roll into Stazione Santa Maria Novella, Piazza della Stazione (www.firenzesantamarianovella.it), which you’ll see abbreviated as S.M.N. The station is an architectural masterpiece, albeit one dating to Italy’s Fascist period, rather than the Renaissance. It lies on the northwestern edge of the city’s compact historic center, a 10-minute walk from the Duomo and a brisk 15-minute walk from Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi.

BY CAR--The A1 autostrada runs north from Rome past Arezzo to Florence and continues to Bologna. Unnumbered superhighways run to and from Siena (the SI-FI raccordo) and Pisa (the so-called FI-PI-LI). To reach Florence from Venice, take the A13 southbound then switch to the A1 at Bologna.

Driving to Florence is easy; the problems begin once you arrive. Almost all cars are banned from the historic center for much of the time; only residents or merchants with special permits are allowed into this clearly marked, camera-patrolled zona a trafico limitato (ZTL). You can enter the ZTL to drop off baggage at your hotel or go direct to a pre-booked parking garage (either can organize a temporary ZTL permit when provided with your license plate). Usual ZTL hours are Monday to Friday 7:30am to 8pm, Saturday 7:30am to 4pm. Evenings Thursday through Saturday the ZTL also operates until 3am the following morning. It’s a real hassle, so only rent a car if you’re leaving town to visit somewhere off the rail network.

If you do drive here, your best bet for overnight or longer-term parking is one of the city-run garages. The best deal—better than most hotels’ garage rates—is at the Parterre parking lot under Piazza Libertà at Via del Ponte Rosso 4 (tel. 055/5030-2209). Open around the clock, it costs 2€ per hour, or 10€ for the first 24 hours, 15€ for the second, then 20€ per day; it’s 70€ for up to a week’s parking. Find more info on parking at www.fipark.com.

Don’t park your car overnight on the streets in Florence without local knowledge; if you’re towed and ticketed, it will set you back substantially, and the headaches to retrieve your car are beyond description. If this happens to you, start by calling the vehicle removal department (Recupero Veicoli Rimossi) at tel. 055/422-4142. One more reason you should not drive in Florence.

Getting Around

Florence is a walking city. You can stroll between the two top sights, Piazza del Duomo and the Uffizi, in 5 to 7 minutes. The hike from the most northerly major sights, San Marco with its Fra’ Angelico frescoes and the Accademia with Michelangelo’s “David,” to the most southerly, the Pitti Palace across the Arno, should take no more than 30 minutes. From Santa Maria Novella eastward across town to Santa Croce is a flat 20- to 30-minute walk. But beware: Flagstones, some of them uneven, are everywhere—wear sensible shoes with some padding and foot support.

By Bus -- You’ll rarely need to use Florence’s efficient ATAF bus system (www.ataf.net; tel. 800-424-500 in Italy) since the city is so compact. Bus tickets cost 1.50€ (2.50€ on board) and are good and are good for 90 minutes, irrespective of how many changes you make (even if you switch to a tram). Tickets are sold at tabacchi (tobacconists), automatic machines, some bars, and most newsstands. Note: Once on board, validate a paper ticket in the box to avoid a steep fine. Since traffic is restricted in most of the center, buses make runs on principal streets only, except for four tiny electric bus lines (bussini services C1–4) that trundle about the centro storico. The most useful routes to outlying areas are no. 7 (for Fiesole) and nos. 12 and 13 (for Piazzale Michelangelo). Buses run from 7am until 9 or 9:30pm daily, with a limited night service on a few key routes.

By Tram --Tram lines (www.gestramvia.com) run until after midnight. Route T1 connects Santa Maria Novella station with the Opera di Firenze, Cascine Park, and Florence’s southwestern suburbs. Finally opened in 2019, lines T2 and the T1 extension head northward from the station: T2 to the airport and T1 to Careggi via the Fortezza.

By Taxi -- Taxis aren’t cheap, and with the city so small and the one-way system forcing drivers on convoluted routes, they aren’t an economical way to get about. They are most useful to get you and your bags between the train station and a hotel. It’s 3.30€  to start the meter (which rises to 5.30€  on Sunday, or to 6.60€  10pm–6am), plus 1€  per bag or for a fourth passenger in the cab. Taxi stands are outside the train station, on Borgo San Jacopo, and in Piazza Santa Croce; otherwise, call Radio Taxi SOCOTA at tel. 055/4242 or Radio Taxi COTAFI at tel. 055/4390. For the latest tariff information, see www.4242.it.

By Bicycle or Scooter -- Many bike-rental shops are located between San Lorenzo and San Marco. They include Alinari, Via San Zanobi 38R (www.alinarirental.com; tel. 055/280-500), which rents city bikes (2.50€  per hour; 12€  per day) and mountain bikes (3€  per hour; 18€  per day). It also hires out 125cc scooters (15€  per hour; 55€  per day). Another renter with similar prices is Florence by Bike, Via San Zanobi 54R (www.florencebybike.it; tel. 055/488-992). Make sure to use a lock (one will be provided with your rental): Bike theft is common. Global app-powered bike-sharing scheme Mobike (www.mobike.com) also operates in Florence. When you’ve downloaded the app, registered, and paid a 1€  deposit, you’re free to rent in periods of up to 30 minutes (.50€ ). All payments are handled inside the app.

By Car -- Trying to drive in the centro storico is a frustrating, useless exercise, and moreover, unauthorized traffic is not allowed past signs marked ztl. You need a permit to do anything beyond dropping off and picking up bags at your hotel. Park your vehicle in one of the underground lots on the center’s periphery and pound the sidewalk.

Parking

Florence is a smallish city, sitting on the Arno River and petering out to olive-planted hills rather quickly to the north and south, but extending farther west and east along the Arno valley with suburbs and light industry. It has a compact center that is best negotiated on foot. No two major sights are more than a 25-minute walk apart, and most of the hotels and restaurants in this chapter are in the relatively small centro storico (historic center), a compact tangle of medieval streets and piazze (squares) where visitors spend most of their time. The bulk of Florence, including most of the tourist sights, lies north of the river, with the Oltrarno, an old working artisans’ neighborhood, hemmed in between the Arno and the hills on the south side.

The address system in Florence has a split personality. Private homes, some offices, and hotels are numbered in black (or blue), but businesses, shops, and restaurants are numbered independently in red. (That’s the theory anyway; in reality, the division between black and red numbers isn’t always so clear-cut.) The result is that 1, 2, 3 (black) addresses march up the block numerically oblivious to their 1R, 2R, 3R (red) neighbors. You might find the doorways on one side of a street numbered 1R, 2R, 3R, 1, 4R, 2, 3, 5R.

Fast Facts

 

Neighborhoods in Brief

The Duomo -- The area surrounding Florence’s gargantuan cathedral is as central as you can get. The Duomo is halfway between the two monastic churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, as well as at the midpoint between the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio to the south and San Marco and the Accademia with Michelangelo’s “David” to the north. The streets south of the Duomo make up a medieval tangle of alleys and tiny squares heading toward Piazza della Signoria. This is one of the oldest parts of town, and the streets still vaguely follow the grid laid down when the city was a Roman colony. The site of the Roman city’s forum is today’s Piazza della Repubblica.

The Duomo neighborhood is, understandably, one of the most hotel-heavy parts of town, offering a range from luxury inns to student dives and everything in between. However, several places around here rest on the laurels of their sublime location; you need to be choosy. The same goes—even more so—for dining in the area.

Piazza della Signoria -- This is the city’s civic heart and perhaps the best base for museum hounds—the Uffizi Gallery, Bargello sculpture collection, and Ponte Vecchio leading toward the Pitti Palace are all nearby. It’s a well-polished part of the tourist zone but still retains the narrow medieval streets where Dante grew up. The few blocks just north of the Ponte Vecchio have reasonable shopping, but unappealing modern buildings were planted here to replace those destroyed during World War II. The entire neighborhood can be stiflingly crowded in summer—Via Por Santa Maria is one to avoid—but in those moments when you catch it empty of tour groups, it remains the romantic heart of pre-Renaissance Florence. As with the Duomo neighborhood, you need to be very choosy when picking a restaurant or even an ice cream around here.

San Lorenzo & the Mercato Centrale -- This wedge of streets between the train station and the Duomo, centered on the Medici’s old family church of San Lorenzo and its Michelangelo-designed tombs, is market territory. The vast indoor food market is here, and many of the streets are filled daily with stalls hawking leather and other tourist wares. It’s a colorful neighborhood, blessed with a range of budget hotels and affordable restaurants, but not the quietest.

Piazza Santa Trínita -- This piazza sits just north of the river at the south end of Florence’s shopping mecca, Via de’ Tornabuoni, home to Gucci, Armani, and more. It’s a pleasant, well-to-do (but still medieval) neighborhood in which to stay, even if you don’t care about haute couture. If you’re an upscale shopping fiend, there’s no better place to be.

Santa Maria Novella -- This neighborhood, bounding the western edge of the centro storico, has two characters: an unpleasant zone around the train station, and a nicer area south of it between the church of Santa Maria Novella and the river. In general, the train-station area is the least attractive part of town in which to base yourself. The streets are mostly heavily trafficked and noisy, and you’re a little removed from the medieval atmosphere. This area does, however, have more good budget options than any other quarter, especially along Via Faenza and its tributaries. Try to avoid staying on traffic-clogged Via Nazionale.

The situation improves dramatically as you move east into the San Lorenzo area, or pass Santa Maria Novella church and head south toward the river. Piazza Santa Maria Novella and its tributary streets have a few top-priced, stylish boutique hotels.

San Marco & Santissima Annunziata -- These two churches are fronted by piazze—Piazza San Marco, a busy transport hub, and Piazza Santissima Annunziata, the most architecturally unified square in the city—that together define the northern limits of the centro storico. The neighborhood is home to Florence’s university, the Accademia, the San Marco paintings of Fra’ Angelico, and quiet streets with some hotel gems. The walk back from the heart of the action isn’t as far as it looks on a map, and you’ll likely welcome the escape from tourist crowds. But it’s not (yet) a great dining or nightlife neighborhood.

Santa Croce -- The art-filled church at the eastern edge of the centro storico is the focal point of one of the most genuine neighborhoods left in the center. Few tourists roam too far east of Piazza Santa Croce, so if you want to feel like a local, stay here. The streets around the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio and Piazza de’ Ciompi have an especially appealing, local feel, and they get lively after dark. The Santa Croce neighborhood boasts some of the best restaurants and bars in the city—aperitivo hour is vibrant along Via de’ Benci, and there is always something going on along Via Panisperna and Via de’ Macci.

The Oltrarno, San Niccolò & San Frediano -- “Across the Arno” is the artisans’ neighborhood, still dotted with workshops. It began as a working-class neighborhood to catch the overflow from the expanding medieval city on the opposite bank, but became a chic area for aristocrats to build palaces on the edge of the countryside. The largest of these, the Pitti Palace, later became the home of the grand dukes and today houses a set of paintings second only to the Uffizi in scope.

The Oltrarno’s lively tree-shaded center, Piazza Santo Spirito, is lined with bars and close to some great restaurants (and lively nightlife, too). West of here, the neighborhood of San Frediano, around the Porta Pisana, is becoming ever more fashionable, and San Niccolò at the foot of Florence’s southern hills is a buzzing nightlife spot. You may not choose to stay around here—the hotel range isn’t great—but when evening draws nigh, cross one of the bridges to drink and eat better food, at better prices, than you will generally find in the centro storico.