Florence 3 Day Itinerary (Tuscany Base)
Three days adds one more Tuscan day trip to the 2-day plan: a combined Pisa and Lucca day, both by regional train, no car required for either. This itinerary keeps day one deliberately light on in-city sightseeing (our full Florence guide covers that properly) and spends days two and three on the two strongest train-only trips out of Florence. Need a shorter or longer version? Our 2-day and 4-day plans extend the same spine.
Book these before you go
- Check rates on Booking.com for a hotel near Firenze SMN, the departure point for both day trips below.
- A Siena day tour on GetYourGuide if you would rather not juggle two separate train schedules yourself.
- Leaning Tower of Pisa tickets on GetYourGuide since peak-summer climb slots can sell out within hours of release.
Day 1: Settle into Florence
Arrive and check into a hotel within walking distance of Firenze SMN. Keep the afternoon light: get your bearings, confirm both day-trip train times on Trenitalia , and save the Uffizi, the Duomo dome, and the Accademia for a dedicated in-city visit (our full Florence guide covers exactly that). Dinner near your hotel, early night, tomorrow’s train leaves before you’d like it to.
Day 2: Siena
The regional train to Siena runs 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 30 minutes each way on Trenitalia , around 30 departures a day from SMN. Spend the day on Piazza del Campo, the striped Duomo, and the streets around them rather than rushing back early, Siena is a full working city and rewards the time. The UNESCO listing for Siena’s historic centre is worth a skim before you go, if only to understand why the Campo’s shell shape is protected.
Day 3: Pisa and Lucca, one train day
Pisa is about an hour from Florence (regional fare 8 to 13.50 euros). The Leaning Tower climb is a separate 20-euro ticket sold only through the official opapisa.it site , bookable up to 90 days ahead, with kids under 8 barred from climbing at all. See the tower, take the obligatory holding-it-up photo in the piazza, and decide for yourself whether the climb is worth a timed slot, our honest verdict on the tower leans no. Lucca is another hour to an hour and a half beyond (around 10 euros one way), a walled town where you walk or bike the ramparts instead of queueing for anything. Combine both and you are back in Florence in time for dinner.
| Day | Focus | Transit from Florence SMN |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florence orientation | None, already in the city |
| 2 | Siena day trip | Regional train, 1h20-1h30 each way |
| 3 | Pisa plus Lucca | Regional train, about 1h each way |
Book the Pisa tower slot before you leave home, not the morning of. A sold-out summer slot means you photograph the tower from the ground and nothing else, which is arguably the correct call anyway.