Florence 4 Day Itinerary
Florence receives around 12 million tourists per year for a city of 360,000 residents, which works out to roughly 33 visitors per resident annually. The crowds are real and the logistics require actual planning. The Uffizi and the Accademia both sell out their timed-entry slots weeks in advance during April through October; go to their official websites now, before you book your flights, and secure your entry windows. This is not optional advice dressed up as a tip. It is the difference between a successful trip and standing outside two of Europe’s greatest art collections.
Getting There
Florence’s airport (Amerigo Vespucci, FLR) is small and handles mainly European connections. Many visitors fly into Pisa (PSA, 80 km away) or Rome (FCO, 280 km) and take a train. From Pisa Centrale to Florence Santa Maria Novella takes 45 to 60 minutes on a regional train (around 8 euros). From Roma Termini, Frecciarossa high-speed trains reach Florence in 90 minutes (from 19 euros booked ahead). Santa Maria Novella station puts you in the centre of the city, 10 minutes’ walk from most major sites.
Within Florence, most of what matters is walkable. Taxis are metered and honest. There is no metro. The city operates a ZTL (Zona a Traffico Limitato) for private cars in the historic centre that is rigorously enforced by cameras; if you rent a car, park it outside the ZTL and walk or take a taxi into the centre.
Where to Stay
For the Uffizi and the Duomo within 10 minutes on foot, stay in the historic centre or across the Arno in Oltrarno. The Hotel Davanzati near Piazza della Repubblica is a family-run three-star with character and a good location (doubles from around 120 euros). The Soprarno Suites in Oltrarno suit travellers who want a more residential neighbourhood feel (around 150 to 200 euros). Avoid hotels on the tourist strip near Santa Croce that charge historic-centre prices for a 20-minute walk from everything.
Day 1: The Duomo Complex and the Old City
The Duomo complex (cathedral, baptistery, Giotto’s Bell Tower, Brunelleschi’s Dome climb, and the Opera del Duomo Museum) is booked as a single combined ticket for 18 euros. This is very good value and the museum, housed across the piazza from the cathedral, contains the original Florence Baptistery doors and Donatello’s Penitent Magdalene in a space that almost no one gives enough time. Book the combined ticket on the official Duomo website; the Dome climb especially requires a timed slot, and popular morning windows go fast.
Start early at the Baptistery (opens 8:15 am on most days) before the guided tour groups arrive. The Byzantine mosaic ceiling from the 13th century is the densest and most ambitious religious artwork in Florence that is not a painting. Then cross to the cathedral itself, where the main draw is Brunelleschi’s dome seen from inside: 91 metres of brick engineering and fresco completed between 1420 and 1436 without scaffolding, using a double-shell construction method that was not fully understood for centuries.
Climb Giotto’s Bell Tower in preference to the Dome if you have to choose one: the tower exterior offers a straight-on view of the dome’s profile at medium distance that is the defining Florence photograph, and the climb is 414 steps without intermediate platforms (the Dome climb has rest points). From the top, the red-tiled cityscape with no high-rises in any direction confirms exactly what it means to live inside a Renaissance painting.
Lunch at Trattoria Mario on Via Rosina, a shared-table lunch institution since 1953. Cash only, no reservations, arrive before noon to secure a seat. The ribollita (bread soup), pasta e fagioli, and whatever the daily meat special is cost around 10 to 14 euros total. This is the most authentic and affordable lunch in the historic centre.
Afternoon: Piazza della Signoria and its open-air sculpture collection (the Loggia dei Lanzi), where the original Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini and Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine Women stand in the arcade without a ticket or a queue. The Palazzo Vecchio (Florence’s medieval town hall, still in use by the city government) offers ticketed access to its ceremonial rooms for around 12 euros.
Evening walk across the Ponte Vecchio to Oltrarno, then dinner at Trattoria Cammillo on Borgo San Jacopo. Classic Florentine cooking in a room that has not been redesigned since anyone can remember: ribollita, bistecca (sold by weight, priced per 100g), pappardelle with wild boar. Budget 35 to 50 euros per person with wine.
Day 2: Uffizi, Pitti Palace, and Boboli Gardens
Your pre-booked Uffizi slot (standard adult ticket 25 euros, or 16 euros for slots after 4 pm) is for Day 2. If you booked the afternoon discount, use the morning for the Accademia (see below) or the Bargello.
The Uffizi contains 85 rooms and covers Western painting from Cimabue through Caravaggio. Most visitors spend three hours and feel they have barely started; the honest advice is to go twice if you can, or pick a focused section rather than attempting all 85 rooms in one pass. The collection’s spine is the progression from Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna (Room 2) through Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera (Room 10-14) to Raphael and Michelangelo in the Tribune. Spend 40 minutes in Botticelli and you will have a better visit than tourists who attempt the whole gallery in two hours.
Lunch just outside the Uffizi at All’Antico Vinaio on Via dei Neri, Florence’s most famous sandwich shop, now with a managed queue that moves faster than it looks. A schiacciata sandwich with finocchiona, truffle spread, and stracchino costs around 8 euros and is worth the 10-minute wait.
Afternoon: cross the Ponte Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti, the largest palace complex in Florence, which houses multiple museums on a single combined ticket (around 16 euros for the Palatina Gallery and Royal Apartments). The Galleria Palatina’s Raphael collection is arguably stronger than the Uffizi’s, a fact that most first-time visitors do not know. The Boboli Gardens behind the palace (included in the ticket) are the most formal Italian garden in Tuscany and deserve an hour if the weather cooperates.
Evening in Oltrarno: walk Via Maggio and Piazza Santo Spirito before dinner. Trattoria Sabatino on Via Pisana (a 10-minute walk from Piazza Santo Spirito, filled with loyal regulars who have been coming for decades) serves a proper Florentine dinner for under 20 euros per person. The restaurant is not polished, the paper tablecloths are replaced between sittings, and the food is straightforwardly excellent. Arrive when it opens to get a table.
Day 3: Accademia and the Oltrarno Craft Quarter
The Galleria dell’Accademia ticket costs 20 euros online (with 4-euro booking fee; under-18s free). The timed-entry slot is 30 minutes wide, entrance is every 15 minutes, and peak-season slots sell out weeks in advance. Book it.
Michelangelo’s David needs a separate discussion from the tourist-brochure summary. The statue is 5.17 metres tall, carved between 1501 and 1504 from a single block of Carrara marble that had been deemed unworkable by two earlier sculptors. What photographs do not convey is the spatial experience of walking into the rotunda and encountering it at scale: the veins visible in the hands, the tense posture of someone about to act rather than someone in motion, the turned head that makes the whole composition directional. Allow 30 minutes with the statue itself before moving to the rest of the Accademia’s collection.
Afternoon in Oltrarno: the neighbourhood is Florence’s traditional craft district and several workshops (goldsmiths, bookbinders, leather restorers, frame gilders) still operate on the ground floors of residential buildings and welcome visitors. The Scuola del Cuoio (Leather School) next to Santa Croce is the most organised of these, but the workshops on Via Toscanella and around Piazza della Passera are less curated and more genuine. Walk and look; the open doors tell you what is inside.
Lunch at Osteria Tripperia Il Magazzino on Piazza della Passera. Florence’s traditional offal cuisine (lampredotto, tripe, ribollita made with everything) is not universally appetising but it is the specific food of this city, and Il Magazzino executes it well in a casual setting. The lampredotto panino (boiled fourth-stomach of cattle, with salsa verde) costs around 5 euros; the tripe dishes are around 10 euros. This is the local lunch that generic itineraries skip.
Evening: a glass of wine at any of the enotecas on Via dei Serragli before dinner at a restaurant of your choice. The Oltrarno is well supplied with options ranging from pizza to full Tuscan tasting menus.
Day 4: Day Trip to Pisa and Lucca, or Final Florence Hours
The day-trip option to Pisa and Lucca works logistically: frequent trains from Santa Maria Novella to Pisa Centrale (45 to 60 minutes, around 8 euros) run from 6 am. At Pisa, the Piazza dei Miracoli (Cathedral Square) is a 15-minute walk or short bus ride from the station. The Leaning Tower climb costs 18 euros and must be booked in advance online (timed entry, small group sizes). The adjacent cathedral (free) and baptistery (around 7 euros) are worth more time than most visitors give them; the acoustic interior of the baptistery is remarkable.
From Pisa, the train to Lucca takes 30 minutes (around 4 euros). Lucca’s Renaissance-era city walls are intact and wide enough at the top for a cycling or walking circuit (4.2 km). Bike rental at the walls costs around 4 euros per hour. The city is genuinely off the mass-tourist circuit compared to Pisa and Florence, and the streets inside the walls have a lived-in quality that neither of the other two cities quite matches. Lunch in Lucca before returning to Florence by late afternoon.
Alternatively, if you prefer a final Florence morning: the Bardini Gardens across the Arno from Boboli are less visited, free on certain days (check the current schedule), and have a rose garden and wisteria pergola with city views that equal anything in Boboli. The San Miniato al Monte church, a 20-minute uphill walk from Piazzale Michelangelo, has a Romanesque facade from 1018 and a tiled floor from 1207 and is almost empty compared to the Duomo. These are the two places in Florence that repeat visitors go when the main circuit is done.
Key Practical Notes
Dress code for churches: shoulders and knees covered for both men and women. The Duomo enforces this at the door. Tipping in Florence is around 10 percent at sit-down restaurants; not expected at bars or sandwich counters. The ZTL camera fines can arrive weeks after your trip if a rental car’s plates were captured inside the restricted zone; confirm with your rental company that your pick-up and drop-off locations are outside the ZTL.
The single best thing you can do before landing in Florence is book the Uffizi and the Accademia. Everything else can be decided in situ.