11:30
getting there
Taxi from the station to the hotel📍 from 🏁 Hotel, Oltrarno
about €1210 min
The taxi rank is outside the main hall on the left. Reception keeps the bags if the room is not ready.
Timeline
Three days: the dome on arrival, the Uffizi and the hill on the full day, David and the gardens before the train.
Day 1 · Tue
Santo Spirito, the Duomo and Brunelleschi's dome
Florencetrain 11:30👟 ≈ 8,000 stepsTrain in at 11:30, a taxi to the hotel and lunch on Piazza Santo Spirito. The dome climb on a 16:00 slot, then the Baptistery and dinner in San Frediano.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →12:30
food
Lunch on Piazza Santo Spirito📍 in Google Maps
€20–30 each
The Oltrarno's own square, with the plain front of Brunelleschi's last church at one end. Trattorias with tables outside serve Tuscan lunches: ribollita, pappardelle with hare or boar ragù, a carafe of house Chianti.
16:00
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Brunelleschi's Dome📍 in Google Maps🎟 book duomo.firenze.it
The cathedral dome Filippo Brunelleschi built without scaffolding in the 1420s, still the largest brick dome in the world.
€30 each, passtimed slotday's highlight463 steps
Twenty minutes' walk across Ponte Santa Trinita. The Brunelleschi Pass, €30, is the only ticket that includes the climb, with a timed slot; it also covers the Baptistery, the bell tower and the cathedral museum for three days.
The entrance is the Porta della Mandorla on the north side. 463 steps and no lift, through passages between the two shells of the dome, narrow and steep near the top; a halfway gallery runs right under Vasari's painted Last Judgement. Allow an hour.
17:15
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Baptistery of San Giovanni📍 in Google Maps🎟 book duomo.firenze.it
The octagonal baptistery opposite the cathedral, with a gold mosaic ceiling and Ghiberti's bronze "Gates of Paradise".
on the pass
The doors facing the cathedral are copies; the originals are in the cathedral museum on the same pass. The ceiling mosaics have been under restoration, with a platform you can climb on some slots; check what is open on the day. Twenty minutes.
18:30
food
Aperitivo on the river, in the Oltrarno📍 in Google Maps
€10–15 each
Back across the river. The wine bars along Borgo San Jacopo and on Piazza della Passera pour Chianti and Vermentino by the glass with a plate of crostini and salami.
20:00
food
Dinner in San Frediano📍 in Google Maps
€35–50 eachbook a table
Ten minutes west of the hotel. The trattorias on Via Santo Spirito and Borgo San Frediano cook bistecca alla fiorentina, sold by weight, about €50–60 a kilo: one steak of 1.2 kg is for two. Book in the afternoon.
If you fall behind
- Skip the aperitivo and go straight to dinner.
- If the train is late and the dome slot is missed, climb Giotto's bell tower instead on the same pass: 414 steps, no slot, and a view of the dome itself.
Day 2 · Wed
The Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio and the Iris Garden
Florenceout 08:00👟 ≈ 11,500 stepsThe Uffizi at 8:15 opening, before the groups, then the Ponte Vecchio and lunch. The Iris Garden on its last open days, Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato in the evening.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →
08:15
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Uffizi Gallery📍 in Google Maps🎟 book uffizi.it
The Medici collection of Italian painting, with Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera.
about €29 each onlinetimed slotday's highlightclosed Mondays
Twelve minutes across the Ponte Vecchio. Tuesday to Sunday 8:15–18:30; book the first slot and go to door 3 with the printed or phone ticket.
Go straight up to the second floor and the Botticelli rooms before the first groups reach them at about nine; Leonardo's Annunciation is a few rooms on. Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, Raphael and the Caravaggios come after, on the way round and down. Allow three hours; the café on the terrace over the Loggia dei Lanzi is the place to stop.
If 08:15 is sold outTake a slot after 16:00: the late ticket is cheaper and the rooms empty out towards closing.
12:00
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Ponte Vecchio📍 in Google Maps
The 1345 bridge lined with goldsmiths' shops, the only Florence bridge the retreating Germans spared in 1944.
free
Out of the Uffizi and along the river. The terrace in the middle, under the bust of Cellini, is where to stop for the view up the Arno; the shops sell gold by weight and shut by 19:00.
12:30
food
Lunch in the Oltrarno, around Via Santo Spirito📍 in Google Maps
€25–35 each
Five minutes over the bridge. A middle-range trattoria with tablecloths, then the hotel for a rest until four.
16:00
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Giardino dell'Iris📍 in Google Maps
A terraced garden of about 1,500 varieties of iris, the flower in Florence's coat of arms, open only while they bloom.
free, donationslast daysuphill
Twenty-five minutes on foot from the hotel, up the ramps from San Niccolò, or a taxi for €12. It usually closes for the year on 20 May and keeps hours of about 10:00–18:00; check the dates for 2027 before you climb.
17:15
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Piazzale Michelangelo📍 in Google Maps
The terrace over the city with a bronze copy of David, built in 1869 for this view.
free
Next to the garden. The whole city, the dome and the river, with the hills of Fiesole behind. Avoid the café terraces on the square itself, which charge for the view.
17:45
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San Miniato al Monte📍 in Google Maps
An 11th-century church on the hill above the piazzale, still run by Benedictine monks.
freevespers in the evening
Five minutes up the staircase behind the piazzale. The monks sing vespers in Gregorian chant in the early evening, usually around 18:00; the time is on the board by the door. Sit at the back and keep quiet.
20:00
food
Dinner in San Niccolò📍 in Google Maps
€35–50 eachbook a table
Down the steps from the hill to the old gate of San Niccolò. A short street of osterias with tables outside under the tower; the hotel is 15 minutes along the river.
If you fall behind
- Skip San Miniato and stay on the piazzale until dinner.
- If the iris garden has already closed for 2027, go up to the Rose Garden just below the piazzale, free and open all summer.
Day 3 · Thu
David, Santa Croce and the Boboli Gardens
Florenceout 08:00👟 ≈ 10,500 stepsDavid at the Accademia at 8:30, back to check out by 11:00, then Santa Croce. Lunch by Sant'Ambrogio market, the Boboli Gardens, and the 18:00 train.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →
08:30
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Galleria dell'Accademia📍 in Google Maps🎟 book galleriaaccademiafirenze.it
The gallery built around Michelangelo's David, five metres of marble carved from 1501 to 1504.
about €20 eachtimed slotday's highlightclosed Mondays
Twenty-five minutes' walk or a taxi for €12. Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15. Walk down the hall of Michelangelo's unfinished Prisoners, still half inside the stone, to David under the skylight at the end; go round the back of him. An hour is enough; the rest of the gallery can be skipped.
10:30
stay
Check out and leave the bags at reception📍 in Google Maps
Taxi back, ten minutes; check out by 11:00 and leave the bags until five.
11:30
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Basilica of Santa Croce📍 in Google Maps🎟 book santacroceopera.it
The great Franciscan church of Florence, with the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.
about €10 eachshoulders and knees covered
Twenty minutes along the river. The tombs line the nave; Giotto's frescoes are in the chapels to the right of the altar, and Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel is off the cloister. An hour.
13:00
food
Lunch by Sant'Ambrogio market📍 in Google Maps
€15–25 eachmarket closes 14:00
Five minutes east. The covered market is where Florentines shop, open mornings until two, Monday to Saturday; the plain lunch counter inside serves home cooking at shared tables, and the streets around have small trattorias.
15:00
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Boboli Gardens📍 in Google Maps🎟 book uffizi.it
The Medici family's garden behind the Pitti Palace, terraces, grottoes and cypress avenues laid out from the 1550s.
about €10 eachuphill
Taxi or 25 minutes back across the river; the entrance is through the Pitti Palace courtyard. Climb to the Neptune fountain and the Porcelain Museum garden at the top for the view of the countryside, then down the cypress avenue to the Isolotto pond. Leave by 16:45.
17:00
getting there
Collect the bags and take a taxi to the station📍 from 🏁 Santa Maria Novella
about €12train 18:00
Ask reception to call a taxi for 17:15; at the station by 17:30.
If you fall behind
- Skip Santa Croce and go straight to Sant'Ambrogio before the market closes.
- Lighter afternoon: the lower part of Boboli only, around the amphitheatre.
