We travelled to Florence in July 2022. It was the first stop on our month-long honeymoon. Do we recommend going during a heat wave in peak tourist season? Not really. Was it totally worth it? 100%. We had the streets to ourselves in the middle of the day, we had FUN, and we got to see a beautiful city. Florence is a very walkable city, and in this guide, you can walk pretty much everywhere.
This was our first time in Florence (and Suzanne’s first time in Italy), so we wanted to hit the main attractions. The do not miss places are: Pitti Palace, Duomo complex, the Statue of David, and Piazza Michelangelo. Many places have tickets you can book in advance that have specific entry times and/or skip-the-line passes. In some instances, these are well worth it, and in others, not so much.
We have included a map at the end to help visualize your itinerary. Check out our Gluten Free Guide if you want to see where we ate.
Here’s what we did during our 3 days (4 nights) in Florence:
Arrival Day: Arrival, and the Statue of David at the Accademia Gallery.
Day 1: Opera del Duomo museum, Baptistry of San Giovanni, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Medici Chapel, Basilica of Santa Croce.
Optional: Giotto’s Bell Tower and/or Brunelleschi’s Dome
Day 2: Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Vecchio, explore!
Day 3: Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, Piazza Michelangelo for sunset.
Departure Day: Central Market in the morning, then depart.
DETAILS
Arrival Day:
Arrival day! We arrived at the airport, but you may be arriving at the train station. Find your way to, and check into, your accommodations. For us, this was an AirBNB so we could make our own breakfasts.
Check out the Accademia Gallery to see the Statue of David. To get in, you either need to pre-book your own tickets, join a tour, or visit for free on the first Sunday of the month. Tickets book very far ahead for peak season, so don’t leave it to the last minute! A note that the museum is closed on Mondays. We were happy to get this free, as we felt the art here was underwhelming, especially after we saw other locations in Florence. In our opinion, the reason you’re coming here is to see David.
If hitting the ground running with a museum the day you arrive doesn’t sound like an awesome time, hit up the Mercato Centrale instead (Florence’s central market), where you can browse the cheese and meat shops, and grab a snack, treat, or a coffee upstairs.
Once you’re done with David (or the market), wander around Florence’s city center and take in the magnificent Piazza del Duomo. Make sure to eat a fantastic Italian dinner, and get some sleep…tomorrow is a long day!
DAY 1:
Get up early and get a good breakfast, you’ll be walking a lot today. There can be long lines, so plan accordingly and in a smart order, especially if you have pre-booked tickets with time slots.
Make sure to cover up as you’ll be visiting lots of churches/cathedrals today. For men, this means no shorts, and for women this means shoulders and knees need to be covered. Not everyone we saw inside today’s locations followed the dress code, but we had read that they can be pretty strict (maybe the heat was making them feel sorry for the overheating tourists?). Ahmed wears shorts whenever humanly possible, and recommends that if you’re going in the summer, do not wear polyester pants today!
Our first location (Piazza del Duomo) opened at 9:00am, and we were expecting to wait in long lines, so we arrived at 8:00am. The place was empty, but that meant a great opportunity for some photos without hordes of people! If you’d like some good photo opportunities, arrive early to beat the crowds.
You’ll be starting within the Piazza del Duomo to see the Opera del Duomo Museum, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, and the Baptistry of San Giovanni. The tickets also cover the Santa Reparata, which is a set of ruins underneath the Cathedral. The Santa Reparata ticket allows you to skip the lineup of people visiting the Cathedral without tickets (the Cathedral is free to visit). All these places will likely have lineups, but if you go early to start right when they open at 9:00AM, it will probably take you 2-3 hours.
We pre-booked our tickets on the official website. If you want to do Giotto’s Bell Tower and/or Brunelleschi’s Dome, add that in here too and factor that in to how much you can fit into today (must book tickets and a time slot in advance, and going early morning seems most recommended). Keep in mind that the Bell Tower and Dome are many steps, and do require a certain level of physical fitness to complete. We did not do the dome or tower as it was super hot and we did not book far enough in advance to avoid the afternoon heat. We did the Baptistry first, then the Museum, then the Cathedral and Santa Reparata. See below for entrance locations:
Next, head to the nearby Medici Chapel – the entire room is breathtaking. There will likely be a lineup, even if you have a pre-booked time slot. Expect to spend about an hour here, so if you’re hungry, you might want to grab lunch before going to the chapel.
After this busy morning, find lunch (we recommend Sgrano for gluten-free paninis). Head to the Basilica of Santa Croce, which will take you about 1 hour to see. There was a long lineup, but we had skip-the-line tickets which had us bypass everyone, so we think they’re worth it here. This was our favourite of the 3 churches/chapels/cathedrals that we saw during Day 1.
Head for a rest at your hotel or AirBNB, and get ready for dinner. Enjoy your evening with some authentic Italian food!
DAY 2:
Spend some of your morning wandering around or people watching, before heading to the Uffizi Gallery. There will be long lines here, even with a pre-booked pass. However, without a pre-booked pass, you’ll basically line up twice. We pre-booked a combo pass to here and Pitti Palace/Boboli Gardens through Tiquets. We were told to expect 3-4 hours here, but it was very crowded and hot, so we left after about 2 hours. I think people with some knowledge of art and/or art history will have a greater appreciation for this gallery than we did.
Your second stop today will be Palazzo Vecchio. You will need to check in at the InfoPoint to get tickets or have your pre-booked tickets validated. We did not experience a lineup here, so wouldn’t personally recommend pre-booked tickets, but your mileage may vary. You will have to put any bags and belongings into provided lockers before proceeding. We really enjoyed this stop! There were some great views of the city, and the spectacular ceiling in the “Hall of 500” is not to be missed! Palazzo Vecchio doesn’t seem to be on many “must do in Florence” lists, but we really liked it and felt like it was underrated.
At some point today, try to do a little wandering through the streets of Florence or check out the shopping area. Maybe wander across the Ponte Vecchio bridge or grab some gelato. We did this in between the Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio around our pre-booked time slots. One place we stumbled upon was Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, the world’s oldest pharmacy! They decorate the entrance with seasonal flowers, and you can buy perfumes and soaps.
DAY 3:
Today you’ll travel to the other side of the Arno River to go to Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. They are located together, and it doesn’t matter which you go to first. We chose the gardens first as it was July and hot, so we wanted to be outside at the coolest part of our day. The whole area took us about 4 hours. We live in Canada and have some amazing gardens, so we did find the gardens a little underwhelming. Maybe because so much of it was brown due to the heat, maybe it’s because I was expecting more flowers from a garden, I’m not sure. However, the palace was SO COOL! We really liked Pitti Palace, much more than the Uffizi for sure, (if you’re struggling to choose between them, we say: choose Pitti!).
While you’re on this side of the river, you’d be missing out if you didn’t visit La Sorbettiera Gelateria Artigianale. Best gelato during our entire time in Italy!
You’ll have the afternoon to relax, explore, or fill with other activities you’ve found elsewhere that you wish were on our itinerary. If you skipped seeing the Statue of David on Day 1, you can add the Accademia Gallery in here this morning before Pitti/Boboli or this afternoon after Pitti/Boboli.
This evening, walk or take the bus to Piazza Michelangelo to see the sunset. This was the only time we didn’t walk while in Florence – the bus up the long hill to the Piazza. Get here early if you want a seat, as this is a popular event. We even witnessed a pop-up wedding! The sunset is beautiful with a full view over the city. You can put this on any of your days, but we chose Day 3 because it wasn’t as packed full as the previous days.
DEPARTURE DAY:
This will be the day you depart, or if you’ve chosen to extend your stay in Florence, perhaps you’re taking a day trip further into Tuscany, or checking out more of Florence. Our only remaining recommendation for today before you leave (unless you saw this on arrival day) is Mercato Centrale, which opens from 10am to midnight. This is the central market in Florence with cheese, meats, and other goodies. We didn’t spend too long here (about an hour) before heading to catch our train.
We hope you enjoyed our “3 days in Florence” itinerary!
HOW TO USE THE MAP: Click on the Wanderlog logo in the bottom right corner to open the full-size map up in a new tab. There, you can choose to just look at one day at a time or see all of the days on the map at once (click the 3 squares in the top right to choose). You can also export the map to Google Maps, share the map with others, or save the map.