Florence was the first stop on our month-long honeymoon in July 2022. We spent 3 days here and fell in love with this charming city – there is so much amazing architecture! We are sure there is much more to see, and there are bound to be some spectacular day trips through Tuscany.
In this guide you will find (click to jump ahead):
- When to Visit
- Where to Stay
- Things to Do
- A map to help you plan your itinerary
- Other Things to Do (that we haven’t done)
- Helpful Planning Tips
If you want to check out where we ate during our three days, our gluten-free guide to Florence is here.
When is the best time to visit Florence?
We travelled to Florence in July, and it was hot! It was also peak tourist season, so we do recommend trying to go pretty much any time other than July (or August). Many businesses close in August for vacation, so you may experience closed shops and restaurants. There can be quite a bit of rain from October – April. If you’re hoping to avoid heat, crowds, and rain, the best months to visit are May, June, and September.
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Where to stay in Florence?
We decided to stay at an AirBNB located about a 10-minute walk north of the Duomo complex. This area was great due to its proximity to the main attractions, yet it was set away from the hustle and bustle. Our AirBNB was so walkable to everything; we didn’t need a car or the metro other than to get from the airport to the AirBNB and the bus to get to the Piazza Michelangelo. We chose an AirBNB over a hotel because we wanted to be able to cook our own breakfasts (gluten-free breakfast is often expensive and hard to find). Our AirBNB was fantastic – it was clean, quiet, spacious, and very accessible to where we wanted to go. Our host also left us a binder with information (restaurants, recommended sites, and local knowledge).
Explore Florence hotel availability below:
THINGS TO DO in FLORENCE:
1. Accademia Gallery (Statue of David)
This was the first place we visited when arriving in Florence. To get in, you either need to prebook your own tickets, join a tour, or visit for free on the first Sunday of the month. Tickets book up well in advance, so don’t leave this to the last minute! We booked priority tickets, which required us to choose a day and time slot. However, we arrived to Florence on the first Sunday of the month, so we ended up getting in for free and getting a refund on our pre-booked tickets. We found the museum itself underwhelming, especially when we looked back at all the other museums we saw in Florence. You really are visiting the Accademia to see David. He is worth it, though!
2. Florence Duomo Complex
Sitting in the middle of Florence is the grand Piazza del Duomo. The area includes Opera del Duomo Museum, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Santa Reparata, Baptistry of San Giovanni, Brunelleschi’s Dome, and Giotto’s Bell Tower. All these places will likely have lineups, but if you go early to start right when they open at 9:00AM you are more likely to beat the lineups. Doing the museum, baptistry, and cathedral will take you about 2-3 hours. You can buy tickets through the official website. In addition to visiting each monument within the Piazza del Duomo, make sure you walk around and take in the architecture from the outside.
If you plan on doing Burnelleschi’s Dome and/or Giotto’s Bell Tower (we didn’t do either), you are going to want to prebook tickets that have a time slot early in the morning to beat the crowds and the heat. The ticket combos that involve entrance to Santa Reparata (ruins under the cathedral) allow you to enter the cathedral without joining the main line of people entering without tickets (the Cathedral itself is free to enter at any time, but there are also tours that can help you beat the lineups).
3. Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens
Located on the opposite side of the Arno River to the rest of the attractions on this list, Pitti Palace was one of our favourite sites. Also known as Palazzo Pitti, it was the residence for the Medici family for decades. We thoroughly enjoyed the rooms of the palace, with intricate ceilings, interesting artwork, and even an entirely green room! Backing onto Pitti is the Boboli Gardens. It only makes sense to do these two sites together, and most tickets include both. We live in Canada and have some amazing gardens, so we did find these a little underwhelming. Maybe because we visited during a heat wave, but most of the gardens were brown and there were very little flowers (mostly grass and trees).
We pre-booked a combo skip-the-line ticket that included Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, and the Uffizi Gallery. We chose to arrive at Boboli right when they opened to beat the heat, and only 3 other people were waiting at the entrance we chose. However, the skip-the-line ticket was helpful to get into Pitti Palace after we were done with the gardens.
4. Palazzo Vecchio
Now the location of the mayor’s office, this was the main palace before Pitti Palace was built. We really enjoyed the Hall of 500 and the city views. There were some spectacular frescos and ceilings. You will need to check in at the InfoPoint to either purchase tickets or have your pre-booked tickets validated. You will have to put any bags in provided lockers after checking in. You can climb the tower for even better views of the city, but we didn’t book early enough and all of the time slots were sold out, so we missed out.
We came mid-afternoon and there was no lineup, so our pre-booked tickets through Get Your Guide probably weren’t worth it. However, they did come with the video guide which we enjoyed and found helpful to explain what we were seeing. Tours are also available.
5. Cappelle Medicee
Also known as the Medici Chapel, we were pleasantly surprised by this visit as it was not on many lists of must-sees. Expect to spend about an hour here. There is a mini exhibit when you first enter, prior to seeing the Chapel of the Princes, where 6 of the Medici Grand Dukes are buried. The entire room is breathtaking, and quite overwhelming to take in. It is hard for pictures to do this place justice as the opulence completely surrounds you. Don’t forget to look up!
Despite being a bit “lesser known” (hah!) Cappelle Medicee is still likely to have a lineup, even if you have a pre-booked time slot (which we recommend). We pre-booked our tickets and entrance time.
6. Santa Croce Basilica
The basilica of Santa Croce was our favourite of the churches/cathedrals/basilicas we saw in Florence. It took us about an hour to see. There are many historical figures buried at Santa Croce, including Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo Galilei.
There can be long line-ups, but we had skip-the-line tickets which had us bypass everyone. Unfortunately, the tickets we booked are no longer available, but there are tours that come with skip-the-line tickets.
7. Piazza Michelangelo at sunset
The best time to visit is to take in the sunset with a spectacular, spanning view of the city. This was the only time we didn’t walk while in Florence – to take the bus up hill to Piazza Michelangelo. Get here early if you want a seat, as this is a popular place in the evenings. There are food trucks, music, and lots of people hoping to catch the view of the city. We even witnessed a pop-up wedding! This is a view you can’t beat, and don’t want to miss.
8. Uffizi Gallery
Gracing every “must see in Florence” list we encountered was the Uffizi. There will be long lines here, even with a pre-booked pass. However, if you don’t prebook, you will essentially end up in two lines: one to purchase tickets, and one to enter. We pre-booked a combo skip-the-line ticket that included the Uffizi, Pitti Palace, and Boboli Gardens. All the guides we found said to expect 3-4 hours here, but it was very crowded and hot, so we left after about 2 hours. We aren’t big art people, so we probably didn’t appreciate this gallery as much as other people might (you could get a tour to help with what you’re seeing). I think if you have some art history knowledge or an appreciation of art, you’d really enjoy the Uffizi.
9. Ponte Vecchio Bridge
The oldest bridge in Florence and lined with shops on either side, walking across this bridge almost a requirement while in Florence. Don’t forget to stop and take in the view of the Arno River as you cross. Long after it was first built, the bridge became a connecting route between Pitti Palace and the Uffizi for the Medici family. Originally the shops below this route had butchers and farmers, until it was ruled that only goldsmiths and jewelers were permitted. To this day, as you check out the shops along Ponte Vecchio, you’ll notice the shops are all goldsmiths and jewelers.
10. Mercato Centrale
This was a quick stop for us at the end of our visit, but many people spend lots of time here! The ground floor is made up of kiosks of local vendors, almost like a farmer’s market. You’ll find cheese, meat, wine, produce, and more. Upstairs you’ll find a massive food court, which includes a culinary school! There is a wide variety of cuisines (pasta, pizza, gelato, fish, burgers, sandwiches, desserts!). Apparently, it can be quite busy, but we went in the morning, and it was pretty much empty.
11. Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
I had this on my list of places I wanted to see, and it is a quick visit that I thought was unique. It is known to be the world’s oldest pharmacy. When you enter, you are greeted by a floral adorned hallway, using in season flowers (for us, that was purple lilacs). There are elaborate chandeliers in each room. You can purchase items, including beauty products and perfumes. If you have a couple minutes, I highly suggest the detour to see this pharmacy (if you go to the Santa Maria Novella church, it’s not far from there!).
MAP of Things to Do in Florence
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 category at a time or see all of the categories 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.
Other Things to Do:
These are things we didn’t get to see during our time in Florence, but came highly recommended on many “Things to do in Florence” lists during our research:
- Food & wine tour (includes our favourite gelato spot!)
- Church of Santa Maria Novella
- Leonardo da Vinci Museum
- Walking tour of Florence
- Visit a Tuscan vineyard or Chianti winery
- Take a cooking class (with unlimited wine!)
- Day trip to Pisa
- Day trip to Siena, San Gimignano, & Pisa
- Day trip to Pisa and Cinque Terre
Helpful Planning Tips
I rely on these tools when planning my trips:
- Get Your Guide – book skip-the-line tickets to see the Statue of David, take a cooking class, or day trip to Pisa
- Airalo eSIM – get Italian mobile data instantly on arrival, without roaming charges
- Stay22 – compare hotels throughout Florence
- Wanderlog – keep track of your itinerary and organize your days efficiently
