Florence travel info

Ten in the morning, and beside the market a man at a street cart fishes cow's stomach out of a steaming pot and chops it on a board. He dunks the top of the roll in the broth, spoons on green sauce and hands it over, and people eat it standing up with a glass of red. Walk a few steps down the lane behind the cart and the sky suddenly opens onto a red-brick dome right in front of you. That's how Florence works: the Renaissance happened here, and people just get on with lunch in the middle of it.

The city is small. From Santa Maria Novella station to the Duomo is ten minutes on foot; from the Duomo past Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi to the jewellers' shops on the Ponte Vecchio is another ten. Cross the river and you're in the workshop lanes of the Oltrarno, and at sunset you sit on the steps of Piazzale Michelangelo watching the terracotta roofs turn pink. David, Botticelli's Venus and the 463 steps up the dome are all within walking distance.

Florence airport only takes European routes, so you either change at a European hub or fly nonstop to Rome and take the high-speed train for an hour and a half. Museums run on timed reservations, and since August 2026 a tram or bus ride costs €2. Sort out the dome and Uffizi bookings, the hotel tax and how to haggle at the leather market, and the rest you can figure out on foot.

Florence Airport, Peretola (Amerigo Vespucci) (FLR)

Pisa International Airport (Galileo Galilei) (PSA)

Arriving by train: Firenze Santa Maria Novella (SMN)