Florence

Florence's own airport — Firenze Amerigo Vespucci, known locally as Peretola (FLR) — sits just 8km from the historic center, with one small terminal that's easy to navigate. It has decent connections across Europe, and since June 2026 SAS has been flying nonstop between Stockholm Arlanda and Florence, which is by far the simplest way in from Sweden if the schedule lines up with your dates. From FLR, the T2 tram runs straight into town (Piazza dell'Unità, near Santa Maria Novella station) in about 20 minutes for €1.70, or a taxi is a flat €25 daytime / €27 evenings and weekends.

Most long-haul and budget flights, though, land at Pisa International Airport (PSA), about 80km west — this is also where Ryanair's direct Stockholm route flies into (a few times a week, roughly a 3-hour flight), and it's often the cheaper option from Sweden even with the extra leg on arrival. From Pisa, take the PisaMover shuttle to Pisa Centrale station (€5, 8 minutes), then either a regional Trenitalia train (about €8.50, roughly 75 minutes) or the faster Frecciabianca (about €13–18, 50–60 minutes) into Florence Santa Maria Novella. A direct airport bus (Terravision and others, roughly €14, about 70 minutes) is the other option if you'd rather skip the train transfer.

If you're coming from elsewhere in Italy or connecting through a bigger hub, Florence is also an easy high-speed train ride from Rome (Frecciarossa/Italo, about 1.5 hours from Roma Termini) or Bologna (as little as 35–40 minutes), so flying into Rome Fiumicino or Milan and training in is a solid alternative if it works out cheaper or more convenient than a direct flight. One thing not to do: drive into the city center. The historic core is a camera-enforced ZTL (restricted traffic zone), and a rental car will earn you a fine, not a parking spot — park on the outskirts and walk or tram in instead.

Florence's historic center is small enough to walk almost entirely — Santa Maria Novella station to the Duomo is about 10 minutes on foot, the Duomo to Ponte Vecchio another 10, and most of the big sights sit within a 20-minute walk of each other. Much of the center is a camera-enforced ZTL (limited traffic zone) where private cars are restricted on weekdays and Saturday mornings, so don't bother renting a car for city days — it'll cost you a fine, not save you time.

From the airport (Peretola), the T2 tram is the easiest way in: it runs every 4–6 minutes, takes about 20 minutes to Piazza dell'Unità near Santa Maria Novella station, and costs €1.70 — buy your ticket before boarding (at the tram stop machine or a tobacconist) and validate it once on board, since inspections happen and fines are steep. Within the city, ATAF buses cover the odd route outside walking range on the same €1.70 flat fare (valid 90 minutes with transfers) — useful for the uphill climb to Piazzale Michelangelo (bus 12 or 13) if you don't fancy the walk, though most visitors barely need buses otherwise. Taxis don't cruise for a hail like in the US — find a rank (Santa Maria Novella, Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza del Duomo) or book one through an app. Note that the Firenze Card, if you buy one for museum access, doesn't include public transport — it's sightseeing only.

For day trips, the regional and high-speed trains out of Santa Maria Novella station are fast, frequent, and cheap: Pisa is under an hour, Bologna as little as 35–40 minutes, Lucca around 80 minutes (usually changing at Pisa). Siena is the exception — it's actually faster and easier by direct bus (about 75 minutes) than by train, since Siena's station sits at the bottom of the hill outside town.

Uber essentially doesn't operate here — Italy's taxi lobby has kept it limited to Rome and Milan, and even there it's just pricier Uber Black. In Florence, book a cab through AppTaxi or TaxiMove, the two apps tied to the city's actual taxi cooperatives (itTaxi has patchy coverage since local drivers opted out of it). For trams and buses, the Autolinee Toscane app lets you buy and store tickets so you're not hunting for a tabaccaio at 11pm. Glovo is the food delivery app that actually works here if you want dinner brought to your apartment, and Too Good To Go is worth having too — bakeries, delis, and even bigger food halls list surplus food at a steep discount, picked up at the end of the day.

For museums, book Uffizi and Accademia tickets directly through the official Uffizi site if you can (uffizi.it) to avoid reseller markups, or use Tiqets or GetYourGuide — both are authorized partners — if you want a simpler booking flow. For restaurants, TheFork is widely used here for reservations and occasionally comes with a discount for booking off-peak hours. And it's worth having Trenitalia or Italo installed for booking trains onward to Pisa, Siena, Bologna, or Rome — fares are dynamic and cheapest booked a few days ahead.

Tipping isn't expected the way it is in the US — round up the bill or leave €1–2 per person at a sit-down meal, and check whether "servizio" (service charge) is already added before tipping on top of it. Almost every restaurant will add a small "coperto" (cover charge, usually €1–3 per person) for bread and table setting — that's standard practice, not a scam. Most hotels also add a small city tourist tax per person, per night (typically a few euros, scaled to the hotel's star rating and usually capped after about a week) — it's charged locally rather than at booking, so keep some cash or a card ready at check-in.

Dress modestly for churches: shoulders and knees covered gets you into the Duomo, Santa Croce, and Santa Maria Novella without a fuss, and it is enforced at the door. Book timed tickets for the Uffizi and the Accademia (to see Michelangelo's David) well ahead in high season, since walk-up queues can eat half a day — and note that climbing Brunelleschi's dome requires its own separate timed reservation, distinct from regular Duomo entry. If you're planning to hit several museums, the Firenze Card (roughly €85 for 72 hours, covering around 60 sites) can be worth it, but do the math first — for most people just booking the Uffizi and Accademia directly works out cheaper.

Many small shops and artisan studios still close for a couple of hours in the early afternoon, so don't plan a shopping run around Oltrarno for 2pm — and a lot of family-run trattorias close entirely for a week or two around Ferragosto (August 15), so double-check opening hours if you're visiting in high summer. Sundays and Monday mornings are quiet for retail, with many shops shut. Tap water is safe to drink, and the city has a number of public drinking fountains (nasoni) around the center dispensing free water — handy in summer heat, and a good reason to carry a refillable bottle instead of buying plastic.

Santa Croce is the easiest first pick — an easy walk to the Duomo and Uffizi but with wider, calmer streets, a proper neighborhood restaurant scene, and the daily Sant'Ambrogio market for a break from tourist-menu trattorias. Oltrarno, across the Arno, is where Florence stops performing for visitors: artisan workshops, wine bars, and the aperitivo crowd that gathers on Piazza Santo Spirito most evenings — pick this if you've done Florence once already or just want quieter mornings. Within Oltrarno, San Niccolò specifically is worth calling out on its own: a compact, cobblestoned pocket below Piazzale Michelangelo with a genuinely bohemian, artsy feel, still relatively undiscovered by comparison, and an easy uphill walk to San Miniato al Monte for sunset.

San Lorenzo, around the Mercato Centrale and Medici Chapels, is central, a little grittier, and generally better value, and it's the most convenient area if you're arriving by train. The Duomo/Centro Storico is unbeatable for location — everything is a five-minute walk — but you'll pay for it and hear church bells and street noise at odd hours. If you'd rather trade a few minutes' walk for a more modern stay, the area around Piazza della Libertà and Fortezza da Basso (just north of San Lorenzo, near the train station) has newer, design-led options like The Social Hub Florence Lavagnini, with a rooftop pool and a livelier, younger crowd — it's about a 10-minute walk to the Duomo and sits right on the tram line from the airport, which makes arrival day easier.

Santa Croce and neighboring Sant'Ambrogio make up Florence's real eating district — this is where you'll find Il Pizzaiuolo, a Neapolitan pizzeria locals will argue is the best in the city, alongside Cucina Torcicoda and the historic La Giostra tucked behind the basilica; Ristorante Alighiero right on Piazza di Santa Croce is a newer, well-reviewed option worth booking ahead. For a fast, cheap lunch, join the line at Panetteria e Stuzzicheria De Neri on Via de' Neri for panini stuffed to order, or grab a scoop at Vivoli, the gelateria that's been going since 1930 and still draws a queue. For Florence's defining street food, seek out lampredotto — Da Nerbone inside Mercato Centrale is the most famous stall, and the small trippai carts around the Sant'Ambrogio market do it just as well with a shorter wait.

Around San Lorenzo and the Mercato Centrale, tiny Osteria Belle Donne (just a handful of tables) is a favorite for market-fresh Tuscan cooking without the tourist markup, Trattoria Vecchia Griglia near Canto dei Nelli is a newer, consistently well-reviewed choice, and Giotto Pizzeria Bistrot near the train station is a solid, unfussy pizza option if you're staying around Santa Maria Novella. This pocket of the city is also bistecca alla fiorentina territory — the trattorias clustered here and around old-school addresses like Buca Mario take the Florentine steak most seriously, so come hungry and ready to share a kilo-plus cut.

Cross into Oltrarno for a different register entirely — old-school Trattoria Cammillo on Borgo San Jacopo has been feeding Florentines the same way for decades, and Loggia Roof Bar at Hotel Palazzo Guadagni on Piazza Santo Spirito is the move for an aperitivo with a rooftop view as the light turns gold. For wine, seek out one of the city's old buchette del vino (wine windows) or a proper vinaio like I Fratellini near Piazza della Signoria, standing-room only and unpretentious. If you want a change from Tuscan food, Osteria da Fortunata near the Duomo on Via dei Pecori does excellent fresh Roman-style pasta (think cacio e pepe and carbonara). And for an occasion-worthy splurge, Magnolia Bistrot & Winebar at the Four Seasons is a quieter, more polished option away from the crowds.

Florence's food identity is built on cucina povera — peasant cooking elevated by quality ingredients — plus a genuine reverence for a good piece of beef. Bistecca alla Fiorentina is the dish people fly here for: an enormous T-bone (often 1–1.5kg, always shared for two or more) from Chianina cattle, grilled hard and fast over coals and served intensely rare, seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper, and olive oil. It's priced by weight (roughly €50–65/kg), so ask before ordering — old-school addresses like Buca Mario and the trattorias clustered around Mercato Centrale and San Lorenzo are where it's taken most seriously.

Street food here means lampredotto, not pizza — the fourth stomach of the cow, slow-braised for hours and served thinly sliced in a crusty panino, dunked in its own broth and topped with salsa verde and a hit of spicy sauce. Da Nerbone, inside Mercato Centrale, is the most famous stall, but the small carts (trippai) scattered around the city, including near the Sant'Ambrogio market, do it just as well and usually with a shorter line. From the same tradition: crostini neri (chicken liver pâté on toasted bread, a near-mandatory starter), ribollita (a thick bread-and-bean soup meant to use up stale bread and leftover vegetables, best in cooler months), pappa al pomodoro (tomato-and-bread soup), and panzanella (a summer bread salad with tomato, cucumber, and red onion). All of it depends on Tuscan bread, which is famously baked without salt — a quirk that dates back centuries and makes perfect sense once you taste it against a salty prosciutto or a rich ragù.

For something sweet: gelato at Vivoli (in business since 1930 and still doing it the traditional way, no towering neon-colored mounds) or Barroccino, and cantucci — hard almond biscuits — dunked in a glass of Vin Santo to finish a meal. Tuscany is Chianti country, so a glass of Chianti Classico (look for the black rooster, Gallo Nero, seal on the bottle) is the obvious pour with dinner, and Florence still has a handful of old buchette del vino — small wine windows built into palazzo walls, originally used by nobility to sell wine directly to the street and revived during the pandemic for takeaway drinks. Truffle lovers should seek out Procacci, a tiny historic bar on Via Tornabuoni serving truffle panini since 1885. And don't skip an ordinary espresso standing at the counter (al banco) of any neighborhood bar — it's a fraction of the price of sitting down and it's how Florentines actually drink their coffee.

Via de' Tornabuoni is Florence's answer to Fifth Avenue — Gucci, Ferragamo, Prada, and Cartier housed in Renaissance palazzi, worth a walk even if you're not buying. For leather, the San Lorenzo street market outside Mercato Centrale is the classic if touristy stop for jackets, bags, and belts, where a little haggling is normal — but for something you'll trust for years, head instead to the Scuola del Cuoio (the leather school inside Santa Croce's monastery) or Il Bisonte. Oltrarno is Florence's real shopping secret: the narrow streets around Via Maggio and Borgo San Frediano are full of small ateliers doing bookbinding, jewelry, and restoration work you can watch happen through the window. Ponte Vecchio itself is still lined with gold and jewelry shops, a tradition dating back to the Medici.

For something distinctly Florentine to bring home, look for marbled paper and bookbinding — Il Papiro and Giulio Giannini e Figlio both carry the traditional craft — and stop into the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, a working pharmacy-turned-perfumery founded by Dominican friars in the 13th century, for soaps, scents, and herbal remedies made to centuries-old recipes. For food to take home, the Sant'Ambrogio market (mornings, closed Sundays) is far more local and less staged than San Lorenzo, good for olive oil, cheese, and dried porcini, while Mercato Centrale's upstairs food hall is the easier, more tourist-friendly version of the same idea.

Climb Brunelleschi's dome at the Duomo for the view that makes sense of the whole city, then get into the Uffizi or the Accademia (to see Michelangelo's David) with a pre-booked timed ticket — both sell out in high season. Walk Ponte Vecchio at golden hour, then keep climbing to Piazzale Michelangelo for sunset over the rooftops — it's crowded, but it earns the hype. For a quieter version of the same view, keep walking another ten minutes up to San Miniato al Monte, a Romanesque church above the piazzale where the resident monks sometimes sing Gregorian chant at evening vespers — genuinely one of the best free experiences in the city.

Spend an unhurried afternoon in the Boboli Gardens behind Pitti Palace (the Bardini Gardens next door are quieter and often overlooked, and a combined ticket covers both), then reward yourself with gelato at Barroccino near the Uffizi or Vivoli near Santa Croce — both are the real deal, not the neon-colored tourist-trap kind. Spend a morning wandering the Mercato Centrale food hall or Sant'Ambrogio market, or book a hands-on pasta or cooking class — it's one of the best ways to actually understand what you're eating for the rest of the trip. In the evening, do as Florentines do and take an aperitivo on Piazza Santo Spirito, or catch the sunset from Loggia Roof Bar in Oltrarno.

With an extra day or two, get out of the city entirely: Fiesole is a quick bus ride into the hills for panoramic views and a slower pace, a Chianti countryside day trip puts you in a vineyard for a proper wine tasting, and Siena — best reached by direct bus rather than train — is the single most rewarding day trip if you only have time for one.