I fell head over heels with Florence as a wide-eyed 20-something solo traveller on her first big trip to Europe. During the next thirty years, that passion was rekindled over more repeat visits than I can count.
This 3-day Florence itinerary follows in the footsteps of Michelangelo and the Medici, taking in my favourite things to do in the Cradle of the Renaissance along with the practical tips you need to plan your visit
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Before You Go: My Top Florence Tips
Two things will make or break your visit: the crowds and the weather.
Peak season runs from late May to the end of August, when prices climb and the main sights get busy. Temperatures build from the end of May and peak in August, so give that month a wide berth if you can. November and December bring rain, and January and February are cold.
I have been in Florence when it was scorchio, and when it was raining stair rods. Neither was much fun
Visitors make a beeline for the Duomo, Uffizi and Accademia, and for good reason. Book tickets for these attractions before you arrive in the city to avoid long queues, or worse, not getting in at all.
The opening hours of Florence’s churches, museums and galleries can be baffling and change without warning, so check them carefully before visiting, either at the attraction or the Tourist Information Office at Piazza del Duomo. I have been caught out more than once, and the times listed online do not always match reality.
Always respect worshippers, even when Mass isn’t in progress, and never use flash.
Toilets are scarce in Florence and public loos typically charge up to €1 to spend a penny. Make good use of toilets in bars, restaurants and museums.
Do not try to see everything. Build breaks into each day to cool off, grab a gelato and let what you have just seen sink in.
I’VE WRITTEN THIS ITALY SOLO TRAVEL GUIDE!
A 100+ page ebook to inspire and equip solo travellers with the confidence and knowledge to explore Italy independently
- Plan Your Trip – with curated itineraries, budgeting and how to get around
- Explore Awesome Destinations – guides to the must-see cities of Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples
- Stay Safe as a Solo Traveller – practical safety advice, empowering you to confidently navigate Italy and avoid common pitfalls
- Enjoy Eating Out in Italy – essential tried-and-tested solo dining tips
A Suggested 3-Day Florence Itinerary
Three days in Florence is enough time to visit its main sights, provided you plan what to do in advance. But this endlessly fascinating city has so much to offer, and you will need to accept that you will not be able to do it all in a weekend (and neither should you try).
With that in mind, my itinerary is designed to allow you to see Florence’s major attractions and enjoy its culture and history without running yourself ragged. After all, you are on holiday.
I’ve had three decades to put together something that works and this is how it shapes up:
DAY 1: Tracing the Renaissance
Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance,, a pursuit of knowledge across painting, sculpture and architecture at a time when much of Europe was still mired in medievalism. Florence boomed instead, thanks to its bankers and trade merchants.
It peaked in the sixteenth century with the High Renaissance, led by the big three: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo.
DUOMO COMPLEX
The area around the Duomo is Ground Zero of the Italian Renaissance and home to Florence’s most recognisable landmarks. The complex comprises the Duomo (Florence Cathedral), the Duomo Museum, Giotto’s Bell Tower and the Baptistery.
Start your day with one of the best views of Florence. I recommend climbing either Brunelleschi’s dome or Giotto’s Tower.
I climbed the dome years ago and am not itching to repeat the experience. It felt claustrophobic and set off my vertigo.
Giotto’s Bell Tower gives a viewpoint at least equal to the dome’s, with views in every direction including the red-brick dome itself. It also has marginally fewer steps, 414 against the dome’s 436, though it is still a strenuous climb in places.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, known simply as the Duomo, is Florence’s visual and geographic centre.
Work began on the new cathedral in 1296 under Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect behind many of the city’s buildings from this period, as well as the Duomo of Orvieto. It is not a typical fourteenth-century Gothic cathedral: the facade is an explosion of pink, green and white Tuscan marble.
Brunelleschi’s dome, built between 1420 and 1436, is the building’s real claim to fame, a terracotta dome that appears to defy gravity. Giorgio Vasari, artist, architect and the leading art historian of his day, decorated the inside of the dome, though his frescoes aside, the cathedral is far better outside than in.
Queues to enter the Duomo can be epic, but you can skip the line if you have any of the Duomo complex tickets. Enter through the doorway marked Santa Reparta.
After you have looked at Vasari’s Last Judgement, it’s worth paying a quick visit to the Basilica of Santa Reparta in the bowels of the cathedral. Dating from 405 AD, this ancient basilica is the most tangible evidence of early Christianity in Florence, and its highlight is a finely patterned floor of coloured marble, including a cross motif.
Completed in 1128, the Baptistery of St John looks beautiful inside and out. A competition to design its bronze doors kick-started the Renaissance, and a copy of Ghiberti’s famous bronze Gates of Paradise graces the eastern side of this octagonal building.
Step inside to see the medieval ceiling, covered in gold-tiled scenes from Genesis, the lives of Christ, St John the Baptist and Joseph the Patriarch, and the Last Judgement.
Even if museums are not your thing, squeeze the Duomo Museum into your day. It gives the historical context for the rest of the complex, and it is a welcome break from the crowds outside.
Highlights include Brunelleschi’s model for the dome of the cathedral, a recreation of its original façade and Lorenzo Ghiberti’s extraordinary North and East Doors of the Baptistery. The Duomo Museum is also home to Donatello’s penitent Mary Magdalene and one of Michelangelo’s finest artworks in Florence, his moving Florentine Pietà.
Buying tickets for the Duomo complex
It’s a little fiddly. Beyond the cathedral itself, everything needs a ticket, and you cannot buy them individually. Instead there are combination passes valid for three consecutive days.
The Brunelleschi Pass for dome climbers covers the Duomo Museum, Baptistery, Santa Reparata, Giotto’s Tower and the dome itself. The Giotto Pass drops the dome, and the Ghiberti Pass ditches both towers for history buffs who just want the museum, Baptistery and Santa Reparata.
Climbing the dome is hugely popular and numbers are capped, so buy your Brunelleschi Pass well ahead through the official site. If that is sold out, try a combination ticket through GetYourGuide, pricier, but it gets you in.
RECOMMENDED LUNCH STOP
After a busy morning, break for lunch. Florence is not short of places to eat, and I recommend the legendary All’Antico Vinaio, whose sandwiches are made with schiacciata, a local flatbread. Cheap and delicious wine is also on offer.
Find it on Via dei Neri, two minutes from Piazza della Signoria, or at its second branch on Via Ricasoli near the Accademia.
PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA
This beautiful square has been the heart of Florence’s political and social life since the days of the Medici. Here you’ll find Palazzo Vecchio, the monumental Fountain of Neptune and Loggia dei Lanzi, home to some of Florence’s finest free sculptures.
UFFIZI GALLERIES (LE GALLERIE DEGLI UFFIZI)
The Uffizi Galleries belong on everyone’s Florence bucket list, whatever length of trip you have planned. Housed in a sixteenth-century building designed by Vasari, it holds the greatest collection of Italian art anywhere, from Giotto’s early attempts at realism and perspective to Caravaggio’s Medusa. Many of the best paintings in Florence are here.
Give it at least a few hours, and do not miss these halls: Hall 2 (Giotto and the thirteenth century), Hall 7 (Masaccio, Veneziano and Uccello), Hall 8 (Filippo Lippi), Halls 10 to 14 (Botticelli), Hall 15 (Leonardo), Hall 41 (Michelangelo), Hall 66 (Raphael), Hall 83 (Titian) and Hall 90 (Caravaggio).
A window at the end of the main hallway opens onto one of the best views in Florence, and you can eyeball the same landmarks from the terrace cafe, though lunch there will blow a hole in your budget.
Buying tickets for the Uffizi Galleries
Book your ticket as soon as you know your dates, ideally through the official website. I bought the PassePartout ticket, valid for five consecutive days and covering the Uffizi, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, a good option if you plan to visit all three (they are all in this itinerary).
If the official site shows nothing available, try a third-party seller instead. It costs more, but it comes with free cancellation up to twenty-four hours before your visit.
If you are not up on your art history, a guided tour is a good way to learn more about the collection and the city. This walking tour combines entry to both the Uffizi and the Accademia in one afternoon, which is hard to beat for value.
PONTE VECCHIO
Next to the Uffizi is the Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s best known bridge and a backdrop to some of the finest films set in Italy.
Butchers once lined the bridge, using the Arno as a convenient waste disposal system, until the Medici built the Vasari Corridor overhead to connect the Pitti Palace with the Palazzo Vecchio. They objected to the smell, and gold and silver shops took over from that day on.
DAY 2: Michelangelo and the Medici
The stories of the Medici and Michelangelo are bound up with the city of Florence itself.
Painter, sculptor, architect and poet: Michelangelo was a true Renaissance man. He spent much of his life in Rome, but he was Florentine through and through, and the city is scattered with the Divine Master’s work.
He learnt his craft under the powerful Medici family, whose rule saw Florence prosper and the Renaissance flourish. On your second day, you will visit the places tied to both.
SAN MARCO
One of Florence’s most underrated places to visit is the former monastery of San Marco. Now a museum, it holds the finest collection of frescoes by Fra Angelico (1395 to 1455), one of the most important painters of the Early Renaissance, whom Vasari described as having a rare and perfect talent.
San Marco was restored and enlarged for Cosimo the Elder de’ Medici, and it was once home to Girolamo Savonarola, the fire and brimstone preacher who almost brought down the Renaissance.
San Marco’s opening hours change often, so check ahead, though in my experience the listed hours do not always match reality.
ACCADEMIA GALLERY (GALLERIA DELL’ACCADEMIA)
A few blocks south of San Marco is the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, known simply as the Accademia, home to Michelangelo’s David.
At seventeen feet tall, this biblical shepherd is a symbol of both the Renaissance and the city, carved from gleaming white marble quarried at Carrara in Tuscany. He is the embodiment of the perfect male form.
David is not the only reason to visit. Michelangelo’s unfinished Prisoners, or Slaves, give an extraordinary insight into his creative process and his understanding of the human body. They were created between 1516 and 1534 for the ill-fated tomb of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo’s papal patron.
Buying tickets for the Accademia
Book well ahead through the gallery’s official website, or try a third-party seller if those sell out. For more on Michelangelo and David, this small-group tour with an art historian is a good option.
BARGELLO MUSEUM (MUSEI DEL BARGELLO)
The Bargello Museum holds many of Florence’s greatest sculptures. Housed in a former palazzo that looks like a smaller Palazzo Vecchio, its collection spans more than 150 years of the city’s artistic peak.
Here you can see both the winning entry (Ghiberti) and the runner-up (Brunelleschi) from the contest to design the Baptistery doors, both depicting the sacrifice of Isaac. There is also a handful of Michelangelo sculptures, including his debauched Bacchus (1496) and noble Brutus (1540), alongside works by Donatello and Giambologna.
The Bargello is criminally under-visited, so you should manage a same-day ticket, though you can book ahead through the official website.
SANTA CROCE
The Franciscan Santa Croce Church is the final resting place of Florence’s great and good, including Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini. This fourteenth-century church is also known for Giotto’s fresco cycle, condensing the life of St Francis into seven episodes across the walls of the Bardi Chapel (currently closed for restoration).
There is a well-known leather school behind the church, and Piazza Santa Croce is lined with shops, bars and restaurants. You should get a same-day ticket without trouble; check opening hours and prices online.
DAY 3: Timeless Views in the Oltrarno
It’s your last day in Florence and time to cross the river to the Oltrarno, literally “on the other side of the Arno.” This is the Florence tourism left behind and is home to palaces, churches, gardens and some of the best views in town.
BRANCACCI CHAPEL IN SANTA MARIA DEL CARMINE
This is my favourite church in Florence, one of the most important in terms of art history.
The Brancacci family were patrons of this chapel within the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine from the mid-1300s until 1780, commissioning its decoration in 1424. Masolino da Panicale designed it, and his pupil Masaccio took over the fresco cycle until his death in 1428.
Masaccio was the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance, mastering linear perspective like no one before him. The walls are covered in vivid, expressive frescoes centred on the life of St Peter.
Check ticket prices and opening hours online.
PITTI PALACE & BOBOLI GARDENS
Cosimo I de’ Medici bought the Pitti Palace in 1550. Today it is split into four museums: the Treasury of the Grand Dukes, the Palatine Gallery and the Imperial and Royal Apartments, the Gallery of Modern Art, and the Museum of Costume and Fashion.
The Palatine Gallery is by far the most significant, holding the world’s finest collection of Raphael Madonnas and Titian portraits among other treasures. Behind the palace, the Boboli Gardens stretch over eleven acres of landscaped grounds, Renaissance sculpture and fountains.
Buy tickets through the official website, choosing between a single ticket for the palace, one that covers the palace and the gardens, or the combination PassePartout. Signage inside the palace is thin and confusing, so bring a decent guidebook if you can.
PIAZZALE MICHELANGELO
Are you ready for that classic postcard view of Florence? At Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence’s landmarks lay themselves out below you, from Brunelleschi’s dome to the bridges spanning the Arno. There is a good cafe with an outside terrace, and a copy of David in the middle of the square.
Thanks to the view, this is a busy tourist spot lined with stalls selling cheap souvenirs, though the square is large enough that escaping the coach parties is not hard.
From Ponte Vecchio it is a steep fifteen-minute walk uphill. If you would rather not make the climb, catch bus 12 from Boboli Gardens, bus 13 from Ponte San Nicolo, or the hop-on-hop-off bus.
ROSE GARDEN
There are viewpoints here that rival Piazzale Michelangelo, and my favourite is the Rose Garden, just below it. It is a peaceful spot filled with fragrant rose bushes and a Japanese garden donated by Kyoto, Florence’s twin city.
There is also a cheap, friendly coffee bar with outside tables, and like its neighbour, entry is free.
SAN MINIATO
Five minutes uphill from Piazzale Michelangelo, San Miniato al Monte is the oldest church in Florence, dedicated to St Minias, who was beheaded on the banks of the Arno in 250 AD. It has an art-filled sacristy and a ceiling of glazed terracotta panels, though most people come for the views.
Visit in the late afternoon on weekdays to hear the monks singing Gregorian chants. More information here.
Other Ideas For Your Florence Itinerary
We are all different, and you might want to swap something in for one of your own interests.
Orsanmichele, a former grain market turned guild church, is widely thought to be where the Renaissance began and is known for its statues.
Palazzo Vecchio was the Town Hall of Renaissance Florence before Cosimo I de’ Medici turned it into his palace. Visit his apartments for the artwork and climb Arnolfo’s Tower for more of the city’s best views.
The Medici Riccardi Palace, once home to Lorenzo the Magnificent, holds Benozzo Gozzoli’s frescoes in its small Chapel of the Magi.
The Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, a thirteenth-century Dominican church, holds Masaccio’s Trinity and crucifixes by Giotto and Brunelleschi, along with a series of cloisters and a small museum.
Day trips by train from Santa Maria Novella station open up the rest of Tuscany. My picks: Pisa (1 hour), for its leaning tower and Galileo’s birthplace; Siena (1 hour 30), for one of Italy’s most beautiful squares; Lucca (1 hour 30), for its medieval towers and wall-top promenade; Bologna (40 minutes), for some of the best food in the country; Arezzo (1 hour), an Etruscan city off the main trail and once home to Vasari; and Orvieto (2 hours), for a spectacular cathedral and the best white wine around.
Plan Your Visit
Getting there
The local Peretola Airport (FLR) is six miles from Florence’s city centre. A regular bus gets you into town in just over ten minutes, and fixed-rate taxis are available too.
Peretola is not served by many airlines though, and fares tend to run high, so Pisa’s Galileo Galilei Airport, Rome Fiumicino or Milan Malpensa are often better options, all connecting into the Italian rail network that brings you to Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station.
If you are arriving by train, Florence has excellent connections to Rome, Naples, Bologna, Milan, Venice and Turin, run by Trenitalia and Italo.
Getting around
The best way to get around Florence is on foot. Most of the main attractions cluster north of the Arno river, within a twenty-minute walk of the cathedral, Santa Maria Novella station or the Ponte Vecchio
The only time that you might be tempted to jump on a bus is if you cannot face the uphill climb to Piazzale Michelangelo. Another way of getting to Piazzale Michelangelo is on an e-bike tour of Florence, which attracts great reviews.
Other fun ways of getting around Florence include an eco tour by electric cart, a tour by electric scooter, or an electric bike tour at night.
Florence also has a hop-on-hop-off bus, though the historic centre is compact enough that I cannot see much value in it unless you are heading out to Fiesole.
Where to stay
Where you stay comes down to the personality of the area and your budget. Florence is one of the priciest cities to stay in Tuscany, and budget options are thin on the ground. Finding somewhere decent that is not a hostel for under £100 a night can be a struggle.
These are my picks, from my full guide to where to stay in Florence:
Luxury: Hotel Lungarano – a 5-star on the north side of the Arno where the pricier rooms overlook the river
Mid-range: Hotel Globus – a modern 4-star a few steps from the Church of San Lorenzo with keenly priced single rooms and good reviews.
Apartment: F1RST Suite Apartment & SPA – tucked beside Santa Croce, with a washing machine and a hot tub to ease aching legs after a day of sightseeing.
And That’s a Wrap!
I hope this guide helps you fall for Florence as much as I have over the years. Most of my visits have been solo, and Florence makes a brilliant solo city break.
Before you leave, check out a few of my other guides to help plan your trip:
- The Perfect Solo Trip to Florence: Italy’s Renaissance Gem
- Where to Stay in Florence, Italy: The 7 Best Areas
- 20 Famous Statues & Sculptures in Florence
- 30 Paintings for Your Florence Art Bucket List
- 25 Famous Landmarks in Florence You’ll Adore
Happy travels!
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.