Things to do in Florence: what to see, tickets and itineraries

Things to do in Florence is not an endless list of “hidden gems”: the centre is compact, and three sights — the Uffizi, the David and the Dome — take up half your time. This page gives you the overview: what to see, official prices, 1-, 2- and 3-day itineraries, Monday closures, free Sundays and rainy-day alternatives. Each museum has its own detailed page; here you plan the day without losing your time slots.

Things to do in Florence: the essentials

Beyond the big three: the Bargello (sculpture, €12), the Medici Chapels, Santa Croce, San Marco (Fra Angelico frescoes), Mercato Centrale (upstairs food hall 9:00–23:00) and the artisan workshops of the Oltrarno. The hop-on hop-off bus is useful for the hills and Fiesole, not for the pedestrianised centre.

1-day itinerary

Plan A tickets: Accademia €24 + Uffizi €29 ≈ €53, plus the Giotto Bell Tower or the Ghiberti pass if you skip the Dome. Do not add Palazzo Vecchio the same day unless you enjoy rushing.

2-day itinerary

With two days, the official 5-day PassePartout for the Uffizi, Pitti and Boboli at €40 beats buying separately if you visit all three. The Firenze Card (€85 / 72 h) only makes sense if you add 2–3 more major museums on top of the Uffizi and Accademia.

3-day itinerary

Family alternative for day 3: the Leonardo Museum, Mercato Centrale and gelato, with no third museum queue. Wine alternative: an organised half day in Chianti (typically €45–55) with a free evening — see wine tours and Tuscany day trips.

Tickets, passes and when to pay more

• Uffizi (official): tickets.uffizi.it — named, non-refundable; 5-day PassePartout €40.
• Accademia: B-Ticket / Firenze Musei (+39 055 294883) — typically €24 online.
• Duomo: tickets.duomo.firenze.it — Brunelleschi Pass €30, Giotto Pass €20, Ghiberti Pass €15. There is no genuine “skip the line” beyond the authorised resellers.
• Firenze Card: €85, 72 h, 60 museums; the Duomo is not included, nor is public transport; booking is still mandatory at the Uffizi and Accademia.
• Tiqets Florence Pass: a bundle of separate tickets (not a timed card); check which versions include the Dome.

Paying €7–15 more on a booking platform only makes sense for scarce slots, an included audioguide, or flexible cancellation (rare on basic museum tickets, which are often non-refundable). To compare who sells what, see our operators page.

Booking order

1. The Dome (Brunelleschi Pass) — fixed slots, often sold out 2–3 weeks ahead in summer; max 10 passes per order on the Opera site.
2. Uffizi — named tickets on tickets.uffizi.it; check the calendar as soon as your dates are set (dates are released gradually, with no fixed published window).
3. Accademia — B-Ticket or phone 055 294883; do not leave it to the last minute on October weekends.
4. Civic museums (Palazzo Vecchio, Brancacci) — booking mandatory where stated; Palazzo Vecchio is mornings only on Thursday.
5. Tours, food, Chianti — last, since these are easier to cancel (often up to 24 h) than non-refundable museum tickets.

Free Sundays, Monday closures, families, rain

First Sunday of the month: state museums are free (#domenicalmuseo). At the Uffizi there is no reserved entry, so arrive at opening or pick a paid day with a timed slot; saving €29 is not worth three hours in the queue. Monday: the Uffizi and Accademia are closed — use Monday for the Duomo (nave/Dome according to its calendar), the Oltrarno, the market, the Piazzale, or a trip to Pisa (€9.80 by regional train). Sunday: the Cathedral is closed to visitors.

Children: EU under-18s are free at state museums, so you pay at most booking fees or audioguides; at Palazzo Vecchio ages 0–17 are free. The Dome is tough (463 steps); the Arnolfo Tower is off-limits under 6 and closed in rain.

Rain: the Uffizi or Accademia (if open), the Museo Galileo, Palazzo Strozzi, Santa Croce, the Medici Chapels; postpone Boboli, the Arnolfo Tower and the Dome. Heatwave: Uffizi slots from 16:00 at €16, gelato, the shady Oltrarno, Boboli only at opening.

Luggage: use luggage storage near Santa Maria Novella before the Accademia (it has no cloakroom). Arriving by train: see trains from Rome, Venice and Bologna.

The pedestrian area between the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria and Ponte Vecchio takes fifteen minutes to cross at an easy pace: what eats your time is security, cloakrooms and the Uffizi’s rooms, not the map. That is why the itineraries above keep museum slots and walking separate. Squeezing both into the same quarter of an hour is the quickest way to lose a non-refundable ticket.

Beyond the big three

After the Uffizi, the David and the Dome, the quality stays high and the queues shrink. The Bargello (€12) explains sculpture better than many audioguides: two Donatello Davids and Michelangelo’s Bacchus in a former prison and police headquarters. The Medici Chapels bring the Medici story to San Lorenzo, which many people only photograph from outside. Santa Croce (frescoes, tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli) needs its own ticket and is not in the Brunelleschi Pass. San Marco is the quiet pause: Fra Angelico’s cells, fewer selfies, more silence.

Palazzo Vecchio (€18 + €1) works well on a Thursday morning — it closes at 14:00, so do not leave it for the afternoon. The Arnolfo Tower (€20) means 418 steps, is off-limits under 6 and closes in rain. For Pitti and Boboli, if the Uffizi is already on your list, the 5-day PassePartout at €40 is the sensible choice; if you dislike walking in the sun, stick to the Palatine Gallery and skip the garden.

Outside the museums: Mercato Centrale upstairs until 23:00, Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset, a stroll in the Oltrarno between Via Maggio and Santo Spirito, and perhaps a short evening boat trip on the Arno. Do not cram all of this into day one, which is for making your timed entries.

Food, tours and music

Mercato Centrale upstairs is open 9:00–23:00; Sant’Ambrogio market runs Monday–Saturday mornings. A lampredotto sandwich costs about €5; bistecca alla fiorentina is typically around €50/kg. Cooking classes range from €50 to €140. Church concerts of opera arias are not the same as Maggio Musicale opera: prices and length differ — see our opera page.

A 1.5–2 hour walking tour at €12–28 helps you get your bearings on arrival but does not replace entry tickets. Free walking tours run on tips (typically €10–20); ask to see the guide’s badge, as guiding is a licensed profession in Italy. Accademia + Uffizi tours at €80–140 include tickets and headsets — useful if you would rather not juggle vouchers, expensive if you are organised. Semi-private tours for up to 6 people (such as LivTours) start above €100 per person for the Uffizi alone: good for families or anyone with questions, not a way to “see more”. At the Uffizi, the audioguides sold by booking platforms are not the museum’s official ones — fine for orientation, but not an institutional voice.

The hop-on hop-off bus (from €29 for 24 h) is worthwhile for the Piazzale and Fiesole, not as a shuttle between the Uffizi and the Duomo. For walking and golf-cart tours see city tours.

Common mistakes

• Booking the Uffizi and the Accademia for a Monday (both are closed).
• Buying an unauthorised “Dome skip-the-line” at double the €30 Brunelleschi Pass price.
• Going to the Uffizi on a free Sunday expecting empty rooms.
• Bringing a wheeled suitcase to the Accademia.
• Expecting the hop-on bus to drive through the pedestrian centre to the David.

A realistic adult budget (72 hours)

Add €2 for the bus to the Piazzale, €6–10 for luggage storage if needed and €5 for lampredotto, and keep a Chianti tour (€45–55) as an optional extra day rather than a filler between two museum slots.

Morning or evening: where to put your slots

Uffizi: an 8:15–10:00 slot means an early start but less fatigue; from 16:00 the official price drops (€16/€20) and the light in the rooms changes. Accademia: 1–1.5 hours is enough if you go straight to the David and the Prisoners. Dome: the slot is fixed and cannot be moved; book it when your legs are fresh and your backpack is already in the cloakroom. Piazzale: always evening — morning only if the rest of the day is indoors because of rain.

Monday: Duomo, Oltrarno, market, optional Pisa trip. Tuesday: the Accademia and the Uffizi if you really want both (tiring). Sunday: the Duomo nave is closed to visitors; state museums are free only on the first Sunday of the month.

If everything is sold out and you have one day: the Duomo exterior and nave (free on open days), Ponte Vecchio, the Piazzale, Mercato Centrale and San Miniato. Not the full list, but real Florence, with no ticket needed.

Useful links

Arrival: trains and luggage storage. Season and weather: when to visit. Passes: Florence Pass. Who sells what: operators. Hop-on and views: hop-on hop-off, Piazzale Michelangelo. Food: Mercato Centrale.

How to plan: choose your 1-, 2- or 3-day horizon; book the Dome and the Uffizi first (the strictest slots); avoid doing the Uffizi morning and afternoon back to back with the Accademia if you tire easily; work out passes only after adding up single tickets; and check when to visit for weather and crowds. The product cards and Tiqets widgets show live availability, and “from” prices vary by date. Questions about a combo? Write to travel@alltours.florence.it.

In short: things to do in Florence

Things to do in Florence comes down to clear choices: the Uffizi, the David, the Dome, then everything else. In 24 hours, see the big three plus a view; in 72 hours, add Pitti/Boboli and a civic museum. Check tickets, prices and hours, free Sundays and Monday closures, then book your slots — the centre is easy on foot, but the museums will not wait if you arrive without a booking. We are an independent guide: if you book through our Tiqets or GetYourGuide links we may earn a commission; the price you pay does not change.