# Florence

Capital of Tuscany and cradle of the Renaissance, on the banks of the Arno; its historic centre has been a World Heritage Site since 1982.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/tuscany/florence · Revisado: 2026-11-12

## How do you get there from Spain?

Fly to Florence airport, small and close to the city, or to Pisa, with more flights and a train to Florence. According to AENA, there are direct flights to Florence from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Asturias, and to Pisa from Madrid, Málaga, Seville, Valencia, Girona and the Canary Islands. If you're coming from another Italian city, the high-speed train drops you at Santa Maria Novella, a stroll from the Duomo.

## How do you get around the city?

On foot. The historic centre is small: from the Duomo to the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio and the Pitti Palace takes minutes on foot. The car is no use inside, because of the limited traffic zones. To climb to San Miniato or Piazzale Michelangelo, cross the Arno and walk up the steps and ramps of the Oltrarno.

## What do you need to book in advance?

The Vasari Corridor, always, with named tickets and groups of 25. The Uffizi doesn't require it, but booking avoids the queue and costs only €4 more. The climb to the dome is bought on the Duomo's website with a time slot. The Boboli and Bardini gardens needn't be booked, though the combined ticket is only sold at the ticket office.

## Where to sleep and where to eat?

For arriving and leaving by train, sleep near Santa Maria Novella: the Ostello Bello Firenze, on Via Faenza, has private and shared rooms, all with a bathroom. Between the Uffizi and the Duomo, the Hotel Davanzati is a family-run three-star with rooms for four. In the Oltrarno, next to Boboli, the Hotel Palazzo Guadagni occupies a palace from 1505 on Piazza Santo Spirito.

For eating, the Trattoria Mario, behind the Mercato Centrale, opens only at lunchtime from Monday to Saturday, with no reservations and shared tables. Il Latini, next to Palazzo Rucellai, is the 1911 trattoria for bistecca, and opens at lunchtime at the weekend. The Osteria Santo Spirito, with a terrace on the square, also opens on Sunday and closes on Tuesdays. And if you want to cook yourself, the cooking class at the Mercato Centrale starts at €85.

## Dónde está
- Zonas: Classic film locations
- Cerca: Bologna (a 80.6 km), Val d'Orcia (a 84.3 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Uffizi Gallery with a booked ticket** (3 h · Adults and teenagers; €2 reduced for those entitled · Desde 16 € ticket from 16:00): Booking costs €4 more, but it gives you a time and saves you the queue of those who buy on the day. If you are also going to see the Pitti Palace and Boboli, the five-day PassePartout works out cheaper than separate tickets.
Why go and who it suits
The Uffizi is the place where you understand the Renaissance without needing books: in one morning you go from the golden backgrounds of the primitives to Botticelli's Primavera and Birth of Venus, Leonardo's Annunciation, Michelangelo's Doni Tondo and the Caravaggios. The building, designed by Vasari for the Medici offices, is a museum in itself: long corridors with ancient sculptures and windows over the Arno.
It suits anyone with a minimal interest in painting, and teenagers who recognise works from textbooks. Small children find it hard: there are many rooms, many people and little to touch. If you go with them, plan an hour and a half focused on four or five paintings.
Hours and when to go
It opens Tuesday to Sunday, from 8:15 to 18:30. The ticket office closes at 17:30 and at 18:30 the building is cleared. It is closed on Mondays, 1 January and 25 December. On strike days or staff meeting days the hours may change: the gallery's website announces them.
The first hour and the last are the quietest. Between 10:00 and 14:00 almost all the groups coincide. If it suits you, the afternoon ticket, from 16:00, is the best balance of price and calm, although it leaves you with a little over two hours.
How to organise the visit
The collection is seen in chronological order, from top to bottom. Start on the second floor, where the primitives, Giotto, International Gothic, Botticelli and Leonardo are, and then go down to the first, with Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and the 17th century. If you are short of time, spend most of it on the second floor and go through the first more quickly.
Some rooms may be closed for restoration at any time; the gallery announces this on its website. Check the list before going if there is a particular work you don't want to miss.
What it costs in total
The ticket ranges from €16 in the afternoon to €29 booked. The audio guide costs €6 and requires ID. Citizens entitled to the reduced rate pay €2, and there is free entry for the groups set by Italian regulations. If you are also going to the Pitti Palace and Boboli, the €40 PassePartout over five days works out cheaper.
Accessibility
There is a ramp on via della Ninna, lifts between floors and accessible toilets on each floor. Wheelchairs of more than 230 kg with the person or more than 120 cm in length are not admitted.
If it rains
It is the perfect plan for a rainy day, and that is why there is a bigger queue that day: book a time. Combine it with the Palazzo Vecchio, next door, or with the Bargello, a few minutes away, so as not to go out in the street more than necessary.
- **Vasari Corridor, from the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace over the Ponte Vecchio** (45 min · 750 m · Adults and teenagers; wheelchair accessible · Desde 43 € with Uffizi entry): It is walked in one direction and without stopping, with two members of the gallery's staff. Tickets are named and non-refundable.
What it is
In 1565 Duke Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build a covered passageway for the wedding of his son Francesco to Joanna of Austria. It was to link the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government, with the Pitti Palace, the family's residence, without the duke having to go down into the street. It was finished in about five months. It is about 750 metres long: it leaves the Uffizi, runs along the Arno, crosses the river above the jewellers' shops of the Ponte Vecchio, passes through the church of Santa Felicita and reaches the Boboli Gardens.
It was closed from 2016 to bring it up to safety standards and reopened to the public on 21 December 2024, after a restoration costing about €10 million. The gallery has returned it to its original simplicity: an aerial tunnel with a terracotta floor and wooden windows from which you see the river and the city from an angle no one else has.
Who it suits
Anyone who is already going to see the Uffizi and wants to understand how the Medici lived and moved around, and anyone looking for a different view of the Ponte Vecchio. It is an experience of space and views, not of artworks: don't expect paintings hanging on the walls. If you are only interested in painting, save the money for the Pitti Palace.
It is adapted with ramps, platforms and lifts, and has toilets. It is suitable for wheelchairs and for teenagers. For small children the pace without stops and the lack of things to see may be boring.
How to book
Booking is compulsory. Groups leave from Tuesday to Sunday, the first at 10:15 and the last at 16:35, and each has a maximum of 25 people. You can buy up to five tickets per purchase session, even for different dates. As they are named, have each person's name to hand.
Places sell out weeks ahead in spring, summer and long weekends. In winter there is usually more leeway, but don't count on buying on the day.
What it costs
€43 on the day or €47 booked, with Uffizi entry included. If you already have an Uffizi ticket or a PassePartout, the corridor supplement is €20, subject to availability. On Friday afternoons there is a cheaper opening: €20 on the day or €24 booked.
If it rains
It is a good visit for a grey day: you go under cover from one side of the river to the other. When you come out, instead of walking round Boboli in the rain, go into the Pitti Palace, 100 metres from the exit.
- **Climbing Brunelleschi's Dome** (1 h 30 · No vertigo or claustrophobia): What it is and why climb it
The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore is the work with which Filippo Brunelleschi solved a problem nobody knew how to solve: closing an octagonal opening of more than 40 m without wooden centring. He raised it between 1420 and 1436 with two brick shells, one inside the other, and the climb runs precisely through the space between them. At the top, the marble lantern reaches about 114.5 m above the square.
To climb is to see that solution from the inside. You first pass along an interior balcony at the foot of the dome, a few metres from the frescoes of the Last Judgement painted by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari, and then you enter the narrow passages, with the curve of the brick above your head. The last stretch is almost vertical. Outside, from the lantern terrace, you have the whole of Florence: Giotto's campanile beside you, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Arno and the hills of Fiesole and San Miniato.
The ticket: the Brunelleschi Pass
The dome can only be climbed with the Brunelleschi Pass, one of the three passes sold by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. It is the only one that includes the dome, and it also gives access to the baptistery, Giotto's campanile, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and the crypt of Santa Reparata. The cathedral is free and not part of the pass.
How it works, according to the official ticket website:

The pass is valid for 3 calendar days from the date you choose, with one entry to each monument.
The dome is the only thing with a fixed time: you choose a slot when buying, and that is your entry time. A delay of 5 minutes is tolerated.
The booking cannot be changed or cancelled.
You must write the name of each visitor before paying; at the dome they check ID.
Maximum 10 passes per purchase.

The price and reduced rates are in the prices section of the official website (tickets.duomo.firenze.it). Buy only there or at the Opera's ticket offices: the dome has a quota and in high season the good slots sell out days ahead.
If you want it explained to you, the same portal sells a guided visit to the dome in Italian or English.
How long it takes and what the climb is like
There are 463 steps with no lift, with entry through the Porta della Mandorla, on the north side of the cathedral. The website estimates about 45 minutes for the dome; with the wait, the terrace and the descent, count an hour and a half. There are one-way sections and others where you pass people coming down.
The Opera advises against the climb for pregnant women and people with cardiovascular or respiratory problems, vertigo or claustrophobia. It is not wheelchair accessible nor recommended with reduced mobility. Under-18s must go with an adult.
You cannot enter with rucksacks or medium or large bags: leave them beforehand at the left-luggage at Piazza del Duomo 38/r. Carry the minimum.
With the rest of the pass
Organise the three days around your dome slot. If you also go up the campanile (414 steps), do it on another day or with a rest in between. The baptistery requires clothing that covers shoulders and legs, no hats. The museum closes on the first Tuesday of each month and the baptistery closes at 13:30 on the first Sunday.
After the dome, cross the Arno to the Boboli Gardens or go up at sunset to San Miniato al Monte, from where you will see the whole dome silhouetted over the city. If you have the energy for a museum, the Uffizi Gallery is ten minutes' walk away.
Getting there
The cathedral is in the very centre, in a limited-traffic zone: don't come by car. From Santa Maria Novella station it is about ten minutes on foot. Arrive at the Porta della Mandorla a little before your time, already without your rucksack.
- **Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace** (2 h · All ages · €10 at the ticket office on the day; €13 booked): What it is
Boboli is the garden the Medici made for themselves behind the Pitti Palace, on the Oltrarno hill, and one of the first Italian-style gardens. It is large and almost all uphill: an open-air museum of ancient and Renaissance statues, fountains, grottoes and hedge-lined avenues, with views over the city and the countryside from the top. It is run by the Gallerie degli Uffizi, like the palace.
What to see

The amphitheatre, the great horseshoe-shaped esplanade right behind the palace, with an Egyptian obelisk in the centre.
The Buontalenti grotto, the most famous in the garden, with rooms decorated like caves. It is next to the exit of the Vasari Corridor, which arrives here from the Uffizi.
The Fountain of Neptune, in the pond you see as you climb from the amphitheatre.
The Fountain of the Ocean, on the island at the southern end, at the end of the long Viottolone avenue.
The Kaffeehaus, an 18th-century pavilion, one of the few examples of rococo in Tuscany.
The Limonaia, the citrus greenhouse, from 1777–1778.

The Porcelain Museum, at the top, is closed for refurbishment.
Hours
Open every day from 8:15. Closing time changes with the season:

November to February: 16:30.
March (winter time) and October (winter time): 17:30.
March (summer time), April, May, September and October (summer time): 18:30.
June, July and August: 19:10.

Last entry is always an hour before closing. It is closed on the first and last Monday of each month and on 25 December. In bad weather it may close or change hours without prior notice.
Tickets

Boboli: €10 at the ticket office on the day, €13 with online booking. Reduced, €3.
Pitti Palace + Boboli: €22 on the day, €25 booked.
Boboli + Bardini Garden: €15, only at the ticket office and on the same day.
5-day PassePartout (Uffizi, Pitti and Boboli): €40, or €58 with the Vasari Corridor.
Annual pass for Boboli only: €25.

The conditions for reduced and free entry are on the Gallerie degli Uffizi website. Buying at the ticket office is cheaper; booking is only worth it in high season, if you want to avoid the queue.
Where to enter and how long it takes
There are four entrances: the Pitti Palace courtyard, the Annalena entrance on Via Romana, the Porta Romana and the Forte di Belvedere. The normal thing is to enter by the Pitti and climb up. Allow two hours for a full unhurried visit; in one hour you see the amphitheatre, Neptune, the Kaffeehaus and the view from the top.
If you have time left, the Bardini Garden is a downhill stroll from the Belvedere, and from there you can continue to San Miniato al Monte for sunset.
From the centre you walk across the Ponte Vecchio: in ten minutes you are at Piazza Pitti. Don't come by car; the centre has limited traffic.
With children and accessibility
It works well with children: there is space to run, grottoes and statues to find, and a baby-changing area next to the toilets at the amphitheatre. There are also toilets at the Annalena entrance and drinking fountains at several points, but bring water in summer. The cloakroom in the Ammannati courtyard is free.
The ground is earth and gravel, almost all on a slope. The two accessible entrances are the Pitti courtyard (left side) and the Porta Romana, and the Gallerie state that the garden is accessible only with a companion.
- **Piazzale Michelangelo and Gregorian vespers at San Miniato al Monte** (2 h · Everyone · Independent · free): The plan
It is a whole evening without tickets or bookings. You cross the Arno, walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo, the great terrace over the city, and continue uphill a few more minutes to the basilica of San Miniato al Monte. If you arrive before 18:30, you hear the monks sing vespers in Latin and Gregorian chant. Afterwards you walk down at night with the city lit up.
Piazzale Michelangelo
The square was opened in the 19th century on the Oltrarno hill as a viewpoint over the city, with a bronze copy of the David in the centre. From the balustrade you have the whole historic centre in front of you: the Ponte Vecchio and the other bridges over the Arno, the dome of the Duomo, Giotto's campanile, the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio and, behind, the hills of Fiesole. It is free and always open. At sunset it fills up: if you want a place at the railing, arrive half an hour early.
San Miniato al Monte
The basilica is a little higher up, above a flight of steps. Its construction began in 1018, under Bishop Alibrando, on the spot where St Miniato was venerated, and it is one of the clearest examples of Florentine Romanesque. The façade of white marble and green serpentine, with its geometric designs, is crowned by a copper eagle: the symbol of the Arte di Calimala, the merchants' guild that looked after the church from 1288.
Inside, look out for:

The inlaid marble floor of 1207, with a zodiac panel, and the Romanesque pulpit of the same year.
The Cappella del Crocifisso, by Michelozzo (1448), with the terracotta vault by Luca della Robbia.
The apse mosaic, with the Redeemer, of 1297.
The 11th-century crypt, with frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi.
The sacristy, with the life of St Benedict painted by Spinello Aretino in 1387.
The Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal, the work of Antonio Rossellino (1459–1467).

Since 1373 it has been looked after by Olivetan monks, who still live in the abbey and make liqueurs, honey and herbal teas. Outside, the terrace in front of the façade has another view of Florence, quieter than the Piazzale's, and to one side is the monumental cemetery of the Porte Sante.
Hours and sung prayers

Basilica: Monday to Saturday, from 9:30 to 13:00 and from 15:30 to 19:00; Sunday, from 8:15 to 13:00 and from 15:30 to 19:00.
Vespers: every day at 18:30, sung by the community in Latin and Gregorian chant.
Mass in Gregorian chant: on weekdays at 18:00; on Sundays and holidays, the one at 17:30.

During services the basilica is not visited as a tourist: you go in to attend, in silence. If you want to see the interior at leisure, arrive before 17:30. Entry is free and you don't need to book. It is a church in use and a living monastery: dress and speak accordingly.
Getting there
On foot from the centre: cross the Ponte alle Grazie or the Ponte Vecchio and climb the ramps from Porta San Niccolò or the steps from Via di San Salvatore al Monte. Count 20 to 30 minutes from the river, always uphill. By bus, line 12 leaves from Santa Maria Novella station and stops at Piazzale Michelangelo. The Piazzale has car access, but at sunset it fills with people: on foot or by bus is easier.
If you have spent the morning at the Bardini Garden or at Boboli, you can link up over the hill without going back down to the river.
With children and reduced mobility
The walk is long and uphill, with steps at the end; with a pushchair, take bus 12 and walk only the last stretch. Children cope well with the Piazzale; vespers are short, but call for silence.
- **Bardini Garden with the combined Boboli ticket** (1 h · All ages · Garden €10; combined with Boboli €15): What it is
The Bardini Garden covers about 4 hectares of hillside in the Oltrarno, between the river and the walls of the Forte di Belvedere. It was the land of the Mozzi family from the Middle Ages; in 1913 the antiques dealer Stefano Bardini bought it and transformed it, and after five years of restoration it opened to the public in 2007. It is smaller and steeper than Boboli, and its strength is the view: from its terraces the centre of Florence, with the dome of the Duomo, lies straight ahead at mid-height.
What you see

The Baroque staircase, which climbs the central axis of the garden to a small belvedere with the city in front. It is the place's photograph.
The wisteria tunnel, a gallery of several varieties that blooms in April and frames the view over the rooftops.
The English garden, on the Villa Manadora side, with paths winding among statues, fountains, a grotto and the early 19th-century Kaffeehaus.
The upper part, the old Mozzi farm estate, with terraces of olive and fruit trees replanted during the restoration.
Villa Bardini, at the top, with temporary exhibitions that are paid separately or with a joint ticket.

Hours and closing days
From 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027 the garden opens from 10:00 to 16:00, with last entry at 15:00. Between 28 September and 24 October it closed at 18:30. It is closed on the first and last Monday of each month. For spring and summer, check the hours on the Villa Bardini website before going.
Tickets and price
There are two ways in:

Bardini ticket, at its own ticket office: garden €10 (€5 reduced); garden and villa exhibition, €15 (€8 reduced). Free for under-6s, EU young people up to 17, people with disabilities and one companion, and holders of the Firenze Card. Families of up to 5 people with at least one minor under 17 pay the reduced rate.
Combined Boboli + Bardini ticket, €15 (€4 reduced), with one entry to each garden. It is only sold at the Gallerie degli Uffizi ticket offices and for the same day, not online. It is not sold on days when Boboli is closed or on free-entry days, such as the first Sunday of the month. In winter sales of the combined ticket end at 13:45, because the Bardini closes earlier.

If you are only going to the Bardini, its own ticket is cheaper. If you want both gardens on the same day, the combined ticket costs €15 compared with €10 for Boboli plus €10 for the Bardini separately.
Getting there and how long it takes
The main entrance is at Costa San Giorgio 2, uphill from the Ponte Vecchio; the secondary one, at Via dei Bardi 1 rosso, is at river level. Entering from below and leaving from above saves you climbing twice. The Forte Belvedere car park is temporarily closed for municipal works; come on foot. Allow an hour for the garden and a little more if you visit the exhibition.
A route that works: enter Boboli through the Pitti Palace, leave by its upper side towards the Forte di Belvedere and walk down Costa San Giorgio to the Bardini. From here, Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato are a stroll along the hill.
Accessibility, children and dogs
The garden is almost all slope and steps. People with disabilities enter by a ramp at the vehicle access at Costa San Giorgio 4, letting the ticket office know beforehand (+39 334 6824744). With small children, a baby carrier is better than a pushchair. Animals may not enter, even on a lead, except assistance animals.
For something to drink, La Loggetta is a café with a panoramic view, open from March to November, with light meals and a children's menu.
- **Cooking class at the Mercato Centrale in Florence** (2 h 30 · Adults and over-14s who want to cook · Desde 85 € person, 2 h pizza class): A morning or an afternoon with your hands in the dough, in the heart of the San Lorenzo market. The Mercato Centrale cooking school publishes each month a calendar of classes with date and time, and sells the places one by one on its website. You choose the theme, arrive at the first floor of the market, cook with a chef and eat what you have made with a glass of wine.
What it is and who it suits
The Scuola di Cucina Lorenzo de' Medici is the school of the Mercato Centrale, the iron-and-glass covered market of the San Lorenzo district, five minutes from Santa Maria Novella station. It is not a workshop designed only for tourists: the calendar mixes classes in fresh and filled pasta, pizza, bread, pastry, meat, fish, wine pairing and regional cooking, and changes with the seasons, with Christmas, Carnival or Easter courses.
It suits those who want to take away more than a photo of Florence: a couple looking for a different plan, a group of friends or a family with teenagers, because the minimum age is 14. For minors you need to ask the school.
Prices and what is included
In the winter 2026–2027 calendar, a two-hour pizza class costs €85. The fresh pasta one, of two and a half hours, €100: in the one on 28 February 2027 you make green ravioli of spinach and ricotta with tomato sauce and red parmesan cappellacci. The meat and fish classes run from €95 to €140, the pastry and bread ones cost €120 and the regional cooking ones, of four hours, €165. Classes for couples cost €180 per couple.
All include the lesson, the ingredients, the tasting of what you cook with a glass of wine and water, the apron, the equipment, the recipe, a diploma and insurance. It is not a full meal: it is the tasting of the dishes from the class.
Language
The school's website is in Italian and English, but the course sheets do not say in which language each class is given. If you do not speak Italian, ask before you buy, by phone or at the market's information point.
Fitting it into the day
Morning classes usually start between 10:00 and 11:00 and finish at lunchtime; afternoon ones start between 14:30 and 19:00. After a morning class, leave a nearby museum or the walk to the Duomo, ten minutes away, for the afternoon. If the class is in the afternoon, in the morning you have San Lorenzo and the Accademia next door.

## Dónde comer
- **Trattoria Mario** (Restaurant, Florence, €€). Qué pedir: the dish of the day from the blackboard, ribollita in season and, if there are several of you, the bistecca, which they serve only rare
- **Il Latini** (Restaurant, Florence, €€€). Qué pedir: Tuscan crostini and ribollita to start, and bistecca alla fiorentina to share, charged by the kilo
- **Osteria Santo Spirito** (Restaurant, Florence, €€). Qué pedir: the gratinated gnocchi with cheeses and a hint of truffle, the speciality, and a half portion of pasta or a main course to try more

## Car-free: Without a car: train, tram and on foot
Florence is for going without a car: you arrive by train at Santa Maria Novella or by tram from the airport, and the centre is walked on foot. The car only brings problems, because of the limited traffic zones and garages at €35 to €40 a day.
Presupuesto orientativo: 70–220 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir without a car
- **Hotel Davanzati** (Hotel): A family hotel in the very centre
The Hotel Davanzati is at Via Porta Rossa, 5, on the stretch that runs from the Mercato Nuovo to Piazza Santa Trinita. You have the Uffizi three minutes' walk away and Piazza del Duomo five; the Ponte Vecchio is round the corner. It occupies a 15th-century building and takes its name from Palazzo Davanzati, the museum of the Florentine house almost opposite, whose decoration inspires it.
It is run by a family. In 1969 the grandfather Marcello bought the old Teti inn and turned it, with his wife Velia, into accommodation for travellers. Today it is run by his son Fabrizio with his wife Patrizia and their sons Tommaso and Riccardo. It is a three-star hotel with no pretensions to luxury: what it offers is the location, the welcome and a few touches that are not usual in the centre of Florence at this price.
The rooms
It has rooms of all sizes. The single measures 14 m², the small and classic doubles 16 m², and the superior double 20 m², with an armchair that converts into a third bed. For families there are the superior triple, of 22 m², the superior quadruple, of 25 m², with a double bed and a double sofa bed separated by a wooden partition, the 30 m² junior suite and two connecting rooms of 27 m² in total. The suite, also for four, has a private terrace above the rooftops.
All have air conditioning and heating, a desk, telephone, a television of at least 32 inches, minibar, safe and wifi.
Breakfast, aperitif and services
Breakfast is a buffet, sweet and savoury, every day from 7:30 to 10:30 in the ground-floor lounge. Every afternoon at 18:30 they serve in the same room an aperitif with prosecco or wine, crisps and peanuts. Reception is staffed 24 hours and helps you book restaurants, museums and the theatre. They arrange transfers to the airport and the stations, and excursions to Chianti or the Cinque Terre with a family company.
Getting there and parking
If you arrive by train at Santa Maria Novella, the hotel is a walk of about fifteen minutes through the centre, or a short taxi ride. Note that to reach the lift you have to climb 26 steps from the door: ring the bell at the foot of the stairs and they help you with your cases. By car, the hotel has no parking. Use the affiliated garage with valet parking: €40 for the first 24 hours and €3 for each additional hour. The centre is a limited traffic zone.
- **Ostello Bello Firenze** (Hostel): A hostel with hotel rooms
Ostello Bello Firenze is at Via Faenza, 56, in the San Lorenzo district. From Santa Maria Novella station it is about five minutes' walk: leave the station and turn right. You have the Mercato Centrale and the basilica of San Lorenzo a step away, and the Duomo a short walk.
It is a hostel, but not only bunks. It has private double and twin rooms, family rooms with a double bed and two singles, and shared dormitories of 2, 6 and 10 places, as well as women-only dormitories. All the rooms, including the shared ones, have their own bathroom with shower. Each bed has a USB socket beside it, and there are lockers and a safe.
What is in the price
With the room you get a welcome drink, wifi, the shared kitchen with free pasta, fruit and vegetables to cook, and water, tea and filter coffee at any time. Also soap, earplugs, hairdryer, iron and computers. The evening activities, such as the quiz or karaoke, are free.
You pay separately for the buffet breakfast, the aperitif, towels, padlocks, laundry and the smart luggage lockers, which work 24 hours. Before check-in time you can leave your bag at no cost.
Common areas
Reception and the bar are open 24 hours. It has a rooftop terrace, with views of the dome of the Medici Chapels, and a garden with a barbecue. There are areas to work on a laptop, board games, table football, table tennis, musical instruments, a cinema room and a book-exchange shelf. There is air conditioning.
Getting there
It is the most practical accommodation if you arrive by train or from the airport: the T2 tram from Peretola reaches the Santa Maria Novella station area, five minutes away. By car it makes no sense: the centre is a limited traffic zone and the hostel offers no parking.
- **Hotel Palazzo Guadagni** (Small hotel): Sleeping in a palace in the Oltrarno
The Hotel Palazzo Guadagni occupies a Renaissance palace of 1505, built for a silk merchant, on one side of Piazza Santo Spirito, in the Oltrarno. It is the great neighbourhood square of the far bank, presided over by Brunelleschi's basilica of Santo Spirito. The Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens are a few minutes' walk away, and the Ponte Vecchio a slightly longer stroll.
The hotel keeps the air of a Florentine house: high ceilings, some with frescoes, terracotta floors, fireplaces in certain rooms and bathrooms with Vietri tiles.
The rooms
There are five types. The classic double, of 20 m², looks onto the square. The superiors with a view, from 20 to 30 m², face the Pitti Palace, the Duomo or the church of Santo Spirito, and some are reached only by an interior staircase. The deluxe doubles, from 25 to 40 m², have high ceilings and large windows, and several have frescoes and a fireplace. The deluxe with balcony, of 40 m², has a sitting area and a balcony over the square. The family room, of 40 m², joins two double bedrooms with one bathroom and faces the inner courtyard: it sleeps four.
The website does not publish the official category, the number of rooms or the check-in and check-out times; ask when you book.
The third-floor loggia
Upstairs, on the third floor, is the Loggia Roof Bar, a terrace with views of the city and the hills. It is open every day from 12:00 to 22:00 and serves light food, afternoon tea and an aperitif. It is wise to book a table, especially at sunset.
Getting there and parking
From Santa Maria Novella station, by taxi it is about 10 minutes and about €20, or by buses C3 or C4 to the Santo Spirito stop and five minutes' walk. From Florence airport, by taxi about 25 minutes and about €30, or by the T2 tram to Santa Maria Novella. By car, the hotel is inside the limited traffic zone: guests enter by Porta Romana and give their number plate at reception on arrival. You park in a nearby garage with valet parking, at about €35–40 a day.

## By plane: Fly to Florence or Pisa
Florence has its own airport, small and at the gates of the city, with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Asturias. Pisa, with a direct train to Florence, receives direct flights from Madrid, Málaga, Seville, Valencia, Girona and the Canary Islands. If you fly to Rome, the high-speed train drops you at Santa Maria Novella in about an hour and a half. For the city you do not need a car.
### Dónde dormir if you're flying
- **Hotel Davanzati** (Hotel): A family hotel in the very centre
The Hotel Davanzati is at Via Porta Rossa, 5, on the stretch that runs from the Mercato Nuovo to Piazza Santa Trinita. You have the Uffizi three minutes' walk away and Piazza del Duomo five; the Ponte Vecchio is round the corner. It occupies a 15th-century building and takes its name from Palazzo Davanzati, the museum of the Florentine house almost opposite, whose decoration inspires it.
It is run by a family. In 1969 the grandfather Marcello bought the old Teti inn and turned it, with his wife Velia, into accommodation for travellers. Today it is run by his son Fabrizio with his wife Patrizia and their sons Tommaso and Riccardo. It is a three-star hotel with no pretensions to luxury: what it offers is the location, the welcome and a few touches that are not usual in the centre of Florence at this price.
The rooms
It has rooms of all sizes. The single measures 14 m², the small and classic doubles 16 m², and the superior double 20 m², with an armchair that converts into a third bed. For families there are the superior triple, of 22 m², the superior quadruple, of 25 m², with a double bed and a double sofa bed separated by a wooden partition, the 30 m² junior suite and two connecting rooms of 27 m² in total. The suite, also for four, has a private terrace above the rooftops.
All have air conditioning and heating, a desk, telephone, a television of at least 32 inches, minibar, safe and wifi.
Breakfast, aperitif and services
Breakfast is a buffet, sweet and savoury, every day from 7:30 to 10:30 in the ground-floor lounge. Every afternoon at 18:30 they serve in the same room an aperitif with prosecco or wine, crisps and peanuts. Reception is staffed 24 hours and helps you book restaurants, museums and the theatre. They arrange transfers to the airport and the stations, and excursions to Chianti or the Cinque Terre with a family company.
Getting there and parking
If you arrive by train at Santa Maria Novella, the hotel is a walk of about fifteen minutes through the centre, or a short taxi ride. Note that to reach the lift you have to climb 26 steps from the door: ring the bell at the foot of the stairs and they help you with your cases. By car, the hotel has no parking. Use the affiliated garage with valet parking: €40 for the first 24 hours and €3 for each additional hour. The centre is a limited traffic zone.
- **Ostello Bello Firenze** (Hostel): A hostel with hotel rooms
Ostello Bello Firenze is at Via Faenza, 56, in the San Lorenzo district. From Santa Maria Novella station it is about five minutes' walk: leave the station and turn right. You have the Mercato Centrale and the basilica of San Lorenzo a step away, and the Duomo a short walk.
It is a hostel, but not only bunks. It has private double and twin rooms, family rooms with a double bed and two singles, and shared dormitories of 2, 6 and 10 places, as well as women-only dormitories. All the rooms, including the shared ones, have their own bathroom with shower. Each bed has a USB socket beside it, and there are lockers and a safe.
What is in the price
With the room you get a welcome drink, wifi, the shared kitchen with free pasta, fruit and vegetables to cook, and water, tea and filter coffee at any time. Also soap, earplugs, hairdryer, iron and computers. The evening activities, such as the quiz or karaoke, are free.
You pay separately for the buffet breakfast, the aperitif, towels, padlocks, laundry and the smart luggage lockers, which work 24 hours. Before check-in time you can leave your bag at no cost.
Common areas
Reception and the bar are open 24 hours. It has a rooftop terrace, with views of the dome of the Medici Chapels, and a garden with a barbecue. There are areas to work on a laptop, board games, table football, table tennis, musical instruments, a cinema room and a book-exchange shelf. There is air conditioning.
Getting there
It is the most practical accommodation if you arrive by train or from the airport: the T2 tram from Peretola reaches the Santa Maria Novella station area, five minutes away. By car it makes no sense: the centre is a limited traffic zone and the hostel offers no parking.
- **Hotel Palazzo Guadagni** (Small hotel): Sleeping in a palace in the Oltrarno
The Hotel Palazzo Guadagni occupies a Renaissance palace of 1505, built for a silk merchant, on one side of Piazza Santo Spirito, in the Oltrarno. It is the great neighbourhood square of the far bank, presided over by Brunelleschi's basilica of Santo Spirito. The Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens are a few minutes' walk away, and the Ponte Vecchio a slightly longer stroll.
The hotel keeps the air of a Florentine house: high ceilings, some with frescoes, terracotta floors, fireplaces in certain rooms and bathrooms with Vietri tiles.
The rooms
There are five types. The classic double, of 20 m², looks onto the square. The superiors with a view, from 20 to 30 m², face the Pitti Palace, the Duomo or the church of Santo Spirito, and some are reached only by an interior staircase. The deluxe doubles, from 25 to 40 m², have high ceilings and large windows, and several have frescoes and a fireplace. The deluxe with balcony, of 40 m², has a sitting area and a balcony over the square. The family room, of 40 m², joins two double bedrooms with one bathroom and faces the inner courtyard: it sleeps four.
The website does not publish the official category, the number of rooms or the check-in and check-out times; ask when you book.
The third-floor loggia
Upstairs, on the third floor, is the Loggia Roof Bar, a terrace with views of the city and the hills. It is open every day from 12:00 to 22:00 and serves light food, afternoon tea and an aperitif. It is wise to book a table, especially at sunset.
Getting there and parking
From Santa Maria Novella station, by taxi it is about 10 minutes and about €20, or by buses C3 or C4 to the Santo Spirito stop and five minutes' walk. From Florence airport, by taxi about 25 minutes and about €30, or by the T2 tram to Santa Maria Novella. By car, the hotel is inside the limited traffic zone: guests enter by Porta Romana and give their number plate at reception on arrival. You park in a nearby garage with valet parking, at about €35–40 a day.

## As a family: Short museum visits and lots of garden

Florence with children works by alternating an indoor visit with some time outdoors. The big museums tire them quickly; the gardens of the Oltrarno and the viewpoints give them some air.

### What works best
The Boboli Gardens, with grottoes, fountains and statues

The Bardini Garden, with a combined ticket with Boboli

The walk to Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato at sunset

The Uffizi in the afternoon, choosing a few rooms

### Where to sleep
The Oltrarno, quieter and close to Boboli

Near Santa Maria Novella if you arrive by train

### Where to eat
Pizza al taglio and ice cream on any street in the centre

An afternoon snack in the Oltrarno on leaving Boboli

### Keep in mind
The cobblestones and the dome's stairs are not for pushchairs

Boboli is closed on the first and last Monday of each month

In winter the gardens close in mid-afternoon

### Qué hacer as a family
- Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace
- Piazzale Michelangelo and Gregorian vespers at San Miniato al Monte
- Bardini Garden with the combined Boboli ticket

## Consejos

### Uffizi in the afternoon
From 16:00 the ticket costs €16 instead of €25.

### PassePartout if you're going to Pitti
€40 for the Uffizi, Pitti and Boboli over five days; €58 with the Vasari Corridor.

### Sunset at San Miniato
Go up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the afternoon light and continue to San Miniato for the 18:30 vespers.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How many days do I need?
Three nights: one day for the Duomo and the Uffizi, another for the Vasari Corridor, Pitti and Boboli, and an afternoon for the Oltrarno and San Miniato.

### How much do the Uffizi cost?
€25 on the day, €29 reserved and €16 from 16:00.

### Is it a good city with children?
Yes, if you alternate museum and outdoors: Boboli has grottoes, fountains and statues, and the walk to San Miniato ends with the city at your feet.

### What can't be seen without a reservation?
The Vasari Corridor: only with a reserved ticket in each visitor's name.

### Do the gardens close on any day?
Boboli closes on the first and last Monday of each month and on 25 December.