Help! I am having a very hard time choosing what to do for our two days in Florence. I keep thinking I have settled on my top choices only to change my mind and go round and round. I am going to list the things that I'm trying to decide between with the hope someone can at least help narrow down my choices.

Usually I only try to schedule one or two things a day but I'm ok packing these two days as long as I can keep them interesting enough for my kids with adequate snack & gelato breaks. . (We have 4 kids - ages 13, 11, and two 8 year olds.

I like to plan by the half day, and so will need to plan something for Fri. Dec 23rd a.m. & p.m. and Sat. Dec 24th a.m. and p.m. (p.m. for us is afternoon; we don't really plan to do anything in the evenings after dinner). As far as I can tell most places will keep regular hours on the 24th.

1-8 are the ones I think I want the most, 9-10 I think look interesting too and would consider if someone more familiar with the city thinks they'd be better than the others. I want to make sure we have fun just walking around and seeing some interesting shops (paper, costume, mask, candy shops) -- which is one reason why the family-focused walking tours are appealing. I'm debating skipping the art museums altogether and choosing only one of the da Vinci/Galileo museums. And the walking tours don't give out their exact itineraries.

1. Nancy Aiello Kids Discovery Florence tour - 1/2 day walking tour http://www.nancyaiellotours.com/fami...nce/discovery/

2. Freya Florence for Families tour - 1/2 day walking tour
http://www.freyasflorence.com/family...family-tour-2/
They said this tour covers some of the historical centre and includes the palazzo Davanzati, the cathedral and town hall squares and will teach us a bit about the architecture and sculpture in the city and the history and Renaissance society.

3. Freya tours - Uffizi Gallery tour for families - 1/2 day includes some walking tour plus some time touring in the museum with a guide

4. Palazzo Vecchio Secret Passages tour 1 hr 10 min
http://en.firenze.waf.it/museo_dett/...s-tickets.html
Also maybe climb bell tower

5. Leonardo da Vinci museum

6. Galileo museum

7. Duomo, climb to top

8. Santa Croce

9. Accademia Gallery

10. Pitti Palace

Thank you for any advice helping me narrow it down!!

I took a 13 year old to the Uffizi for nearly 4 hours without problems, but younger than that just can't be worth it. My older children interacted with the 13 year old to make it better for him. If you go for it I'd skip the tour and schedule an early entry, before 9, then leave it it's a failure. Accademia is an easier visit for the children as it's smaller.

Duomo climb to top will be a favorite, and the campanile on south side of the Duomo is included in the ticket and recommended.

I'd skip Santa Croce and the Pitti Palace as adults only. I'm not normally a tour person but maybe the children tours really work. What does TripAdvisor say?

I have not been the Da Vinci or Galileo museum so can't speak about those choices. I have, however, been to the other places on your list both as a 12 year old and as an adult with my 9 and 12 year old kids.

A good tour with a great guide can be a very enjoyable way to engage kids and adults. Of the tours you mention, the first two sound really good. The Palazzo Vecchio would not be on the top of my list and you mentioned wanting to skip museums.

If you have time for just one museum, I would strongly encourage you to take the kids to the Accademia Gallery. The museum is small and you can head straight towards the hall with the statue of David. My non-museum loving son at age 9 thought David was amazing and my 12 year old daughter said she was so happy to see the famous statue. Your kids will see the statue's image all over town at all the souvenir shops.

For some reason, kids seem to love to climb to the top of towers. The walk to the top of the Duomo or to the top of Giotto's Campanile might be fun for them (and will earn another gelato break!)

OK, have been thinking about this some more and I think we are going to skip the art museums.

We need to pick one of the walking tours (#s 1 & 2 above).

Also need help picking either the Leonardo or Galileo museum.

Will do the Palazzo Vecchio Secret Passages tour and Duomo.

We could maybe do one more thing, I'm thinking probably Santa Croce or Pitti Palace.

Any help choosing from among these will be greatly appreciated!

ha! Somehow I didn't see the three responses before I wrote my last note. Thanks for the advice, I am going to rethink the Palazzo Vecchio and maybe add Accademia...We'll climb the Duomo and I will check on Trip Advisor too. Thank you!

I think the Academia might be fine for your children. Its small and mine still remember David. They also remember Mommy on the half shell at the Uffizi.
I think museums are fine for that age as long you keep the visits short. You might also consider them in case the weather turns bad.

i wouldn't write off the museums entirely - it won't hurt the kids to have to traipse round after you for a while in return for a gelato or two!

We used to keep them occupied by playing games like the "find the ugliest baby" competition [the prize is currently held by the baby in a painting in a church in Siena] but I'm sure you can think of your own.

They might like the market at Santa Croce [there's a great restaurant there] but i'm not sure about the church itself. I do agree that the Academia is a good idea - everyone should be able to se David. And part of the museum is given over to a collection of musical instruments which is very interesting.

and do climb the Capanile - if nothing else it'll keep you all warm!

Campanile. Sorry.

One museum that might appeal to all is the Museum of the Duomo. It has a lot of wonderful art that used to be in the Duomo, which now has almost no art in it (and isn't worth going into, in my opinion, on a short trip). The Museum of the Duomo is in a new bright, modern, spacious setting. Apart from the art, there is a very interesting exhibit about the construction of the building, and especially the famous dome. It also has a fantastic reconstruction of the medieval facade of the Duomo, very different from its present appearance. I would go to the Musuem before climbing the dome.

There's a kids' book about the construction of the duomo, and the dome, that I've seen in English is several of the museum shops. I bought it for my granddaughter.

I would probably skip both the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia. There are several churches with spectacular art, in its original setting, that would be quick and easy visits, and give you a nice walk from one to another. Some of my favorites are San Marco (really a convent rather than a church, with the monks' cells decorated by amazing frescoes by the Beato Angelico; Santa Maria del Carmine, with the lovely Brancacci Chapel; and Santa Maria Novella, with many great works of art, including the Tornabuoni Chapel, frescoed by the Ghirlandaio workshop, where Michelangelo was an apprentice as a young boy. It's thought he painted one of the figures, and he would have been somewhere between the ages of 10 and 15 years old at the time. That might impress your kids!

The San Marco convent doesn't need a lot of explaining. The Brancacci Chapel has an audio/video tour on a tablet they lend you. Santa Maria Novella might need a little advance research. There are, as I said, numerous important works of art there, and not a lot of guidance to understanding them. However, the entrance fee is low, and just a look at the Tornabuoni Chapel, and also the beautiful cloister, might be enough.

I'm also not sure about tours with young children. Would it be fun for them? Even if the weather is bad? Unless it's a private tour, it's likely to be geared to the adults in the group, and the kids may get restless very quickly.

One thing about tours (even those directed toward children) is that once you're signed up, you're pretty much committed. Even if the weather is bad, or you arrived in town late the night before, even if someone got sick, or even if you discovered something else that your family really wants to do instead. So that's why we tend to prefer to do things on our own, with one or two guidebooks in hand.

I agree with bvlenci's suggestions on the chapels and similar; there's something special about seeing art where it was meant to be. Santa Croce is special, too; there's are one or two pretty significant people buried there.

Try to fit in the Accademia, and the Uffizi for a short visit - there are not many museums that have art equal to that in the Uffizi, so it would be a shame to miss it.

The problem with the Uffizi is that it's huge, and crowded. It's got some of the best art in the world, but it's almost impossible to see a reasonable amount of it on a short visit. A few years ago, one of my daughters and I spent more than 7 hours there, over the course of two days, and we still missed some of the things we wanted to see. I would definitely recommend it to any art lover who had more than a few days to spend in Florence, but not to a family with young children who have only two days there, and are not very interested in art museums to start with.

Another issue is that the museum can seem pretty boring to people who don't already have some knowledge of Italian Renaissance art. Someone who wants to compare the styles of different painters, or decide for herself whether a particular work should be considered Mannerist or Baroque, will have a ball there. People with only a passing familiarity with the subject may find the the collection monotonous, or, as I saw someone say on a forum, "one damn Madonna after another".

The churches and chapels I mentioned would give a very good introduction to Renaissance art, and may induce those children to return to Florence one day and visit the Uffizi Gallery.

Don't bother climbing the Campanile or the Duomo. They will be exhausted and then what. Go to Piazza Michelangelo and you will be able to see the three towers of Florence - the Campanile (as well as the Duomo), The Bargello and the tower of Palazzo Vecchio. These represent the 3 powers in Florence (and other European cities at the time). The Clergy, the Military and the State (of course, restricted to very few at the time). When the 3 were in harmony Florence flourished, when not ... A very good lesson if updated to modern time.

Palazzo Davanzati - gives a good idea as to how people (nobility) actually lived in Medieval times. http://www.museumsinflorence.com/mus...davanzati.html

Stibbert Museum - not far from the centre but very impressive. http://www.museumsinflorence.com/mus...rt_museum.html

If you do want to visit the Uffizi and other important museums it is essential that you book your tickets in advance and pay the small extra to avoid the queues.

How strange - I thought I commented on this thread last night, but I don't see my post.

Anyway...Mr. Pickle and I happened to walk past the Da Vinci Museum last year, so we stopped in and really enjoyed seeing the various machines. I think your kids would like it as well.

I'd take my kids to the Accademia; it doesn't take long to see David, and you don't have to go through the rest of the museum. Buy tickets in advance if you plan to do this.

The Uffizi tour for families looks like it would be fun, and it sounds like they try to keep it engaging for the kids.

Lee Ann

I'd strongly consider taking the walk across the river via Ponte Vecchio to the climb to Piazza Michaelangelo. Even in Winter the view from the top must be breathtaking. Besides kids might gte an opportunity to burn some energy on the steps before their nth dose of gellato.

My family and I (3 adults and 3 children ages, 10,11 and 12) will be traveling to Florence at the end of Juneinto the beginning of July of this year. We have limited time there and aren't big museum fans. We prefer to see our art in action. We are descendants of Donatello so feel strongly about showing our children some of his work. We are also planning to spend one day in Siena. This leaves us with one full and two half days in Florence.

I have read this post and wondered what final decisions you made and now that your trip is complete what recommendations you have for us.

Currently we are favoring:
Accademia
Dumo tower
Piazza Lee Michaelangelo

Possibly:
Donatello Square
Leonardo da Vinci Museum
Palazzo Davanzat
Various churches including San Marco

Aside from the statue of David at the Galleria dell’Accademia, if any of your children are musicians, they might enjoy the section of the museum that is a Museum of Musical Instruments. Early pianos and other keyboard instruments as well as string instruments and others. Many visitors don't realize this section of the gallery exists.