Karamel2373

My husband and I will be visiting Florence via our cruise and all the excursions on the ship have sold out. The private tours seem very pricey so I am wondering if this is an easy city to navigate? Any suggestions of "must sees" are appreciated!!

PalQ

Yes - the city itself as a wondrous whole is the only must see. The city centre is fairly compact and eminently walkable. Cars in fact aren't even allowed into many preceints.

JandaO

Florence is a living museum.
Must see's
David
Duomo
Baptistry
Santa Croce(the ceiling is awesome)
Uffizzi
San Lorenzo market
Piazza Signoria
Bargello
Ponte Vecchio
Piazza Michelangelo for great views

j_999_9

JandaO provides a good list of the high spots.

A lot depends on how adventuresome and independent you are, but I'd say of all the major cities in Italy, Florence is the easiest to navigate. Plus, and I'm assuming you're Americans, most people there speak English.

PS: Don't forget to book tickets ahead for David and the Uffizzi.

Karamel2373

Thanks for the info.....would love to hear from more!

2Italy

I would do it on my own. My wife and I have been to Florence 3 times and have never taken a tour. Buy yourself a good guidebook, do a little reading, and enjoy this fantastic city at YOUR pace and see the things YOU want to see. You will have a grand time and it will be very rewarding.
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barbmc

We were just in Florence for one day last week. It was VERY hot. We ended up buying a ticket for the Hop-on-hop off Tour Bus. It was what we needed that day. There are two routes and one ticket goes for both. You get the layout of the city and can get out when you want. The Green Route takes you a few miles outside the city to Fiosele (spelling)...a little city on a hill. very beautiful scenery.

papagena

Hi Karamel,

How long do you have in Florence? As others have said, it is a tiny city centre and easy to navigate on your own. The town centre is easily walkable from the railway station if that is how you plan to arrive.

There is so much to see that, if you're only there for a day off the ship, you can't do it all. Assuming you aren't there for long, my choices would be

1) The Uffizi - but only if you're a fan of renaissance art, simply because with the queues to get in and get through it tends to use up a lot of time. If you're not hugely into renaissance art I would choose instead...

2) Palazzo Pitti
I've never had to wait long to get in here, which (if this is still the case) makes it a better bet for a quick day trip visit. It's an impressive monument to just how rich the Medicis were; the architecture is very impressive and there is room after room of paintings crammed onto every available bit of wallspace. This does mean you have to pay attention to spot the famous ones. This also involves a trip over the Ponte Vecchio to get there.

3) The Medici tombs at San Lorenzo. I always think they sum up well the progress of the family, with the earlier ones (who were arguably the real talent!) dignified and understated, and the later ones incredibly OTT. If you're short on time, just see the later ones, not the main church.

4) David. You'll have to queue and the rest of the museum isn't that great (by Florentine standards) but I guess you can't go to Florence and not do it.

5) If you like chocolate, stop for a hot chocolate at the cafe on the corner of the Piazza della Signoria opposite the Palazzo della Signoria. Expensive, but unusually great, and it's a good spot to people-watch.

Missing the Uffizi will be a controversial suggestion, if you are into Renaissance art it is an absolute must-see (including a Vasarian corridor tour if you can arrange it). But otherwise my personal choice would be Palazzo Pitti/Drink in Palazzo della Signoria/San Lorenzo/Lunch/David/Shopping break/transport back to ship.

Karamel2373

Thanks papagena....great info. We will only have 1 day = 10 hours because we are coming by cruiseship. great info..I'm feeling more confident we can do this on our own. Next question...from our port, Livorno, what is the best way to travel to Florence??

nytraveler

Of course. Just get a guide book and go. It would never have occurred to me that I needed a guide in Florence - it's quite a small city and the historic center is really VERY small.

GBC

Rick Steves publishes a guidebook that contains very helpful information to get the most from limited time in Florence. For instance; within the Uffizi, what rooms to visit and which art is most important. It used to be called 'Mona Winks' but has been renamed. You can take just the parts that cover the places you expect to visit.

Florence is very easy to explore on your own. Two personal notes; for me, the Pitti Palazzo was not very impressive except for the gardens which contain an excellent spot to photograph the city. The other is to allow time for the David and also the Prisoners statues which are nearby. As many times as you've seen photos of these statues, when you see them for yourself they are awesome.

ira

Hi K,

I expect that you will dock in Livorno.

Take a cab to Livorno Centrale and train to Florence SMN:

From Piazza d' Stazione, walk up via Nazionale to via d'Ariento and the Mercato Centrale, wander through.

Take any street going NE to Via Degli Alfani and go right to the Accademia for The David.

Take via Ricasoli SE to the Duomo, the Baptistry and the Opera Museum (Originals of the bronzes on the doors)

From the Campanile, take via Calzaiuoli S (do some window shopping) to the Piazza d' Signoria. Look around, take a break.

Continue S to the Uffizi. Visit.

From the Uffizi, walk W along the Arno River to the Ponte Vecchio.

(You can walk up to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens if there is time. Great views of Florence from the top of the Gardens)

If you have time, walk E along the S bank of the river to Ponte alle grazie and cross over to visit Santa Croce.

If not, go W along the Arno from Ponte Vecchio to Ponte S. Trinita and go right. Go left on Via d'Spada to via d'Fossi and go right to Santa Maria Novella. Look around.

SMN is across the square from the train station.

Be sure to have lots of gelato (in a cup, not a cone), take some wine breaks and a light lunch.

Train schedules, prices and tickets are at www.trenitalia.com

Bus routes are at http://www.ataf.net/
Buy your ticket before you get on the bus. Stamp it in the yellow box on the bus.

Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 1016868 (dial around number), 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.

You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.

Have a nice visit.

GBC

I'm sorry that my first message was incomplete. The Rick Steves book that I mentioned above is now known as 'Best European City Walks and Museums'. Sorry to say it is out of print but it is still available through resellers at Amazon for about $7. We found it very usefull. Published in Sept. 2004, it is still current enough to help you max out your limited time in Florence.

Karamel2373

great, great information! Thank you to all who replied!

baldworth

I hope that you realize that the real David is in the Academia. Ira gave you the info on reservations but no one has mentioned that David is there. You can see other copies of the original but none are as impressive even though most of the rest of the museum is average at best. Some of the other sculptures are also very good. Florence is very easy to navigate and walk around in.

Baldworth

samsmom1127

bkm

SuQue

For walking tours in Florence go to www.artviva.com. They were excellent.

callalilli

YEAY for great, specific, helpful answers to this question.. i'm bookmarking for a (hopeful) trip next year.