Day trip to Florence from Rome
 

Planning on spending 6 days in Rome and would like to take a day trip to Florence. I will be traveling with two teenagers and my husband. We are looking for a bus tour since we only have the one day. Any suggestion? Also when we went to Paris we had a museum card which was prepaid and by passed all the lines for many major attractions. Does Rome have anything similar? I heard the wait for the Vatican is horrible. We are thinking of arranging a private tour. Thanks for your help.

The travel time from Rome to Florence on a bus would be 3+ hours one way. This does not seem do-able to me. Florence is a city that deserves at least sevral days on its own.

My advice - with only 6 days, stay in Rome. There is plenty to see and do. If you want a day trip, go somewhere closer like Ostia Antica.

Fast trains from Rome to Florence are about an hour and a half, and there are many. The historic center in Florence is very small, and the major sites are there. It's very easy to see on your own. You can do it.

Hi MG,

It is not something I would recommend, especially with 2 kids in tow, but

A DAY IN FLORENCE:

Train to Florence SMN:
The Luggage Office is to your left as you leave the train.

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.

If you have time, take the no. 7 bus (you can find it at the SMN train station) up to Fiesole (0:20 hr 1E) to watch the sunset from the terrace of the Bar Bleu.

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 http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
Call center from outside Italy is 39-06-68475475

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
You can purchase tickets online at http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english/musei/uffizi/

Have a nice visit.

((I))

Forgot to mention: When making plans remember the Accademia (Davide) and Uffizi are closed on Monday.

We did that exact same thing last summer with 2 teens. This was the end of our time in Europe and the day trip to Florence was just enough as they had been Museumed out at this point. We took the train which was about 1 1/2 hours and Florence is pretty easy to walk around. We had tickets to The Academia but really didn't need them as there wasn't a line. We also walked up to Piazza Michaelangelo and had a beautiful view of Florence. Regarding the Vatican--I was actually dreading this as I had read that the lines were horrible and we went in August so it was extremely hot. However, we gave into the teens and let them sleep in one morning and by the time we got to the Vatican it was about 2:00 in the afternoon. Although this doesn't give you a real lot of time there, we walked right through security and right up to the ticket booth for the Museums with about a 5 minute wait. I think that everyone tells you to get there early so everyone does and that's when the lines are the worse. Something to think about but I hate lines so I'd give up a little bit of time in there not to have to wait 2 hours to get in. Rome was the favorite for all of us--can't wait to go back.

You can either wait until the afternoon for the Vatican Museums, as the above poster says, or buy your tickets in advance from the Vatican web site. I've taken 2 tours of the Vatican Museums (Context and Enjoy Rome) and we still had to buy our tickets; we did not bypass any lines by taking the tours. But I thought the tours enhanced what we were seeing and gave some interesting information about St. Peters Basilica so I would recommend an afternoon tour. The Enjoy Rome tour is 3 hours.

You can buy a Roma Pass (search here for more information on it) that allows entry into certain sights and some transportation. I haven't used this pass so I can't give any more info but there have been quite a few threads about it.

I think you'll see very little if you take a bus tour for the day to Florence. On your own you'll be able to choose what you want to see. The historic center of Florence is mostly pedestrian and small.

I would not drag teens into the Uffizi unless they have some desire to see particular paintings. If you don't want to spend the money and time to see the Accademia Museum you can see a copy of David near the Uffizi Gallery in Piazza della Senoria.

You can spend some time in the cathedral and cathedral museum; walking around the dome would be interesting. You might want to read Brunelleschi's Dome as a family to understand how innovative his concept was. The book is by Ross King. In addition to how the dome was built it gives insight into the times, i.e., political and church intrigue.

Definitely spend some time looking at the Baptistery doors - really look at them. It's truly amazing how shallow is the relief and how extraordinary is the perspective.

Take a train and then enjoy strolling around Florence, Adrienne is right about the centre of Florence being mostly pedestrian. The Accademia queues seem to be shorter in the afternoon - perhaps because all the bus tours have gone by then. Wander from the Duomo to the river, alone the Ponte de Vecchio and then back again. The markets might be fun too, they aren't far from the train station.

The Vatican is a separate country from Rome and so its museums are not included on the Roma Pass.

A day trip by train to Florence is duable mgagas as others have said it is just 90 minutes each way and the train station is right there at the historical center. Leave early in the morning and come back to Rome after dinner in Florence. With a day trip you won't have to worry about having luggage. Have fun!

Perhaps you would enjoy booking a walking tour if you go, perhaps not, but take the train, as others have suggested.

I'm going to suggest that instead of Firenze you consider a day trip to Orvieto, which might be a more varied experience instead of monumental Renaissance art, which will they will have seen plenty of in Rome. Check it out on Google.

Also, if once you are in Roma your teens show a lot of interest in ruins, and not so much in church art, do your day trip to Ostia Antica, and have dinner at the beach.

Definitely go the to the Vatican in the afternoon. I went to St. Peter's in the morning, had lunch and then went to the Vatican about 1:30pm. There was no line and the only wait was for security. As you the leave the Vatican stop at the Old Bridge Gelateria. That was some of the best gelato I had during my whole trip.

I'm partial to Florence over Rome anyway, you would definitely need more time.

In Florence the teens might enjoy climbing the Duomo dome or the Batistry tower. Good views over Florence. Ditto the tower in the Palazzo Vecchio, which is a nice small museum.

Again a bus tour from Rome to Florence seems unwieldy and time-consuming, given that the train ride is short, and Florence's Centro Storico is compact and very pedestrian-oriented.

The trains between Rome and Florence are frequent. If you don't commit to a tour, you can decide on the spur of the moment whether you want to make the trip to Florence. Or do one of the other possible daytrips.