Help! Is Florence just museums??
 

My teens like museums but don't want to visit too many. The guide books seem to praise every single museum so I'm having a hard time narrowing them down. Is Florence museum land?? We have 5 nights there and I'm starting to think that may be too much (since we don't plan to visit too many museums). We'll do a day trip to Pisa/Lucca, another long one to cinque terre and a third maybe to Siena. Besides the uffizi, what's another must visit museum? (I know the museum with David but it just doesn't appeal to us, not sure why).

Whoa, just museums!? After studying there for five months last spring I will attest there is so much more to do than museums. I was a 21 year old college with a wide array of interests (art, history, cuisine, outdoors, walking, music, wine) so there was much to offer.

I am not sure about particulars for teens but I think you should re-consider all the extra trips. Florence deserves much more time, there are just too many MUST try restaurants if youre going to have the given time in Florence. I would do maybe a day and a half trip to Cinque Terre and maybe if youre feeling motivated a half day in Pisa (since I think that's all it really warrants, sorry :-) )

I think the Palazzo Pitti is pretty much a MUST see if you want to see something in addition to Uffizi. Boboli Gardens is a must. I would love to be more specific if you need something because I feel like I am being overly broad.

Well, surely you are familiar with the relationship between Florence and the Renaissance, which of course marks it as a museum mecca, but of course there are many, many other venues. Do you have a good guidebook?

I'm wondering why you selected Florence as a place to spend five days?

Yes, it seems a little odd that you would pick Florence for 5 days. Why not another destination and a day trip to Florence?

Perhaps the suggestion that more time in the Cinque Terre is a good one for your family. Hiking and train rides and maybe a boat ride too would be fun. You could stay 3 nights and day trip to Pisa and maybe Lucca, where they might want to rent bikes and ride the walls. . Then put in two nights in Florence.


If they don't like museums much, how do they feel about churches? There are certainly plenty of them.

For something completely outside of history, art and religion, Florence has markets, and teens like markets.

I think two nights in Florence would suit your group. The Uffizi and markets, the Duomo, climb something, and you're outta there.

What about the highest end designer shops? They are way cool for teens who like design. Window shopping is like looking at art, the items are so precisely shown.

I liked Florence a lot, when we visited in early May. The gorgeous weather and lack of crowds allowed us to really enjoy strolling around Florence. DD had studied there for a semester and knew her way around.

I think Florence is small enough and safe for your teens to spend time investigating on their own. Maybe not at night. But that's true for any city.

If you aren't wild about museums, what about architecture? The museums are in amazing buildings. We missed the Pitti Palace, unfortunately.

I agree, most folks don't do 5 days in Florence, particularly with teens. What was your thinking on that?

Yes, Florence is a mecca of Renaissance art, but there's a lot else.

In terms of museums, I would suggest the Uffizi, the Accademia - the primary reason to visit is David, and even if you spend a lot of time admiring him, your time there would easily be less than one hour. And if you want to visit one other museum, the Bargello is nice. It's also not so huge, and focused on statues.

Many churches in Florence have great artwork and sculptures, so they make for a good place to see some famous art without being overwhelmed.

The markets are fun; we like the food market the best.

The piazzas are great places to hang out with a glass of wine or beer. Often, in or near Piazza della Signoria, there are singers (American or otherwise) singing American music.

^^I agree, most folks don't do 5 days in Florence, particularly with teens. What was your thinking on that?^^

Maybe the poster read somewhere on the internet that Florence is "a museum mecca, but of course there are many, many other venues." What are these other venues? Churches? Or are you also referring to shopping? The poster said the original post she has several guidebooks.

Actually it is very typical that most people who have never been to Italy book at least 2 days in Florence -- which is all this poster's family is spending in Florence. Does someone here think that 2 days is too much time to be spending in Florence with teenagers?

layanluvstotravel,

If you are spending 3 days out of Florence on day trips, I don't think 2 days in Florence is too much. If your teens "like" museums but don't like too many, I think you are on the right track making personal family choices, like skipping the Accademia. Take a look at Museo San Marco, which isn't a conventional museum at all. It is not like the Uffizi, which is an enormous warehouse of Italian painting which is very crowded, making the paintings very difficult to see. If your teens clamor to see the Uffizi, put it toward the end of your visit, so that the family doen't burn out early, or if they feel they've seen enough art, skip it.

If you move your "base" to Siena, it will be much more difficult to visit Lucca and Pisa, and vice versa, and nearly impossible to visit le Cinque Terre. There is much more life in Florence at nighttime than there is in smaller Tuscan towns on the train line. Try staggering your time in Florence, breaking it up with the day trips, rather than try to jam a whole load of Florence sightseeing your first day.

I recommend arriving in Florence, maybe climbing the Duomo, seeing the bapistery, calling it quits for cultural sightseeing for the day. Next day Siena. Next day, le Cinque Terre. Back to Florence. Next Day Lucca (bike rides) and Pisa. Final day Florence, and you can leave early for your next destination.

If you all hate Florence on sight, you can have a nice time taking the bus up to Fiesole, or try a day of swimming and spas at Montecatini, a short train ride away. It is also not difficult to get to Bologna, or you can take a long-ish bus trip to San Gimignano.

But I don't think you will hate Florence on sight, and don't feel obliged to see the so.called must-see museums. There are quirky shoe museums, anatomical medical museums, science museums. Head into the tourist office for information on concerts and where to find the public swimming pools.

Five nights is only 4 full days. IMO, not too long in Florence (by a long shot).

A climb to the lantern/top of the Duomo is an interesting exposure to the dome's construction at a time (15th C.) when little was known about how to build a dome that wouldn't collapse. If your kids have any interest in architecture and can read a bit about the story of this church, they might think this was more than just a climb. If not, the views from the top are still spectacular.

http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/re...nelleschi.html

You can take Segway or bicycle tours of Florence. Or look for a pizza-making and/or gelato-making class.

Besides the day trips already mentioned (Pisa for the Tower, Lucca to bicycle atop the city walls), there are other excursions using public transportation or by joining a day tour. Fiesole is a village in the hills outside Florence. You can take a bus or taxi to the village and see the ruins of a Roman theater and baths, Etruscan walls, etc. Viator offers single-day, guided tours to Siena and San Gimignano, a biking tour from Florence into the Tuscan countryside, and horseback riding.

If there are any car nuts, you could take a tour of the Lamborghini factory outside of Bologna. Reservations are required.

http://www.lamborghini.com/en/herita...factory-visit/

If they enjoy science, go to the Galileo or Da Vinci Museums in Florence.

http://www.museogalileo.it/en/visit/miniguides.html

http://www.mostredileonardo.com/site...=10&idPagina=3

If anyone might study medicine, consider going to La Specola (Natural History Museum).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Specola

I thought Florence was boring when I was younger, , sorry folks, its definatley not a hot spot for most teens.. perhaps some , but I think I would base yourself somewhere else.. Cinqe Terra maybe for 2-3 days, and then 2 days in Florence.

I also thought Pisa was boring.. so guess that shows where my head was at 30 years ago.. lol

I don't think you'll run the risk to see your children getting bored. Museums in Florence are not just rooms with paintings inside.
They are true-to-life ancient palaces and walking in it you can really breathe another time life. I guess your children will have the time of their life in visiting Florence!

To add on to Jean's suggestions:

When trying to decide among Florence museums your teens might enjoy, give a priority to "museums" that are actually palaces or converted monasteries, where the art is part of the rich decor, rather than going to the museums that are huge gallery spaces where the art is propped up in isolation in an otherwise bare room (like in the Uffizi or the Bargello.

Also give a priority to the bite-sized places to look at art, like a single chapel, or a set of monastery rooms. People often learn more about what a fantastic outburst of ideas and wealth the Renaissance was by seeing just one or two interiors of a palazzo or monastery. Not by walking past painting after painting or statue after statue.

The carved doors of the Bapistery, the small chapel of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the monastery museum of San Marco, along with touring the town to see the market, the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio lined with jewelry makers, can leave a very vivid impression of just what an amazing tiny city Florence was in its heyday, with a competition between bankers and churches for control of the culture of the town.

It is a very dramatic place in history, and if your kids know anything about American history, they might appreciate seeing where many of the ideas of modern governance, modern science and modern banking came from.

To me, whether or not you decide to take them to le Cinque Terre instead (can't they do that for less money at home?) partly depends on where you would going after le Cinque Terre. Travel time between le Cinque Terre and other places of interest is often very long, consuming an entire day of your trip along not particularly scenic routes.

Question- for my day trips (if we decide to do them on our own- we usually do stuff on our own) I suspect we can purchase the train tickets early in the morning from the train station? These are regional trains? (Pisa/Lucca/Cinque Terre)? Also, for Siena, I've read that the bus is a better option. Can we buy that same day/time? We are traveling in July.

Thanks everyone! I originally planned on being in Florence for 3 nights then 2 in Cinque Terre. I changed that based on several factors (including hubby/kids don't like to move a lot, got a good "deal" on the florence hotel and it just seemed to make a good base for possible day trips).

steve and jean- I'm going to follow your recommendations. A little about our family- we love walking around, getting lost in the city/village we are visiting and doing "mundane" stuff like grocery store shopping, walking around neighborhoods, looking at buildings/architecture, visiting parks, etc.

I think I'm going to keep our plans as they are. Whomever (from my family) is up to leaving Florence for a day can join me and whomever wants to just hang around and eat gelato walking in one of the World's most awesome streets (like I suspect my hubby will prefer to do) can stay in Florence :-)

I do appreciate all of you guys' advice! Thanks again.

Tabernash2, you may have found Florence uncrowded in early May, but it will be stuffed to the gills with tourists in July. To the OP, you may like the option of getting out of Florence during the day and returning at night, when the crowds have eased.

Yes. And New York is just skyscrapers.

@BigRuss- lol. :-)

Yes, Mimar, that was my point.

To the OP, Cinque Terre is not an easy day-trip from Florence. It is further than you think on the train.

Say what you want but when you have a couple of kids who, in the OP's words: don't want to see "too many" (meaning what? more than one???) museums I don't care how WONDERFUL Florence is (and yes I do think it is) or even if Lorenzo and a few others come back from the dead and MEET you there...it could be a long few days.

Reality: OP: can you possible change your itinerary OR tell the kids to suck it up?

No - Florence has way more to see and do. If you tell us your and your kids (and their ages) special intersts, people can make recos.

Are the teens old enough to hang out with local students at cafes and pubs? - they will find much more to do than museums.

@dukey1- lol. Don't worry, I'll tell them to suck it up either way ;-)

My kids are 14, 14 and 15. Does it make any difference if I tell you that we will be going to Sorrento for 4 days after Florence?

There's another option I'm considering (but not too seriously), we could take a train to La Spezia Saturday morning and stay at a hotel there (to see the Cinque Terre). The next day (Sunday) on our way back to Florence (have to go back since we reserved train tickets from Florence to Naples already) we could stop by Pisa and then sleep the night again in Florence.

Or, I could just stick with the original plan. If they get sick of Florence, there's the day trips-- Siena, Fiesole, Pisa/Lucca, you don't think that'll keep them happy? Plus, bribes in the form of gelato.

a few years ago we took our kids, then about 15 & 18 to Florence for a week, and saw very few museums as such, though we all enjoyed out stay a lot.

no trip report, but from memory we climbed the campanile and the dome and explored the Cathedral area, spent a day in Siena, one day around Santa Croce and the san ambroglio market, another up in Fiesole, a day around the San Lorenzo market and the medici chapel, a day trip to Pisa, another seeing the Uffizi and Accademia, visited the Bobolli and Oltrarno - we easily filled a week so you should have no trouble finding things to do in 4 days.

annhig, that sounds like a good week in Florence.

If your kids like food (mine did, even as a teen) the Mercato Centrale is a fun little break.

tuscan - they do enjoy food [like their mum, perhaps a little too much?] in fact italian food turned our rather faddy DS, then about 10, into a much more enthusiastic eater. by the time we took him to Florence, he was much easier to feed than he had been years before, not in small part due to our visits to Italy.

As far as L'Accademia where Michelangelo's "David" is located, most visitors only visit David and it doesn't take too long. All of my teenage grandkids were thrilled when they saw "David".

there are some other interesting things in the Accademia - the musical instrument collection for example. but the pictures are also worth a look, and we would always take the opportunity to view whatever there was, if only for a short while because you never know what you might find.

a certain [in]famous fodorite flamed me for this, and perhaps your kids are a bit old for it, but as we were going around galleries and museums, we made looking at the pictures into a game by trying to find the ugliest baby. [believe me, there are some corkers]. this isn't as puerile as it sounds - it leads to all sorts of interesting questions such as how artists have depicted Mary and Jesus over the years, how they drew children and adults, perspective, art history, etc. etc.

I'm sure you can think of your own way of peeking their interest.

check out the large covered market - actually in a market building two floors high - no only great local fruit and veg but some snack bars for cheap local down-home florentine foods. Right in the city center between Duomo and Santa Maria Novella train station. Note the boar's head that has a shine from being stroken so much in hopes of good luck!

Five nights is not too long in Florence IMO. DH and I spent 5 nights in Florence with our teen sons, ages 16 and 14 last summer. Surprisingly, they really enjoyed the Uffizi, Accademia, Bargello, Pitti Palace, San Marco monastery, and also wanted to see other museums. I think the secret was a private tour through the Uffizi the first day. It was through Freya's Florence, and really gave all of us a deeper appreciation for the art. While I had toured the Uffizi that way before as well as without a guide on a couple of other trips, I still learned more. DH and sons really enjoyed it. Afterward, my sons would refer to information from the tour when viewing other works in different museums throughout our trip.

Before visiting a museum each time, we'd ask if they wanted to do that, and they always said yes. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised! I think it depends on your own children's personalities; my kids truly enjoyed seeing the museums and churches everywhere we went. We did sprinkle in a lot of other things around them though.

So much of the fun of Florence takes place at night in the summer. Wander through the Piazza della Signoria and you're almost sure to see a musical performance every night. The Ponte Vecchio has great street musicians, and we enjoyed just sitting on the bridge and listening.

The shopping is world class, so if your teens enjoy that you have another thing to do. My sons enjoyed picking out some clothes that they can't get at home. Your teens might also enjoy the markets.

We also spent several days in Siena and used that as a base for touring nearby towns. It is equally delightful, although there is less going on at night there. The Campo is a great spot for people watching, but that seemed to be where all the action was.

BTW, we finished our trip with a week in Positano, and that was a great way to end it. Ferry rides to Amalfi and Capri were a highlight of our trip. We also fit in a visit to Pompeii, and if you have time, I'd recommend that as well...but be sure to get a guide. We didn't and I think we missed a lot.

Have a wonderful trip!

cybertraveller I think your post does illustrate something.

Your kids enjoyed museums everywhere you went ( you said).

My kids generally do too.

Some kids do not enjoy museums. I personally don't understand that completely, I love museums.

I have a friend who went to Paris for a week. She said they saw FOUR museums in one day, she said she only let her bf have one "museum day" so that's why they were all crammed in. I asked ( somewhat baffled) which four museums she saw. She could not remember the name of even one of them, but said one had "that pyramid" outside. She does not like museums. Strange but true, lol ( I still love this friend but know I will never go to Europe with her even though she often suggests it) .She is no kid but well in the middle years.

If OPs kids really don't like museums they don't like museums, BUT , I do think your suggestion of a tour was a VERY good one though, I am sure my private tour of the Louvre at age 13 was what started my love affair with museums.

I think many teens /kids, even adults, view museums as passive and boring, ,, just walking through and looking at "stuff" that means nothing really to them. A little background and information can make most exhibits fascinating.

cybertraveller I think your post does illustrate something.

Your kids enjoyed museums everywhere you went ( you said).

My kids generally do too.

Some kids do not enjoy museums. I personally don't understand that completely, I love museums.

I have a friend who went to Paris for a week. She said they saw FOUR museums in one day, she said she only let her bf have one "museum day" so that's why they were all crammed in. I asked ( somewhat baffled) which four museums she saw. She could not remember the name of even one of them, but said one had "that pyramid" outside. She does not like museums. Strange but true, lol ( I still love this friend but know I will never go to Europe with her even though she often suggests it) .She is no kid but well in the middle years.

If OPs kids really don't like museums they don't like museums, BUT , I do think your suggestion of a tour was a VERY good one though, I am sure my private tour of the Louvre at age 13 was what started my love affair with museums.

I think many teens /kids, even adults, view museums as passive and boring, ,, just walking through and looking at "stuff" that means nothing really to them. A little background and information can make most exhibits fascinating.

I think 5 days for Florence is 2-3 days too long if museums aren't on the itinerary.

When I was younger every time I visited Florence I was invited to big, rave- like parties. Lots of students there, lots of opportunities to meet and mingle.

But I think your kids are too young for that.

Boboli Gardens, climbing Giotto's tower, hanging out on piazze, shopping, staying up late and sleeping in, a few churches, Accademia and ( maybe) Uffizi. A day trip or two and your time has flown by.

Not sure if anyone else has suggested the many Florence Walking tours but they are usually 2-4 hrs long and while they overlap, there are many differing themes. There are some in the evening as well as mornings and they are not terribly expensive but very informative.

Great advice thanks so much! I didn't mean to suggest my kids hate museums. We went to Paris two years ago and they loved the louvre, orsay, Rodin, war museum with Napoleon. We mixed it up though with the notre damn, Eiffel Tower, gardens, etc, etc.

I like the idea of a tour. Is that something we should plan ahead or we can do when we get there?