Florence travel guides & articles
All 21 in-depth pieces we’ve published on Florence — newest first.
The Car-Free Way Through Florence and Out Into Tuscany
Trams, regional trains, rapid coaches, shared e-bikes and a rowing boat on the Arno: how to move through Florence, and reach the rest of Tuscany, without ever touching a steering wheel.
Where to Sleep in Florence When Autumn Rates Double
September and October are the months Florence is best to walk and hardest to sleep in cheaply. What moves the price is changing the kind of bed you buy, whether that is a hilltop suite or a palazzo guesthouse under €140.
Florence in October Without Losing a Day to Queues
The centre fills up, but some hours, some days and some rooms still work. Prices, opening times and what you actually have to book for an October trip.
Landing at Florence Airport and Still Making Dinner
How the tram, the flat-fare taxi and the booked van compare on price and time, so the five kilometres into Florence don't cost you your first evening.
Taking Florence Slowly on a First Visit
The afternoon tickets, the lifts, the bus up the hill and the flat museums that let you see Florence properly without walking yourself into the ground.
Buying Florence Leather From the People Who Make It
The workshops, ateliers and stores where Florence leather is cut, stitched and burnished while you watch, with the prices, the door policies and what the stalls are actually selling.
Florence's Great Art Without the Uffizi Queue
Sixteen Florence rooms, chapels and workshops that repay a short stay more than the headline museums do, with the door rules, timed caps and closing times that decide when you can actually get in.
Florence at 40C and Where to Hide From It
Florence in July turns hostile by eleven. An hour-by-hour plan for the day, the rooms that are genuinely cold, and where the city goes when the centre becomes unbearable.
Climbing to Piazzale Michelangelo for the Florence Sunset
Where to stand, what it costs and which gates shut before the light goes: the sunset side of Florence, hill by hill and rooftop by rooftop.
Eating Florence Beyond the Steak and the Gelato Queue
Dawn markets, a six-euro tripe panino and vegetable cooking with a Michelin star: the Florence meals that have nothing to do with bistecca.
Planning Florence Around the Tickets That Won't Move
Only three Florence sights run on a fixed clock. Here is how to book those, what the passes are actually worth, and how to spend the hours in between rather than a morning in a queue.
Three Days in Florence Without the Scramble
One timed ticket, a four o'clock museum slot and a monastery that shuts at lunch: how to see the essential Florence in three days at a walking pace.
Florence in September Without the Two-Hour Queues
Almost every major sight in Florence now sells a timed slot, so whether your morning works comes down to a booking made weeks before you fly.
Day Trips From Florence That Don't Cost You Florence
Some of the towns, cellars and coastlines within reach of Florence are worth a day of a first visit. Others keep better for a second.
Florence's Boboli Gardens, One Grotto at a Time
Behind Palazzo Pitti, five grottoes and a string of overlooked fountains turn a stroll through the Boboli Gardens into Florence's best outdoor treasure hunt.
Florence After Dark: The Ritual of the Chianina Steak
A guide to the trattorias, cellars and one hillside grill where Florence still treats a slab of Chianina beef as an event, not a menu item.
Florence's Gelato Trail: A Walk Through Frozen Craft
A tour through Florence's oldest and newest gelaterie, from the birthplace of Buontalenti to stone-milled Sicilian pistachio, for readers who want to taste the difference between dessert and craft.
Florence Comes Quiet: A Night Walk Along the Arno
From a boat launch under the San Niccolò weir to a dive bar by Ponte alla Carraia, here's how to spend an evening on Florence's riverbanks without joining a tour group.
Brunelleschi's Dome: The Engineering Puzzle Over Florence
Six hundred years on, nobody fully agrees how Brunelleschi held up 45 metres of open brick with no scaffolding underneath it — here's where to see the evidence for yourself.
The Vasari Corridor: Florence's Secret Elevated Walkway and the Medici's Private Commute
Reopened in December 2024 after eight years shut, the kilometre of raised passage that let the Medici walk home without touching the street is open again — on a timed, guided ticket only, and with its famous self-portrait wall now bare.
The Oltrarno Botteghe: Where Florence's Renaissance Never Ended
A working guide to Florence's surviving craft workshops — which take groups, which reward a couple, and how to book so the door actually opens.