6am departure from Florence - do we really need to get a hotel?

where will you leave your luggage?

I say go for it and let us know how it worked out!

There are night clubs that stay open til 4 am. But the bag storage is not open at that hour

Do more research. A closed airport does not necessarily mean it's closed. It may mean no services or shops but backpackers can spend the night on the floor.

We'll just have carry on luggage, so that's not too much of an issue. Is there a baggage check at the airport? We could leave our luggage the night before, but would need to pick it up by 4:30am. Probably best to just have it with us.

https://www.sleepinginairports.net/guides/florence-airport-guide.htm

Doesn't look promising.

Can you rearrange your itinerary so that you end rather than begin your trip with nights in Florence? Then you have no extra hotel expense your last night.

I bet you could go to dinner late, then walk around and find a hotel lobby to hang around in (and enjoy the scenery) until you leave for the airport. Leave at 3:30 to get there at 4:00, when you know it's open.

Florence airport actually closes. Check in counters open at 5 am.

thanks for that link to the airport website. yeah it seems like they really want to keep the airport hotels in business.
I like the idea of hanging in a hotel lobby...anyone out there have feedback on that?
Reversing the itinerary could work for others, but we've found it is better for us if we do our "city time" first and then head off to less busy places. But we might consider that next time...we've just booked all our airbnbs.

I'm not aware of any Florence hotel that allows non-guests to hang out in their lobby overnight. It's a matter of security. You might be able to hang out on a bench in the train station and then catch an early cab to the airport, but the station is somewhat seedy at night imo. The new T2 tram to the airport doesn't start running until 5am, too late for your early flight.

Have you priced hotels near the airport? There are several for about $70(arbitrary mid August test booking). Peal $5 back from the daily budget on the trip and it will pay for itself.

We had your travel problem last year. Had a 6 am flight out of Florence. We ended up staying at the Hilton just outside the airport the night before. I'm pretty sure it was the cheapest hotel of the entire near 3 week trip. I think if you research that you'll find you won't have to spend a ton of money and honestly, what's 70-100 dollars more? Worth it from my perspective to lay in a comfy bed/get some sleep for a few hours before getting into a cramped airplane.

I'll echo what others have said in that I doubt you'd find a random hotel that would just let you hang out there at night as a non-guest. I wouldn't hang in the train station in the early hours of the morning either but that might end up being the only place available to you where you'd easily be able to keep an eye on your luggage.

Susan....... end your holiday on a proper note. Have a nice dinner, enjoy the comfort of an airport hotel, get up nice and early, shower and away you go, rested and clean.

I have done the "stay awake and wait in the airport" thing twice. Once in Barcelona and once in Dublin. It ALWAYS seems like a good idea, and then I end up hating life halfway through the night. Its worth even a bed for an hour of safety (not worrying about finding a safe place to remain and keeping your stuff safe) and horizontal laying down, even if you get 2 hours of sleep. I like the idea of moving your days around to end in Florence and you don't have to worry about finding a place for one night (and missing out on that one extra transit time loss).

The city of departure should always be left as last destination of your itinerary.
There are also cheap hotels in Florence, even downtown, which cost less than 80€ a night. Add 25€ taxi fare for up to 4 people and you have an extra night in Florence for about €100, less than $120.
Is $120 going to make you bankrupt or is it something you can sustain.

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback. We're leaning toward a downtown hotel so we can have a nice dinner and get a few hours of sleep before a full day of travel. Done!

I realize I’m posting a bit late, but I was also looking for daily bag storage in Rome after we check out of our apartment and found this RS posting helpful and may give bagbnb.com a try.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/budget-tips/has-anyone-used-stasher-com-for-left-luggage

Thank you! We're now looking at hotels, so we won't need to store our bags. Thanks to everyone for chiming in!