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Day Trip from Venice-Florence-Venice

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Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I are going to Italy soon. We will spend 5 nights in Venice and 1 night in Verona at the end of our trip. The initial plan was to stay 5 days in Venice and 2 days in Verona, with the first day dedicated to train travel in the morning, and then head to the airport from Verona on the last day in the afternoon (we chose to fly out from Verona airport because it made the travel cheaper overall).

We are thinking about doing a day trip from Venice to Florence and back on the same day by Italo train on the fourth day, for example.

We are considering this because we think Florence is such a beautiful city, and having the opportunity to see it, even just for a day, would be amazing for us.

If we go, we would probably only enter the Cathedral (Duomo) and the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo’s David, but mainly we just want to walk around the streets and enjoy the city atmosphere.

We saw that Italo trains are around €15 with a youth discount, and we know it’s about 2 hours each way.
New edit: We are going in the second half of August. We checked on the Italo website, and for the day and times we were thinking, it would be €15.90 each way, so €31.80 per person (Italo Young- Smart/Economy class)

Since it involves travelling by train and it would be a long day, we wanted to ask:
Has anyone done this before? Would it be too tiring or is it worth it?

Thank you so much for your advice and experiences!

Posted by
469 posts

The minimum train time (Italo) is 2h15m each way, direct, no changes. The fare on a random date this month would be c. 48 euros youth fare each, return.
A train with two changes would take twice the time, at c. half the fare.
Frankly, for the amount of travel, including to and from stations, I would save Florence for another trip.
There is so much to see and soak up.
How soon is "soon"?
You need to book accommodation early.

Posted by
36 posts

Hi Beatriz,
What a fun adventure!
We have some experience with doing this in the opposite direction: my daughter and a girlfriend took the early train from Florence to Venice for a day...wandered around, ate gelato, had a fancy drink and then took a late train back to Florence. They didn't go into any of the museums, and that was fine with them. They went to see a beautiful place and were delighted with their day. They also resolved to return some day.
So...if you can find a fare you like, I'd say go for it.

happy planning :)

Posted by
9100 posts

Enjoy Venice and that area of Italy. Save Florence and Tuscany for another trip.
If you want to see other places than Venice and Verona, spend a day in Ravenna.

Posted by
29255 posts

You'd save some travel time by taking the Florence day trip from Verona rather than from Venice. Take a look at the schedules, though, to see what time you'd actually arrive in Florence with a departure from each origin.

I found Verona a pretty and lively city. Yes, Juliet's balcony is totally fake. Any legit guide book will warn you about that. You don't have to go there.

Don't forget to consider the travel time from your lodgings in Venice to Venezia-Santa Lucia station. The 2:15 train trip to Firenze-Santa Maria Novella could turn out to be more like 3 hours each way.

Posted by
17421 posts

If you do decide to make this day trip - and I'm in the camp of saving Florence for when you can give it the time it deserves - I would scrap the plan to see the inside of the duomo. The line to get in is long, and the interior is surprisingly austere for an Italian cathedral; the exterior is more impressive. It's OK if you have more days to work with but with limited time...

If you are going soon, be aware that it has been very hot in Florence (indeed much of Italy) so a plan just to walk about in the heat, humidity and dense high-season crowds may not be all that much fun.

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