Day trip to Florence- crazy?

Lots of people head to Florence on arrival to FCO so it’s a perfectly good plan

There are more than the 2 trains you mentioned-at least once an hour or more
There is a direct train from FCO at 1:53-otherwise just change at Termini

Use the official train site
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/tcom/en.html

I wouldn’t book train tix in advance -just buy them when you arrive
Search the forum as this is a common topic

You will also need to have pre booked timed entries for museums

Good tips from C. Uffizi well worth the effort. Try to make an hour or 2 to visit the Duomo museum, fantastic, under-visited. (Don't bother trying to get inside the Duomo, its disappointing.)

Yes, worth it. My first visit to Florence was a day trip and we didn't even spend the night there. This was my first trip to Europe (1999) and I remember looking out from the top of the campanile and thinking, "This looks like Europe..." and then, "You're IN Europe!"

Agree, the Duomo is disappointing. That said, the Baptistry is amazing.

Sounds workable.

To me, better yet, spend a second night in Florence and visit some of the churches where the Renaissance blazed forth with frescoes by Masaccio & Masolino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and (briefly) his young apprentice, Michaelangelo, as well as sculptures by Donatello and Michaelangelo. And more artists yet, such as Giotto and Fra Angelico. Among the churches …

• Santa Maria Carmine
• Santa Maria Novella
• Santa Trinita
• Ognissanti
• Santa Spirito
• San Lorenzo
• Santa Croce

You’ll still have 11 or 12 days or so in Naples, the AC and Ischia. Plenty of time for that, and you won’t be shortchanging your time in Florence quite so badly. (I’d make Florence at least 3 nights and still consider 10 or 11 days in Naples, etc to be quite sufficient.)

Naples has great art from antiquity and from the Baroque era. But the Renaissance was further north, and especially in Florence.

I try to make the most of every moment when traveling too!
If you love art- a suggestion- you could hire a private guide to take you thru the Uffizi. We had a guide on our Rick Steves tour and they really made the art come to life and so special. Maybe you could find a group tour to reduce the cost.
One thing that we did in Florence that I really enjoyed- you can purchase tix in advance- and you must ahead of time- you really don’t need a guide for this- but we climbed to the top of Brunelleschi dome. It was very tight quarter climbing up- not recommended if you are at all claustrophobic. But seeing the paintings at the top of the chapel- they were so twisted and odd- showing the wages of sin- pokers going thru the sinners etc. this may not sound very enticing- however- such a weird view in a church! It was memorable to say the least. Also the views over Florence were amazing once we climbed to the top. I only recommend this if you are good with lots of stairs, but my husband and I still talk about the paintings at the top of the dome to this day! Also- Watch “Medici” if you can, ahead of time- fictional series but some facts and if you do stop in Florence, it will get you in the Florence mood!
Happy travels!

Just a mention to make sure that the only day you have for the Uffizi isn't a Monday (it's closed) or a first Sunday of a month when it's free but involves a VERY long queue to try and get in.

The baptistry is great but has been under interior renovation for awhile. Not sure at what point they'll be with that in May when you're going. Florence has so much to offer; hope there's a future trip for you so you can explore more of her treasures!

I found Florence fascinating, but really crowded. After the first visit there, Siena became the place to base and taking the 75-minute express bus into Florence makes visiting soooo much more pleasant.
Be sure to reserve your timed-ticket for entry to the Uffizi Gallery if you’re planning to visit it.

Thanks, everyone for the feedback and helpful comments and suggestions. It is reassuring to read that this is doable and worth the effort.

I had already bookmarked Florence for a return trip with my sister in law in 2026 and will definitely include the duomo museum, baptistry, dome climb and various churches in that trip.

Grazie!

I think it would be doable.

We spent a week in Tuscany and took the commuter bus from our agriturismo to Florence. You might consider the Walks of Italy Florence in a Day tour. That's what we did. You start at 8:30 with an early skip the line entry to the Academia to see David. Then you spend the morning walking through the heart of Florence. After lunch, you reconvene with a skip the line entry to the Uffizi. The official tour was over about 5:00, but we went the day the Uffizi was open late, so we spent another hour or so on our own. Our guide had a Masters in Art History and he was great, sharing a ton of information we wouldn't have known if we visited on our own. Walks of Italy restricts the number of guests to a dozen or so. We only had 12 in the morning and only 8 in the afternoon.

You didn't mention when you are going. Time of year will be a factor regarding crowds. We were there the week before Christmas and it was charming. The Uffizi was not very busy.

Quick additional question: is using the RS self guided audio tour a good strategy vs going with a tour group? It doesn’t seem that the museum offers their own tours, audio or otherwise.

Florence deserved way more time than a fraction of a day. The Uffizzi is great, but there is much more in this wonderful city.

We used the RS audio guide to wander Florence, and we felt it worked well.

To respond to the OP, for day trip, I'd want to be very efficient with the Uffizzi to make sure you have time to wander the city. I think the city itself is a "museum".

In regards to the Duomo, don't waste any time going inside. The baptistry, however, is lovely though I just read it has been under renovation. There are many other churches worth visiting, Santa Maria Novella (right by the train station) and the Basilica of Santa Croce.

We were in Florence 4 days and really would have liked a few more.

Quick additional question: is using the RS self guided audio tour a good strategy vs going with a tour group? It doesn’t seem that the museum offers their own tours, audio or otherwise.

You could certainly use Rick Steve's audio tour. I listened to part of the Uffizi tour and it sounds useful It is in the Rick Steves way of presenting material and the audio lasts and hour.

Our tour was over two hours and contained a lot of detailed information. We also enjoyed being able to ask our guide to expand.

There's just so much in the museum that our WOI guide and what I've heard of the Rick Steves audio is that they only cover the "greatest hits". I would also suggest doing a lot of research before visiting the museum so you are familiar with the back story of the treasures you'll see.

We were there in the summer of 23 and could have spent longer than the week we were there (we did do 2 day trips, one to siena and one to the beach). For us, David was a highlight. My engineer husband said it was a magical feat and was in awe and I would say art is not necessarily his thing : ) We also loved Santa Croce, IMHO, the most beautiful of the churches. If you can squeeze some time, these would be worth seeing too. Also if you can right off Piazza Della Signoria is a wonderful place for dinner, we adored it so maybe a good meal for your night there. Vini e Vecchi Sapori so good! Not fancy, reasonable and a really memorable evening!
Have so much fun!

Instead of packing and unpacking, checking in and out for just one night why not make it a day trip from Rome. It is only 1 1/2 hours by train. Or at least stay 2 nights. Of course you can’t see it all but you can get a nice feel for it.

Since you're going to all this effort to see the Uffizi, I highly recommend you go with a guide, and specifically the guide we used, Eleonora Catelani. We did two tours with her in 2023, a Florence highlights tour in the spring that my family did and pronounced her the best guide they'd ever had, and one in the fall when we went back on my "revenge trip" (I got covid on the spring trip and spent my Florence days confined to my room). We did the Uffizi with her and she expertly navigated us through and around the crowds and described what we were seeing in a way we would never have gotten on our own or with an audioguide. She really is the best, worth every penny.

[email protected] or www.florencearound.com

Thanks everyone. I would love to give Florence the time that I know it deserves but squeezed it into a different trip because I can’t wait any longer to see the Uffizzi. I will bookmark 4-5 days for it on my Tuscany trip next year.