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.

It seems the train schedule from FCO to SMN has changed since I started planning and now there is only one direct train that departs FCO at 1353 and arrives at 1611. Our flight arrives at FCO at 1015, which means a lot of wasted time sitting around the airport,.jetlagged.
I looked at trains from FCO to Termini, then Termini to SMN but there is only one leaving FCO at 1353, so we'd be even later arriving in Florence. It seems really odd to me that there wouldn't be more trains running on Friday (May 16). Is it possible/likely that more will be added closer to the time?
Neither the Flixibus nor a flight appear much better. Might have to consider hiring a driver :(((

Our first trip to Florence decades ago was over a weekend and we didn't much care for it. Later we stayed two months and fell in love with the place. Then this fall we returned for two weeks and were astounded at how wall to wall the crowds were in the center. We had visited for a week a couple times between our first two month trip in 2003 and our recent 2024 trip and enjoyed it. But this time we literally inched our way across the Ponte Vecchio (we were staying out past Porta Romana) and found the center cheek by jowl crowds. The ice cream shop we had dropped by almost daily in 2003, had a line of about 80 people. There is no day on which I would line up for that long to get ice cream. The whole thing was rather unpleasant.

Because we had an Uffizi Membership we were able to avoid the long long lines of those with tickets but without membership but it was still crowded. We didn't bother with the small room because again it took an hour lined up to get in. Luckily we had seen it before.

I think a town as dense with artistic sites is not a great choice for a day trip. The crowds ad logistics are likely to outweight the pleasures.

A day trip is fine for Bologna, Siena, Arrezo, San Gimignano, Voltera, Lucca etc -- but in large cities like Florence and Rome the logistics and crowds outweight the joy. It really takes a few days.

On the other hand the Uffizi is wonderful and if that is your goal then get reserved tickets and do it. Doing the thing you really want to do is always the right choice.

It is no crazier than some of the things I've done to see art that I want to see.

Here's some thoughts for you.

Is there any way you can get yourself a few hours onto Italy time before you leave? We are retired and can do a full four hours which completely eliminates our jet lag, but we took family to Italy last year and they reported that even a couple hours helps. Move your mealtimes, too, not just your sleep.

Do you know what you want to see at the Uffizi? (I remember how to spell it because it was an OFFICE, so two F's, one Z.) I just spent a whole day there for the second time and found it very useful to download maps from the Uffizi website, print them up, and mark the rooms I wanted to visit. It really helps to strategize. You cannot see everything, no matter what. Do not feel bad about ignoring wonderful art if it's not your favorite and you don't have time. I have now spent a total of 11 weeks in Florence and not seen everything I want to see or see again --- Italy is just like that and Florence in particular is ridiculously stuffed full of art.

Can you possibly book an 8:15am ticket? It will still be crowded, especially around any famous painting, but it gets even worse as the day goes on. You are supposed to show your passport or some ID to prove that your ticket is yours, but they just waved me through --- don't count on that, though.

Here's a tip that may or may not be useful --- there is a cloakroom but it's not for "cloaks"! I was not able to leave my coat and sweater there, and had to carry them all through the Uffizi (which was quite warm). HOWEVER, if I had taken a empty backpack and put my outdoor layers into it, I could have left that in the cloakroom. This will probably only apply to you if it's raining and you have a raincoat.

Do not bother to take photos of the art, unless it's some detail you want to remember or look up about later --- there are plenty of great photos online.

Guides and tours drive me up the wall, but that's just me --- they speed past things I want to see and linger for endless minutes in front of things I don't care about. The DIY approach works best for me. Listen to Rick Steves' audio guide before you go, not during. Maybe a couple of times. There is helpful stuff on Youtube, too. I have learned a lot from Elaine Ruffolo, Rocky Ruggiero, the Khan Academy, the British Institute in Florence, and just doing a search on youtube for Uffizi Gallery.

Yes, there will be more trains from Rome to Florence. Lately, I've been finding Google Maps easier to look at for trains than the Trenitalia website or app. It's also good for buses, if you need to take a bus in Florence.

Good luck with your plan!

I looked at trains from FCO to Termini, then Termini to SMN but there is only one leaving FCO at 1353,

That's because the timetable changes in two weeks and again in summer so they can't be sold yet or shown because the schedule's not out yet.

Figure on frequent Leonardo Express trains between FCO and Roma Termini, and at least a train every hour (often more) from Trenitalia and one or more trains between the same two places every hour from Italo Treno. It is a very easy connection.

The direct trains between the FCO airport and Firenze SMN are the infrequent ones - very few. And they actually take the same route as the ones where you have to change, they call at Roma Termini on the way, just you don't have to leave your seat, although because Termini is a dead end station you will be facing the opposite direction when the train departs Termini.

The way tracks are laid at Roma Termini, you can't have frequent service between FCO and cities north of Rome, as the train arriving from FCO has to cross all the tracks entering the station in order to exit direction north, and viceversa in the other direction. It can be done occasionally, but doing it all the day long would block the traffic within the station.

My first two times in Florence were just day trips. I didn't go into any museums either time, just wandered around the city. Those day trips were enough to make me certain I wanted to visit again, which I've done now several times. I think it's well worth the extra effort and it sounds like you're realistic about what you will and won't have time to do this trip.

Thanks again everyone. I am prepared for Florence to be packed but am hoping that mid May will be better than a bit later in the year.
Nigel, that's very reassuring!
Nancy, thanks for the tips about the YouTubers. I am conflicted about seeing the Uffizi as part of a tour. On the one hand, I want to understand the significance of what I am looking at but on the other, given our time there is so short I don't want to follow someone else's schedule. Hubby also isn't a tour guy so thinking the RS audio is the way to go.