Florence in 3,5 days: Hacking Rick's Itinerary

Do Renaissance Walk on Sat evening
Visit Uffizi on Sunday

No need to follow that itinerary if it doesn’t work for you

Monday would be the day for a day trip but without knowing how many other sites are musts for you hard to say whether you have time for a day trip or not

Yikes, that is a packed itinerary. Even on several of Rick's tours that included Florence we didn't see as many museums has he has listed on Day 2.

What time do you anticipate arriving? Can you do the Renaissance walk that evening?

Otherwise, if you take his itinerary as published and swap days 1 and 2 but want the Renaissance Walk on your Uffizi day, I'd cut one of the 3 museums he proposes or do it instead of the Oltrarno Walk in the evening.

To me, with just 3 full days in Florence I don't think you have time for a day trip unless you want to skip some Florence sights.

Where else are you going after Florence?

With your time schedule, I would skip the Medici Palace and Duomo Museum. I have been to both. In 4 trips to Florence, I have not done the Bargello or Pitti Palace. I really like the Science/Galileo Museum and Museo San Marco is my top favorite museum in Florence.

I dont think you can do everything he says in 3 days.
Using his itinerary as a base, removing some stuff and adding other stuff, I would do this:

Saturday afternoon

• Renaissance Walk or quick trip to Pisa... I would go to Pisa

Sunday

• Accademia
• Museum of San Marco
• Climb the dome

Monday

• Bargello
• Duomo Museum
• Uffizi

Tuesday

• Santa Maria Novella
• Santa Croce
• San Miniato Church and Piazzale Michelangelo

Uffizi is closed Minday
Bargello is closed Tuesday

Updated because Uffizi is closed on Monday

Saturday afternoon

• Renaissance Walk or quick trip to Pisa... I would go to Pisa

Sunday

• Accademia
• Uffizi

Monday

• Bargello
• Duomo Museum
• Santa Croce
• Climb the dome

Tuesday

• Santa Maria Novella
• San Marco
• San Miniato Church and Piazzale Michelangelo

I would love to make a trip to Lucca, Siena or some other town nearby.
Do you think I can fit it in my plan, or should I focus on Florence?

Personally? I'd focus just on Florence. It offers a wealth of interesting/beautiful things to see IF one is interested in those things. As it's also a very busy place, it helps combat sightseeing fatigue if not having to scramble to fit the best of them into a limited amount of time!

We're all different so you might not skip some of the things we did, such as the Galileo Science Museum and climbing the duomo dome or bell tower, and might include others not on Rick's list, such as Santa Croce (among the illustrious buried here are: Michelangelo: painter Taddeo Gaddi: Galileo Galilei, his daughter and father; sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti of the famous "Gates of Paradise and his son, also a sculptor; composer Gioachino Rossini; Niccolo Machiavelli. The church has gorgeous windows.)

If it were me, I'd definitely replace the Pitti (Day 3) with the Uffizi. While an important historical site with a considerable collection, it's also a serious time gobbler. We've done it but had 5 versus 3 days to work with, and the Uffizi's art collection is the superior, if pressed for time. Replace the Uffizi on Day 2 with maybe your walk across Ponte Vecchio, self-guided Oltrarno tour, and Piazzale Michelangelo/San Miniato/Porte Sante cemetery: the views from up there are breathtaking.

Not sure how to rearrange this but you've got the duomo complex site split over two days: I'd try to do them all in one as they're virtually in the same place. Also, you currently have the duomo interior on your Day 1, which I believe is a Sunday? The church is closed for services on Sundays so you'll need to move or skip it; honestly, we found the exterior to be is more impressive than the interior. It's really impressive when lit up at night! https://duomo.firenze.it/en/home

Thank you all for your suggestions!

I agree that the itinerary is too packed... Also I'm still doing my research about the city, so I didn't even know that some of those places are museums! But I just want to buy tickets in advance.

Actually, I have realized that in the physical guide the itinerary (last edition) is a bit different and not so busy. For example, on day 1 is suggested to choose ONE visit among Santa Croce (not listed in the website), Medici Chapel, Palazzo Vechio, Medici-Riccardi Palaz, Pitti Palace and Brancacci Chapel.

So yes, definitely I’ll skip some of the visits and rearrange the itinerary taking into account the closing days. For museums, I’ll visit Uffizi and Accademia for sure, and maybe some other (San Marco looks nice). As for Uffizi and Accademi, is there much difference in terms of crowds between going on Sunday or on working day?

Pam, I arrive at 1:00 pm to Bologna airport, so yes, I could do the Renaissance walk that evening. I also thought about spending the afternoon in Bologna and then going to Florence, but I was said in another post that the center is a bit far from the station. What do you think?

San Marco is great; was a favorite of ours.
Your trip dates don't include a first Sunday of a month do they? Italian State Museums (not civic or private) are free on First Sundays but they're NOT the day you want to visit the biggies, like the Academia and Uffizi.