Free day in Florence

We did day trips with WalkAboutFlorence -- we did 2 - their Best of Tuscany tour (You visit 3 Tuscan Towns - Siena, San G., Pisa and have a great lunch) & their Chianti Wine and Food Safari Tour - both excellent. You can see photos and read reviews on TripAdvisor, but best to book directly on the WalkAboutFlorence website.

The other days are booked with tours. I was thinking of a day trip somewhere.

How many nights will you be in Florence?
Are the booked tours in Florence, or elsewhere?

If you think you’ll have seen everything you want to see in Florence during your stay, and have an extra day for a day trip, consider going to Siena via bus.

Lucca & Pisa are also easily reached by train.

You can check train schedules here:
trenitalia.com

You may want to get the trenitalia app and book your tickets 1-2 days prior to your day trip.

You will need the Italian names of the desired train stations when booking your tickets.
- Florence = Firenze S.M. Novella
- Pisa = Pisa Centrale
- Lucca = Lucca

Don’t forget to validate (check-in)
your train tickets prior to boarding the train, to avoid an expensive fine!

Enjoy your trip!

Following this thread as my family and I are arriving to Florence today for 3 nights. I wonder if it’s worth it to buy day or multi day passes for the city bus. Also, any thoughts for recommended half day trips inclusive of air conditioned transportation and breaks in air conditioning? Art and wine are not of interest to my crew, unfortunately.

Hi there, vsinayuk -
A friendly suggestion? It's always best to start a NEW thread with questions about your own trip versus piggyback on someone else's. As your situation is different than the OP's, they may not want to be getting notices on responses that don't apply to them. As well, people who might be best able to answer questions specific to YOUR trip might not see them if they're buried in an unrelated thread. Make sense? :O)

Regarding city transport, the historic center of Florence, where you'll likely be spending all of your time, is surprisingly compact (we thought) and the best way to experience it is on foot: the buses can't go into all of its interesting corners! We didn't feel the need for transport even once during our 5 days. As you were interested in climbing the dome at the duomo, I'll assume no one in your group has any mobility issues.

It's an easy train ride to Pisa from Florence. If you father has not seen Pisa, you might consider taking him there. Although the Florence train station is large, it is quite easy to find your train. Siena or Bologna are easy train rides too.

I guess you are getting back to Italy despite saying in previous posts (2018) that would be your only trip. I vote for Pisa.

Hi there, vsinayuk - A friendly suggestion? It's always best to start
a NEW thread with questions about your own trip versus piggyback on
someone else's. As your situation is different than the OP's, they may
not want to be getting notices on responses that don't apply to them.
As well, people who might be best able to answer questions specific to
YOUR trip might not see them if they're buried in an unrelated thread.
Make sense? :O)

Regarding city transport, the historic center of Florence, where
you'll likely be spending all of your time, is surprisingly compact
(we thought) and the best way to experience it is on foot: the buses
can't go into all of its interesting corners! We didn't feel the need
for transport even once during our 5 days. As you were interested in
climbing the dome at the duomo, I'll assume no one in your group has
any mobility issues. And speaking of adventure and excitement, if you're looking for something fun to do in the evenings after a day of exploring, why not try your luck with a bit of sports betting on Betbazar? It could add an extra thrill to your trip.

Thanks for the tip! Just to clarify, do you think it’s better to stay within the historic center to minimize the need for transport, or is staying a bit outside still manageable?

This is a hard question because there are a LOT of options! What is he interested in? Where else have you been on your trip?

Pisa is easy, as mentioned above. Some people combine this with Lucca as well.

There are also easy bus options, which you could take to somewhere like Siena or San Gimignano. Or a close by trip up the hill to Fiesole. Those would be more hilly options, not sure if mobility is a concern.

You could also take the train to somewhere like Bologna and do a food tour, explore the markets, etc.