Questions for planning a trip to Florence

You will be able to get a very reasonable train ticket between Venice and Florence if you buy that ticket early. That locks you in to a specific date and time, but that will not be a problem since you will want to spend a few days in Venice at the beginning of the trip. Buying a train ticket to use on your first day is a bit dicey, because you're not sure your flight will arrive on time.

The train between Venice and Florence takes as little as 2 hr. 5 min.

You can take a look at fares (though not yet for next fall) now, to get an idea. Use the Trenitalia website. You'll need to use the Italian city and station names, so it's Venezia S. Lucia and Firenze S. M. Novella. I see fares as low as 19.90 euros for April 2. By comparison, one early train for tomorrow is priced at over 50 euros.

I'd want to avoid flying back home from Venice, though. Try to pick a departure city closer to Florence, and one where you're less likely to have a terribly early departure time. Some flights out of Venice are so early that travelers find they have to pay for expensive private transportation to the airport. If you have to spend something like 100 euros getting to the airport, a cheap flight suddenly isn't so cheap. And who wants to wake up at 3 AM, anyway?

Check flights into and out of Pisa as well as to/from Bologna and Milan. Then try Venice/Florence, Venice/Pisa, Venice/Bologna and Venice/Milan. See what looks like it will be an affordable combination. Depending on the time and city of your departure, you may need to spend the last night somewhere other than Florence. You don't want to risk a problem getting to the airport due to a train malfunction (or a strike).

If you do end up beginning your trip in Venice, will you still want to go to the Tuscan coast? Venice is pretty much all water.

I enjoyed a day-trip to Lucca, which is much less tourist-thronged than Florence, but I haven't been to Florence in ages, so I'll let others offer suggestions about good day trips.

1. Fly into Florence only if you see that the price is not that much more than if you flew into Rome or Milan. I say Rome and Milan because these are the only cities that have direct flights from ports in the USA. You do not want to have to deal with a lot of connecting flights. Consider there is a train service from Rome airport direct to Florence.
2. You can go to Siena from Florence on public transportation
3. You could go to one of the coastal towns along the Cinque Terre from Florence.

Florence is amazing, you will love it. I've only been once (so far!) and stayed 4 days. So, my knowledge is limited but here's my opinion. Others will have a lot more info, I'm sure.
1. We flew into Rome, stayed a few days there, then took the train to Florence. I say fly into either MIlan, Venice or Rome and take a fast train to Florence. If you are able to stay a few days before going to Florence, then choose the city that you want to visit the most. Regarding Bologna, I haven't been, but my daughter and sister-in-law really liked it.
2. The only hill towns I visited was Siena and San Gimignano, on a group tour day trip from Florence. I really enjoyed both places, but liked Siena better. Others will have good info on lesser-known hill towns.
3. I haven't been to coastal towns near Florence, so will leave that for others to answer.
4. No favorite coffee bar, but if you want a small break from the Italian food, there's a great little place that has yummy & cheap Mediterranean wraps - we ate there 3 or 4 times for lunch: Istanbul Doner Kebab in the Santa Croce area.
5. The Rick Steves guidebook has info about a roof-top cafe in a department store that has a fantastic close view of the Duomo. Not sure of the name, but you can check the book. One of my favorite memories of my trip!

I understand everyone has limits on time and money, but try to add a few more days to your trip, especially if you want to stay in your initial destination city for a couple of days before heading to Florence. You won't regret it! Good luck on your planning. :)

The Cinque Terre is a very long day-trip from Florence, but at least on weekdays (I didn't check Sat/Sun) there is a 7:38 AM departure from Campo di Marte station that takes just under 2 hours. It has a major Freccia-train segment, the price of which would be lower if purchased well in advance. For the return, the fastest option departs Vernazza at 7:24 PM and takes 2 hr. 16 minutes; again, that's part Freccia so the fare tends to increase as you get closer to your departure date. You'll need to pay attention to the schedule; otherwise, you may end up on a train that takes 3 hours, 4 hours or even longer, each way.

Thank you all so much! This is all incredibly helpful. And acraven, yes, I do think I'll have my fill of water if I end up starting the trip in Venice. :)

2.Does anybody have suggestions for lesser-known hill towns that are easily accessible by public transport? Or well-known hill towns, for that matter?

You could go to San Gimignano/Volterra, but that will take some transfers from train to bus or bus to bus.

You could also take a direct bus to Greve and Radda. We stayed right outside Greve. We had a car, but based on advice from our agriturismo, we took the bus to Florence. It was easy and inexpensive. It took 45 minutes.

Greve is a charming little town and worth a visit. However, it is not a hill town. Radda is a charming little hill town surrounded by a wall. Visiting the two would take you down the heart of Chianti. I would take some coordination to make sure you got the right buses. I tried to check about service to Radda. I know there are several buses to and from Greve.

Volterra is a bigger hill town and you could spend a day there, but the getting there and back will take longer.

You may want to check into going on a wine tour or hiring a driver for the day. This will be more expensive. I think it boils down to how adventurous you want to be.

Hilltowns rarely have train service for obvious reasons and little known hilltowns particularly not. Siena which is amazing has great train service although IMHO bus is the better choice as it takes you right to the center. Buses run every 20 minutes to half an hour all day till fairly late. The Cathedral, the Torre Mangia, the Campo and just strolling in some of the close in neighborhoods make for a lovely day trip. There are a few others easily reached but Siena is definitely the best.

Italians make really good coffee and you will get good coffee in any cafe. Sitting at a table in the town square will be MUCH more expensive than a place off the beaten path a bit. This is not 'little known'; in fact it is IMHO arguably the best thing in Florence, but it is a bit out of the way i.e. the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine. This little painted chapel is considered to be where the Renaissance began with Massacio's frescoes. Another little gem that is bit less visited is San Marco and old Monestery where Savanarola was head and where Fra Angelica painted frescoes for devotion in each of the monk's cells.

With so little time consider a round trip into Rome; it is only 90 minutes by train from there to Florence and you could head back 3 days early and see a bit of Rome. Venice is wonderful and if you can easily fly into there spend a few nights there.

Fall is prime tourist season in Europe as the weather is much nicer in Italy in September and October than in the summer so people who are not driven by the school calendar often travel then. I would not expect it to be much less crowded and it won't be cheaper then.

Thank you both, Doug and Janet! All very helpful suggestions. I will definitely look into bus service then if I decide to head out on a day trip; I was so focused on figuring out the trains that I didn't think much about buses. I'm glad I posted here, I'm getting a lot of ideas and it's great to get tips on the logistics from those who've been there. I'll look into flying into/out of Rome also -- I didn't realize it was such a quick trip from Rome to Florence.

As for crowds -- I was thinking of planning this for late fall, like mid to late November. Is that still going to be very crowded, do you think? I figured it would be busy no matter what time of year, but I was hoping to not be there during the worst of it. I liked the idea of going in the fall but weather isn't a concern for me, so I can be flexible on that. As far as cheaper prices go, I should've specified that I meant the price of the plane ticket -- all the research I've done so far seems to show that flights are a whole lot cheaper later in the fall than earlier.

Megbee--I would say as long as you're going to Florence in the fall and you want to avoid tourists if possible, let me say that you'll never avoid tourism there (it's so concentrated), but if you travel in November and maximize weekdays (i.e. only one weekend), you'll do fine.

Depending on where in the States you're coming from and what international airline you prefer, it's going to be one change/layover for sure. FYI I'm partial to Lufthansa and the efficient connections in Frankfurt or Munich. Although it's easier to fly into Florence, arriving in Milan or Venice--both within 2 hours by train--is easy as well.

I would recommend one base for the 7+ nights, and that would be in Florence within walking distance of Santa Maria Novella train station. The good thing is that almost everything in central Florence north of the Arno River is fairly close to S.M.N. If you're adventurous, consider an apartment through AirBnB or VRBO. We did in March 2015 and really enjoyed it. Otherwise a hotel or B&B is just fine.

Day trips? None, some, many. I'd only plan a couple and see how you feel on the spur of the moment for the rest. I've posted that for our apartment stay we had plans to take the train to Fiesole (bus), Lucca and Siena (bus preferable to train) on separate days, but opted for just hanging out at the markets in Florence and walking around instead. Missed opportunities I guess, but so much gained by just 'being' and observing.

Enjoy your planning!

I am not very much into coastal towns - suffice to say that relatives have an apartment in Viareggio, I could spend time there free of charge and I never do - but at the end of September I had a very pleasant morning walking the passeggiata along the shore in Viareggio and having lunch there. Probably more pleasant that doing the same in high season. Viareggio is the easiest coast town to reach, either by train or by car.

4.) Coffee bar - If you are staying in one of the less tourist heavy areas (Oltrarno, Santa Croce, etc.) look for cafe's in the immediate vicinity . By that I mean make the neighborhood your own, if only for a little while. It may seem kind of silly but we always enjoyed frequenting the places in 'our' neighborhood.

5.) As for less frequented areas, you'd be surprised how quickly the crowds thin out once you get away from the 'big ticket' sites. A great many people are day-trippers only interested in seeing a few top sights. We found it best to go to one the most popular sights in the morning, then amble off to see the host of fabulous places that are much less crowded. Even a majorly awesome location like the Bargello will have very modest crowd versus the mob waiting in line at the Uffizi. Item in country is you friend.

1. Flights to FLR are particularly expensive this year (in the past the difference wasn't as much). If you decide on Venice, spend 3 nights if you can, or at least 2 at the very minimum. Bologna is close enough that you can go down to Florence right away. Then if you fly out of BLQ, consider going there early the day before and spend a day there (and the night before flying out). If you don't fly out of BLQ, then stop in the city for at least an afternoon and go to Florence later in the evening, or spend one night before going to Florence the next morning.
2. All towns are accessible by public transport from Florence. What changes is the time it takes. Pistoia, Arezzo, Siena, Lucca, are the easiest to reach in 30 to 1h20 min.
3. Viareggio is easily reachable from Florence via train. Also big enough to offer something to do in the fall. Quercianella and Castiglioncello are probably prettier, but they are smaller and in the Fall not much to do (all are reachable by train).
4. There is at least one every corner. Rivoire on Piazza della Signoria is one of the most famous. Giubbe Rosse, Gilli, Pawskoski (Piazza Repubblica) are all famous too.
5. San Frediano, Santo Spirito, and San Niccolò (the 3 districts on the Oltrarno, or south of the river) offer a glimpse of Florence before mass tourism. However they've been "discovered" too in the past decades. But they are still better than the north bank.
6. With English books? Probably Feltrinelli has the most. San Gallo and Paperback exchange also. Check here: http://inflorence.me/en/infopoint_categorie/education/foreign-language-bookshops/

If you are looking for a good place for lunch or dinner in Florence, I highly recommend the Golden View restaurant. It is right next to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. Reservations are needed for dinner unless you go around 6:00 or 6:30 pm. The view is amazing, especially at sunset.

You may want to look at Home in Florence B&B for lodging. I stayed there a few years agi and it was just fine and very reasonable. It is across the Arno but an easy walk to the major sites. It was comfortable and very quiet.

Hi Megbee,

Congrats on prioritizing a trip to your dream city of Florence! I visited Florence for the first time earlier this year, and I'm currently planning a return trip for late February next year. Clearly, the city sinks its talons deeply into our travel souls!

You raise several excellent questions. Thoughts and recommendations below:

1. Sign up for Scott's Cheap Flights. If you live in a non-gateway city (Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, LA, etc.), go ahead and pay for the premier membership (it's only $40 a year and 1 flight purchased will save you at least 5 times that). I snapped up a $487 ticket to Rome for late February 2018 several months ago, and Rome consistently shows up in the Scott's sales. Save on the flight costs so you can put more $$ into your travel experience!

2. Coastal towns in Italy... You might consider saving this experience for a different trip at different time of year. Many coastal towns (think Cinque Terre) are primarily open during high season.

3. Not a favorite coffee bar, but definitely a favorite restaurant experience... Go to Zeb on Via San Miniato in the Oltrarno district of Florence. Amazing food, delightfully low-key and cool, and the chef who is the owner will take great care of you. Order the peposo and you won't be disappointed. Big happy sigh at the memory...

4. Wander through the Oltrarno district. This area is the historic artisan district where centuries of craftsman have lived and plied their trade in a multitude of specialties. The church of Santo Spirito is one of only 2 Renaissance era churches built in Florence, and they have one of Michelangelo's earliest works in the sacristy. The shops are a fascinating mish-mash of old school and modern. Giulia Materia's shop is great fun as she comes up with some fun and funky designs (even gets mentioned in Rick's Florence guidebook!). My favorite shop has to be Il Torchio where the owner Erin makes some of the coolest and most original book bindings (bicycle tire remnants as a cover!). It's a fascinating area to get lost in, and the crowds are only noticeable around Palazzo Pitti.

5. YES! Definitely a fellow book lover, and I'm looking forward to finding some bookshops in Florence when I go back. I ran across an article about the Todo Modo bookshop in one of Georgette Jupe's recent blog posts on her site Girl in Florence (http://girlinflorence.com/2017/11/03/interview-with-a-bookshop-todo-modo-in-florence/). I highly recommend checking out her site as she has impeccable taste and tons of fun ideas!

Best wishes and happy planning!
Joanna

Thanks for starting this post-I've gotten several ideas for whenever I go back to Italy. Florence is my #1 favorite place in Europe. Every time we go to Italy(3 times so far), we stay longer in Florence than we did on the previous trip. We have only done a one day bus tour to San Gimagnano ( I know I spelled it wrong) and Siena-no hill towns. SG wasn't as interesting as I expected but Siena exceeded my expectations and the Library at the Cathedral is not to be missed. And if you love art and fly out of Rome, you should allow yourself at least a morning there to see the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. The San Marco Museum in Florence is one of my favorites that might not be on your list-you see the frescoes in situ in the monastery cells they were painted for. I'm an outlier, but not a fan of Venice-we went there on our first trip and have never returned.

As for crowds -- I was thinking of planning this for late fall, like mid to late November. Is that still going to be very crowded, do you think? I figured it would be busy no matter what time of year, but I was hoping to not be there during the worst of it. I liked the idea of going in the fall but weather isn't a concern for me, so I can be flexible on that.

I'm thinking the crowds won't be bad then. We went in mid December. We were the only guests the entire week (except for one night) at our agriturismo and they spoiled us!

I highly recommend Walks of Italy at the beginning of your stay for orientation. We took the morning walking tour, which includes tickets for the Academie. The tour starts 30 minutes before it opens and you head right to there. We skipped the line and at the beginning had the museum practically to ourselves. We spent an hour or so there and by the time we left, it was starting to get busy.

That afternoon we took the tour of the Uffizi. Marco was our guide and there were only six of us on the tour. Again, we skipped the line and walked right in. Marco has a graduate degree in Italian history and the information he provided on both tours was extensive and fascinating!

The hill towns of Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra, Greve and Radda were not busy. I think we were the only tourists in Radda the morning we visited. We had the church there all to ourselves.

You're going to have a wonderful time! Florence holds a special place in our hearts. My wife and I went on a junior high trip to Europe. One week into the trip we had become an item. It was in Florence where we shared our first kiss! We've been going steady since then.

Wow, thank you all so much for all the info! I'll be taking notes for sure. This is getting me even more excited even though I'm still in process of saving up the money to go. And Doug, that's such a beautiful story, I'm so glad you and your wife have been able to go back. :)

Roberto da Firenze and jrench793, thank you very much for the bookstore recommendations especially! I have been studying Italian on my own for a while, but can only read simpler things like news articles (and still need some help with that). It did occur to me that it might be helpful for my studies to get an Italian language version of a book I know in English while I'm there, if possible.

It does sound like flying into/out of Rome might be cheapest, but I think it makes me a little more nervous just because I had never even considered the option or really looked into it. Rome seems more intimidating than Bologna or Venice. I'll just have to do my research! And will definitely look into Scott's Cheap Flights, that does sound like it'd be worth it.

This thread has given me so many ideas and I think I'll definitely look more into Siena and Viareggio in particular. Maybe I can play it by ear to some extent -- I do want to have time to just enjoy being in Florence and getting to know its character. :) jeff-henion, I love the idea of making the neighborhood feel like your own, even if it's temporarily so.

Oh, and I am loving the restaurant recommendations, thank you! Really appreciate everyone's generosity in offering their tips and suggestions.

For your flights: Your profile indicates New Jersey, but you don't say if you're closer to Newark or Philadelphia airports, or can use either one.

In November from Newark, you can fly nonstop to Rome on Norwegian or United. You can fly nonstop to Milan on United. In November from Philadelphia, you can fly nonstop to Rome on American. (United has high season service from Newark to Venice, and American has high season service from Philadelphia to Venice, but these nonstop flights do not operate in November).

Any other Italian destinations will require a change somewhere in Europe. To find flight options, I like Kayak, or you can check Skyscanner, Google Flights, or Matrix ITA - as well as the airline websites directly.

If you want to go to Florence only on this trip, Florence is the easiest airport to arrive at. Bologna and Pisa are also close; Rome is farther, but doesn't take too long to get to thanks to high speed rail connections. Milan takes longer, and Venice longer still. However, all of these can work, particularly if you get a very cheap airfare and/or want to spend some time in one of these cities on the way in or out.

When checking prices, remember that if you don't arrive in Florence, you have to add the time and money it takes to get from your arrival airport to Florence. Since how long it takes to get through an airport on arrival can never be predicted, I agree with the usual advice not to pre-book advance discount tickets for the day of arrival. That means you'll be buying full priced train tickets from, say, Rome airport to Florence.

Since you seem concerned about getting from the airport to the Florence, here's what's involved:

From Florence airport you take a bus or taxi right to the city. The airport is very close to the center of Florence, so this is fast as well as easy.
From Pisa airport you can take a direct bus to Florence, or the People Mover from the airport to Pisa Centrale station and then a train.
From Bologna airport, there's a direct bus to Florence, or you can take a bus to Bologna Centrale station and then a train to Florence.
From Rome Fiumicino airport, you would take a train to Roma Termini Station, then another train from Termini to Florence.
From Milan Malpensa airport you would take a train to Milano Centrale Station, then a train from Centrale to Florence.
From Venice airport, you would take a bus to Venezia Mestre Station and then a train to Florence.

To find prices for the various trains, look on Trenitalia http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en. You need to use the station names in Italian (Florence's is Firenze S. M. Novella; I gave you the other names above). You are interested in the "Base" price, which is what you'll pay buying a ticket on the day of travel. Fares don't go above Base prices, and you'll see they're not exorbitant. For instance, from Fiumicino Aeropuerto to Firenze S. M. Novella the base price, all in, is €61; the total time is 2.5 hours including the connection.

Whether you prefer a nonstop flight followed by train rides, or a stopover flight that gets you closer to your destination (meaning an easier and shorter land trip for the final section to your hotel), is up to you. That preference should figure into your decision, as should the cost - take all factors into account before booking a ticket, since it's non-refundable.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this info, Harold. It's immensely helpful to be able to easily compare the travel necessary from each of those airports and I really appreciate you outlining this for me so clearly. I am on a budget so it may be difficult to fly directly into Florence, but I do still really want to be sure I make the best use of the time I've got. I'll definitely be giving this a lot of thought before I make any purchases. And I am actually closer to Newark, but we've made the drive to fly out of Philly before.

I lived in Florence for a short while. I'd highly recommend getting on the #7 bus and heading up the hill to the town of Fiesole. It's charming, you could even make it a half-day trip. Incredible views of Florence, walkable streets filled with local shops and residents, and very casual quaint places for lunch. In my opinion, a must-do!

Thank you, Amy! I looked up a bit about Fiesole and it looks wonderful. :)

megbee,
I will add my 2 cents. My first trip to Italy in 2008 I flew from Holland to Pisa. I took the train from Pisa to Florence and then to Rome several days later. A small town like Pisa is doable. You may find though, that, although Rome seems intimidating as it's a bigger city, transportation can be more straightforward. Just food for though there. I stayed in a hostel across the river when I was there alone. It took me several hours to find, but was a great place to base myself. When I took my mom to Italy 4 years ago, we flew into Milan and took the train to Florence. We both really enjoyed our stay at a hostel that was a converted convent. Partly because of the history, partly because they served food, so we got more interaction with people, and partly because it was out of the way, so we got to explore the non-touristy Florence as well. I could easily stay a week just in Florence wandering around. For me, it's an enjoyable city to get lost in and explore.
On train travel: a few people have stated that train service can get funky. They're not wrong. Strikes happen, trains will stop for hours on end on the track, etc. If you don't have a plane to catch, it can be a fun adventure. If you do, it's stressful. ;) Because of that, I purposely booked our tickets to and from Milan on the train the day after we flew into Milan and the day before we were supposed to fly out. So, like others, I would suggest getting to your departure city at least a day ahead to explore, rest, repack and enjoy what Italy has to offer!

A very belated thank you! I do want to be able to just enjoy getting lost and explore Florence. And as for Rome, it does seem to make more sense the more I think about it... Straightforward transportation and it seems like there are especially good airfares to Rome (I saw $350 RT recently and I'm dying here because I'm not ready to book yet, haha. I've got to stop looking). I will absolutely keep that in mind about the trains -- sounds like getting there a day ahead would do wonders for my peace of mind. :) Also, when you say you stayed at a hostel across the river, do you mean the Trastevere area?

You may want to consider the total travel time, total cost and ease of travel from your home to Florence. The extra cost to fly directly to Florence may be worth the convenience of landing there and needing only local transit to the city center. If you try to save on travel costs by flying into another city then going immediately to Florence, a significant flight delay may require an unplanned overnight stay in your city of arrival.

I've been to both Venice and Rome. If I were going to spend time in one city or the other before (or after) going to Florence, I'd choose Rome. It will be warmer and there Is more to see. Another factor to consider for Venice: how high is the water expected to be during your planned visit? There are charts available on line to help you know if you will be walking on raised walkways or need rubber boots in Venice.

Remember the later in November you go, the fewer daylight hours you will have during your trip.