Towns outside Florence

Florence is not comparable to Paris. I don't think your plan is necessary. But Florence can easily be walked from its train station. I'd stay in Florence. You want to be at the main attractions when they open or when your pre-bought ticket says to be there.

No, that doesn't make any sense. Florence is walking town and it is about a tenth the size of Paris it not smaller.

I agree with others but if u wish a suggestion anyway consider Fiesole. It overlooks Florence and a bus makes it convenient.

Another vote for Fiesole if you really don't want to lodge in Florence.

Transportation to/from city center is not very quick, staying in the center makes sense. If you really want to stay outside the center, places in hilly zones (Fiesole, Galluzzo that is still within city limits and Tavarnuzze) are much more pleasant than places in the plain (Sesto, Scandicci).

We really, really liked the small town of Pistoia, a 35 minute train ride from Florence. Too far? But very untouristed and I imagine there is some place to park a car somewhere outside of the historic center. Pistoia has at least six nice medieval/Renaissance churches, chapels, bell tower, baptistery, etc.

But I would stay in Florence, perhaps just inside the medieval walls so that you can park your car outside the restricted zones. Many nice apartments to rent in Florence.

we had a car, and so we stayed in fiesole, it was a great option. very nice little hill town. great views over florence, and so easy to catch the local bus right to the centre of florence ( just like the locals etc) the bus leaves from the town square and only took about 20 min
the town has a small museum/ruins etc. a number of restaurants. for us it was perfect.
hope this helps.

I would stay in the city center.
If you must have a car, find a hotel with parking arrangements. The Hotel David and Villa Liberty have parking arrangements, and are located near piazza Ferrucci, very close to the city center. Villa Liberty has bikes too.

The places mentioned in or just outside Florence have no train service but do have good Ataf bus service - Piazza Ferrucci (about 10 minutes), Fiesole and Galluzzo (about 20 minutes) and Travarnuzze (about 30 minutes). If you decide on one of those locations, look to see whether daily or weekly bus passes would make sense. Break-even is about 2 round trips per day.

Thanks for the great advice everyone. Sounds like it would be more to our liking to stay in Fiesole and just take the bus into Florence.

i'd stay in town - less chances of the crooks that hang out at the train station to bother you!!!

To me the big difference is in Paris, no one location is really close walking distance to all of the sites.
So even the most central location in Paris / best hotel requires at some point transportation to reach some major site.
Therefore an outside of the city location with easy access to public transit to get to the different parts of the city easily makes some sense logistically.

In Florence this is just not the case, all of the major sites are concentrated to a small, easily walked area in the center so staying outside of the city would provide no advantage at all.
There is also no subway in Florence so you would be reliant on less frequent buses or trains depending on where you stay.

Some places in Florence just over the river Arno over free parking and are outside of an ZTL zones if the parking issue is your main concern.

Hi, it's been quite awhile since I've been on the travel forum.

We were in Florence in May of 2016 and loved it as well as Venice and Rome. We are thinking of maybe going back next year. We never made it to Fiesole and thought we might go if we decide to return. I believe there is a city bus you can take there. Is it convenient to get to? We will probably stay at the same hotel which is a short walk from the train.

Any suggestions and advice? Thanks.