FLORENCE, ITALY: LUXURY TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE CRADLE OF THE RENAISSANCE
- Last updated: August 20, 2026
- Read Time: 33 min
Florence is the kind of city you plan to visit once and end up returning to.
I’ve been twice now, both times in June, and I’ll go again. Rome is magnificent in a way that almost demands your attention, the scale of it, the layered ruins, the sense that something monumental is around every corner. Florence works differently. It’s smaller, warmer, more romantic. You can walk from one side of the historic centre to the other in twenty-five minutes, and in that time pass Brunelleschi’s dome, the Arno, and three streets where artisans still work behind open doors.
*This page may contain affiliate links. When you click these links I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products and services that I have tried, trust and love. Thank you for your support.
Inside this guide
Florence Travel Tips
CURRENCY — The official currency in Italy is the Euro. Credit cards are accepted almost everywhere so you rarely need cash. Taxis, wine windows, small purchases might require cash, so it is wise to have some.
STAY CONNECTED — Wi-Fi is widely available throughout Italy. For seamless connectivity, I recommend purchasing an eSIM before your trip (AirAlo works perfectly in Florence).
BOOK YOUR MUSEUMS BEFORE YOU BOOK YOUR RESTAURANTS — This is the single thing that will change your trip. Brunelleschi’s Dome requires a timed reservation and cannot be walked up to. The Uffizi, the Accademia, and the Vasari Corridor all release tickets on a rolling basis and the good morning slots go first. In peak season, the free cathedral entry line alone runs one to two hours. Reserve everything the moment your dates are fixed.
UNDERSTAND THE ZTL — Most of central Florence is a “zona a traffico limitato”, a restricted traffic zone monitored by cameras. Unauthorised cars are fined automatically, often months later. If you’re arriving by private transfer, your driver will know the rules. If you’re renting a car for Tuscany, collect it on your way out of the city rather than driving it in.
Get to Florence
PLANE — Florence Airport, also called Amerigo Vespucci or Peretola, sits about 5 km northwest of the historic centre. It’s small, easy to move through, and served by carriers including ITA Airways, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, SWISS, British Airways, Iberia, and Vueling. Direct European routes connect Florence with Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, London, Zurich, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, and Brussels, plus domestic links from Rome and Milan. There are no direct flights from USA.
TRAIN — I recommend using the Trainline app to book all your train travel in Italy. I took a train from Rome, Italo, the private rail company. High-speed services run Rome to Florence in about 1h20, Milan in 1h40, Venice in around 2h, and Bologna in as little as 33 to 37 minutes. Both Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa and Italo serve these routes, and both arrive at Santa Maria Novella.
PRIVATE TRANSFER — For late flights, or onward travel into the Tuscan countryside, a pre-booked private transfer is worth the spend. Every hotel in the list below arranges them, and several — Palazzo Portinari Salviati among them — include an airport transfer with minimum-stay bookings. It’s also the right call if you’re heading straight to Fiesole or Chianti, where taxi availability thins out quickly.
When to visit Florence
Both of my trips were in June. It’s beautiful, with mild temperatures and fewer crowds than the weeks that follow.
SPRING (March to May) — The best light of the year, wisteria over the Bardini garden walls, and temperatures that make walking a pleasure rather than an endurance test. Easter week is busy.
SUMMER (June to August) — June is the sweet spot: long evenings, everything open, heat that hasn’t yet turned punishing. July and August bring peak crowds and temperatures well into the thirties, and some family-run trattorias close for two or three weeks in August.
FALL (September to November) — Harvest season, new olive oil, truffles on menus from October, and a city that exhales after summer. September still feels like summer without the queues; November turns quiet and grey but the museums are yours.
WINTER (December to February) — Low season runs November through March, which means lower rates, short lines, and Florence at its most Florentine. Days are cool and often crisp, the light is beautiful, and you can walk into the Uffizi on a Tuesday morning without a reservation made three weeks earlier.
How many days in Florence
Three days covers the essentials without rushing. Four to five lets you add a day trip and a slower afternoon, and a week gives you Florence plus a proper stretch of Tuscany.
I’ve visited Florence twice. I would love to go back, stay longer and have more day trips or continue my journey to Tuscany. Three days is genuinely enough to see the Duomo complex, the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Oltrarno, and Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset. What it doesn’t leave room for is the second, slower version of the city: mornings without an itinerary, an afternoon in Fiesole, a long lunch that turns into a long walk home.
How to get around Florence
WALKING — Every city is best experienced on foot, and Florence more than most. The historic centre is compact, largely pedestrianised, and flat. Bring shoes that handle cobblestones properly.
UBER — Available and reliable. Note that Uber operates as Uber Black in Italy rather than the standard consumer service, so expect a higher fare than you may be used to. Local taxis work well too and can be booked by app.
RENT A CAR — You don’t need a car. If you’re continuing to Tuscany, renting a car is advisable so you can have flexibility and explore all those charming towns. Collect it from a depot outside the ZTL on your departure day rather than parking it in the city. I use Discover Cars every time I need to rent a car in Europe.
Where to stay in Florence
Thirteen properties, each with the thing it does better than the others. Rates in Florence run high across the board, but the difference between a good stay and a great one here is usually location and scale rather than price alone.
- BEST FOR A GARDEN RETREAT INSIDE THE CITY: Four Seasons Hotel Firenze
- BEST FOR A ROMANTIC ESCAPE ABOVE THE CITY: Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel
- BEST FOR PONTE VECCHIO VIEWS: Portrait Firenze
- BEST FOR ART LOVERS: Hotel Lungarno
- BEST FOR STAYING INSIDE FLORENTINE HISTORY: Palazzo Portinari Salviati Residenza D'Epoca
- BEST FOR A PRIVATE-HOME FEEL: The Place Firenze
- BEST FOR LONGER STAYS: Palazzo Vecchietti
- BEST FOR DESIGN: Velona's Jungle Luxury Suites
- BEST FOR FULL-SERVICE: Tivoli Palazzo Gaddi Firenze
- BEST FOR A QUIETER BASE IN SANTA GROCE: The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564
- BEST FOR LOCATION: Corte Calzaiouli Elegant Suites
- BEST FOR SHOPPING: Hotel Milu
- BEST FOR A REVIER VIEW: 4F Boutique Hotel Florence
Renaissance palazzo hotel with a private historic garden. Set in the Palazzo della Gherardesca after a six-year restoration, this is the most complete luxury stay in Florence: frescoed rooms, a full spa, the city’s best hotel pool, and an eleven-acre walled garden that feels genuinely improbable a fifteen-minute walk from the Duomo. The Michelin-starred Il Palagio is on the ground floor and the Atrium Bar does one of the city’s best negronis.
Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel
15th-century former monastery with terraced gardens. Up in Fiesole, with a façade attributed to the school of Michelangelo and a view over Florence that reframes the whole trip. Reopened in 2026 after a full renovation, it now has a Guerlain Spa and the restaurant Antesi under chef Alessandro Cozzolino. The hillside pool and the wisteria-draped loggia are the reasons people come back.
All-suite riverside hotel with mid-century Italian design. Owned by the Ferragamo family’s Lungarno Collection and designed by Michele Bönan, the suites here start large and the river-view rooms look straight onto the Ponte Vecchio through floor-to-ceiling windows. The Lifestyle Team is the real differentiator, they get the reservations nobody else can. Caffè dell’Oro downstairs is excellent for an all-day lunch.
Riverside boutique hotel with a 20th-century private collection. More than 400 works hang throughout the hotel, including a Picasso above the lobby fireplace and four Cocteau drawings by the concierge desk. Blue-and-white nautical interiors, also by Bönan, and two of the best tables in Florence: the one-star Borgo San Jacopo and the Picteau Bistrot & Bar terrace over the Arno.
Palazzo Portinari Salviati Residenza D’Epoca
Restored 15th-century palazzo with frescoed suites. This was the home of Beatrice Portinari, Dante’s muse, and later the first Florentine residence of Cosimo I de’ Medici. Thirteen suites, original 1700s frescoes, terracotta floors, the Vita Nova spa, and the Michelin-starred Atto di Vito Mollica in the Corte degli Imperatori. Two minutes from the Duomo.
20-room townhouse hotel on a piazza. There is no reception desk. You’re handed your key in a dark-wood library and shown upstairs, and from that moment the illusion of being a house guest holds. Recently refreshed by architect Luigi Fragola, with a small rooftop terrace, The Kitchen & The Bar for modern Tuscan cooking, and a foundation supporting Florentine artisan workshops that guests can visit.
16th-century palace with residential suites and apartments. Fourteen individually named spaces, several with kitchenettes and two full apartments with living rooms and dressing rooms. Michele Bönan again on interiors, and a location steps from Piazza della Repubblica that somehow stays quiet. If you’re in Florence for a week rather than a weekend, this is the one.
Four-suite family-run design B&B. Named for the owner’s grandfather, an antiques dealer, and committed entirely to a jungle theme: animal prints, peacock wallpaper, generations of collected furniture. It holds a Michelin Key and it is the antidote to the sense that Florence’s luxury hotels are starting to look alike. Ten minutes from Santa Maria Novella station.
Aristocratic palazzo with a garden restaurant and rooftop. Eighty-six rooms on Via del Giglio, a minute from Piazza Santa Maria Novella and five from the Duomo. Larger and more conventional than the boutiques on this list, which is exactly the point if you want a proper concierge desk, a rooftop terrace for aperitivo, and an easy walk to your train.
The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564
16th-century palazzo with a hidden courtyard. Built in 1564, the year Michelangelo died and Galileo was born. A Small Luxury Hotels of the World member on a side street off Via di Mezzo, with hand-painted frescoes across the lobby ceilings, a rooftop terrace, and the 1564 Mixology Lounge Bar. Ten minutes to the Duomo and a world away from the crowds on it.
Corte Calzaiuoli Elegant Suites
It calls itself a B&B and undersells itself doing so. Set in the De’ Macci family palazzo on Via dei Calzaiuoli, halfway between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria, with soundproofed rooms, Frette linens, walk-in rain showers, and a breakfast that people write about. You cannot stay more centrally than this.
22-room boutique hotel with a rooftop terrace. On Via de’ Tornabuoni, which is to say in the middle of Florence’s fashion district, surrounded by the flagship boutiques. The rooftop looks across the terracotta roofs to the hills, and the Duomo, Uffizi, and Ponte Vecchio are all a short walk.
Fourth-floor townhouse hotel on the Arno. Fourteen rooms in an elegant residential building on Lungarno Vespucci, west of the busiest part of the centre, with saturated colours, graphic textures, and black-and-white stone bathrooms. The 360-degree panoramic terrace looks out over the hills with Brunelleschi’s dome in the background, and it’s the best-value sunset in this list.
Best things to do in Florence
The Duomo Complex
The cathedral, the dome, the bell tower, the baptistery, the museum, and the crypt are sold as three combined passes, all valid for three calendar days.
Brunelleschi Pass: everything, including the dome climb
Giotto Pass: everything except the dome
Ghiberti Pass: baptistery, museum, and crypt, no climbs
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore
The cathedral itself is free to enter, and the queue for it can run one to two hours in summer. Enter via the Santa Reparata crypt with a pass and skip it entirely.
Cupola (Brunelleschi’s Dome)
463 steps, no lift, a mandatory timed reservation, and the best view in Tuscany at the top. The stairway climbs between the dome’s inner and outer shells, passing Vasari’s Last Judgement frescoes at close range. Allow 60 to 90 minutes and book the earliest slot you can get.
Campanile di Giotto (Giotto’s Bell Tower)
414 steps and, unlike the dome, a view “of” the dome. If you only climb one, this is the better photograph.
Baptistery of San Giovanni
The oldest building in the complex, with a ceiling of golden mosaics that most visitors underestimate.
Opera del Duomo Museum
Twenty-eight rooms across three floors, holding Ghiberti’s original Gates of Paradise panels and Michelangelo’s Bandini Pietà. Deeply underrated and blessedly air-conditioned.
Cripta di Santa Reparata
The remains of the 4th-century church the cathedral was built over, reached by a short staircase inside the Duomo.
Museum and galleries
Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze
Michelangelo’s David, and the hall of unfinished Prisoners leading up to him, which are arguably more moving. Book a timed slot.
Uffizi Galleries
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Titian. Three hours minimum. The corridor windows over the Arno are worth slowing down for.
Vasari Corridor
Reopened at the end of 2024 after more than eight years of restoration. The Medici’s private elevated passage runs roughly a kilometre from the Uffizi, above the Ponte Vecchio, to the Pitti Palace. It requires its own ticket, sold combined with the Uffizi, and entry is timed. Book through the official Uffizi site.
Palazzo Pitti
The Medici’s residential palace, now several museums under one roof, and the gateway to the Boboli Gardens.
Palazzo Strozzi
Florence’s best contemporary and modern exhibitions, in a Renaissance courtyard.
Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels)
Michelangelo’s New Sacristy, and the marble tombs that show what he could do with architecture and sculpture at once.
Palaces, piazzas, and bridges
Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace)
Still Florence’s town hall. The Salone dei Cinquecento is astonishing, and the tower climb gives you the Duomo from a different angle.
Piazza della Signoria
Florence’s political heart and an open-air sculpture gallery, with the Loggia dei Lanzi at one end.
Piazza della Repubblica
The grand café square: Gilli, Paszkowski, the carousel, and a good place to sit at the end of a long walking day.
Ponte Vecchio
Best at dawn or after dinner. The goldsmiths’ shops have been there since the 16th century, when the Medici cleared out the butchers.
Basilica di Santa Croce
The burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, with frescoes by Giotto in the chapels.
Gardens and viewpoints
Piazzale Michelangelo
The postcard view. Go for sunset and stay past it.
Boboli Gardens
Sixteenth-century Medici gardens behind the Pitti Palace, terraced up the hillside with grottoes, fountains, and long cypress avenues.
Giardino Bardini
Smaller, quieter, and better than Boboli in April when the wisteria tunnel is in bloom. The terrace view over the city is the one people don’t expect.
Rose Garden (Giardino delle Rose)
Free, on the slope below Piazzale Michelangelo, with Jean-Michel Folon sculptures scattered among the roses and the same view without the crowd.
Florentine institutions
Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
The world’s oldest pharmacy, with roots to 1221 and open to the public since 1612. Frescoed rooms, Gothic cabinets, painted ceramic jars, and formulas still made to the Dominican friars’ recipes. The Acqua della Regina was blended for Catherine de’ Medici. Go even if you buy nothing.
Giunti Odeon
A 1920s art deco cinema reborn as a bookshop that still screens films. One of the loveliest interiors in Florence and a genuinely good place to spend an hour out of the heat.
Best experiences in Florence
Climb Brunelleschi’s Dome
at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
463 steps to the best view in Tuscany
See Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
at the Uffizi Gallery, ideally in the first hour after opening
Admire Michelangelo’s David
at the Galleria dell’Accademia
Order a glass through a buchetta del vino
the historic wine windows cut into palazzo walls
Vivoli famously served gelato through theirs
Where to eat and drink in Florence
Florence has nine Michelin-starred restaurants and several hundred trattorias, and the honest answer is that you want both. Book the starred rooms two to three months ahead in peak season and the famous trattorias two to four weeks out.
Fine dining in Florence
Enoteca Pinchiorri
Three Michelin stars, and the only three-star in Florence. Opened in 1972 by Annie Féolde and Giorgio Pinchiorri in a 17th-century palazzo on Via Ghibellina, with a frescoed dining room and a cellar of more than 80,000 bottles. Riccardo Monco cooks a French-inflected Italian menu that lets intense flavours carry the plate. Tasting menus start around €350 and the experience runs four to five hours.
Santa Elisabetta
Two Michelin stars, inside the Torre della Pagliazza, the oldest and only circular tower in Florence. Six tables, a Murano glass chandelier, and chef Rocco De Santis cooking imaginative Mediterranean food with a focus on fish and clear Campanian influences. Access is through the Brunelleschi hotel. The most atmospheric two-star room in Tuscany.
Borgo San Jacopo
One Michelin star, inside the five-star Hotel Lungarno in the Oltrarno. Two balcony tables sit directly over the Arno with the Ponte Vecchio in view, and they are the hardest reservation in the building. Claudio Mengoni’s meat and fish dishes are creative and precise with occasional Tuscan turns. Modern Italian, two tasting menus and à la carte.
Atto di Vito Mollica
One Michelin star, in the Corte degli Imperatori of Palazzo Portinari Salviati. Vito Mollica cooks a sea-leaning menu of unexpected combinations, served in a room frescoed with scenes from the Odyssey while a fountain runs in the background. The bread and the olive oil selection alone are worth the booking.
Il Palagio
One Michelin star, on the ground floor of the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze in the Palazzo della Gherardesca. Marble, Murano chandeliers, and Paolo Lavezzi’s cooking, which stays creative without becoming fussy. Two tasting menus plus à la carte. This is the Florence room for a milestone dinner.
Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura
One Michelin star, on Piazza della Signoria inside the Gucci building. Born from Bottura’s collaboration with chef Takahiko Kondo, the menu runs Italian with Tuscan references and Japanese accents. The tortellini in Parmesan cream is the signature. Book well ahead; the room is small and the location is the most famous square in the city.
Saporium Firenze
One Michelin star plus a Green star, the only restaurant in Florence holding both. Ariel Hagen splits his time between the open kitchen and the dining room, explaining dishes himself. Produce comes from the Borgo Santo Pietro farm and the sustainability commitment is real rather than decorative. Don’t skip the Caterina de’ Medici’s rose, a modern zuccotto.
La Leggenda dei Frati
Set inside the Villa Bardini museum complex, in the old stables of Stefano Bardini’s residence, with a summer terrace over the garden and one of the best panoramas in Florence. Filippo Saporito and Ombretta Giovannini cook contemporary Tuscan food rooted in the region. Contemporary Tuscan, tasting menus. Go for lunch and walk the gardens afterwards.
Ora d’Aria
A long-standing fine-dining address near the Uffizi, known for refined contemporary Italian cooking and a tasting-menu format. Smaller and more intimate than the hotel dining rooms on this list.
Osteria dell’Enoteca
In an old Oltrarno townhouse on Via Romana, with aged stone walls, arched ceilings, white tablecloths, and modern chairs. Seasonal Tuscan cooking with a serious wine list and one of the better steaks in the city. Refined without being formal, which is a difficult balance in Florence.
Cantinetta Antinori
The Antinori family’s own restaurant, on the ground floor of their Renaissance palace at the top of Via de’ Tornabuoni. The family has been making wine since 1385, and the menu is built to show it: Tuscan dishes, their own olive oil, their own labels. Small, elegant, and permanently full at lunch.
Trattorias and casual dining
Il Santo Bevitore
“The Holy Drinker,” open in the Oltrarno since 2002 and still the benchmark for Florence’s contemporary bistro scene. Candlelit, informal, and reliably excellent. Order the chicken liver terrine with Vin Santo and brioche.
Cibrèo Trattoria (Il Cibrèino)
The humbler sibling next door to the original Cibrèo restaurant, with craftsman furnishings and a blue-collar menu. Celebrated for seasonal dishes like the tomato budino and for family recipes nobody else still cooks. Bookings accepted and recommended in busy months.
Zeb
An acronym for Zuppe e Bollito, soups and boiled meats, though it goes well beyond both. Counter dining only, family-run, in San Niccolò. Stuffed pastas, shaved truffle, seasonal squash, and a wine list far better than the size of the room suggests.
La Giostra
A candlelit Santa Croce institution with a prix-fixe format, generous antipasti, and a long-standing reputation among visitors and Florentines alike. Book ahead; it fills.
Buca Lapi
In the cellar of the Palazzo Antinori on Via del Trebbio, with an open kitchen, travel posters on the vaulted walls, and one of the best charcoal-grilled bistecca alla fiorentina in Florence. Dinner only. Rustic in the most Tuscan sense of the word.
Il Latini
Communal long tables, a fixed-menu rhythm, and Tuscan meats done properly. Touristy on paper and still full of Florentines in practice. The pappa al pomodoro is the dish to order.
Da Burde
A culinary institution since 1901, out on Via Pistoiese beyond the centre. Run by the Gori brothers: Andrea is one of Italy’s best-known sommeliers, Paolo runs a kitchen dedicated to heavyweight Florentine cooking — peposo, cacciucco, baccalà alla livornese, bistecca. Worth the taxi, and mostly a lunch place.
Regina Bistecca
Set inside a 140-year-old antique bookshop thirty metres from the Duomo, with dark grey walls, a vaulted ceiling, and gilded frames. Opened in 2018 and built around the bistecca alla fiorentina. The most polished steakhouse in the centre.
Osteria Tripperia Il Magazzino
On Piazza della Passera, one of the prettiest small squares in the Oltrarno, and the only sit-down tripperia in Florence. Chef Luca Cai turns lampredotto into fried meatballs, ravioli with Tropea onion sauce, and tempura. Non-offal dishes available for the hesitant. This is where you eat the real Florentine kitchen.
Vini e Vecchi Sapori
A tiny osteria in an alley behind Piazza della Signoria, with peeling yellow walls, clashing artwork, and a sign declaring no pizza, no ice, no Wi-Fi, no cappuccino, no spritz. Traditional Tuscan plates, a lively owner, and around €15 for pasta. The paccheri with courgette flower and saffron is the famous one.
Trattoria Da Ruggero
Out past Porta Romana, twenty minutes from the Ponte Vecchio and worth the walk. Decor unchanged since the seventies, handwritten menus, and Sunday lunches full of Oltrarno locals. Order the farinata di cavolo nero, the spaghetti alla carrettiera, and the arista.
L’Ortone
On Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti by the Sant’Ambrogio market, on land that was once the garden plot of the nuns of Santa Verdiana. Stone walls, a wide-ranging menu, and modern Tuscan plates like potato and beet gnocchi with pecorino fondue.
Ristorante Il Guscio
In San Frediano since 1986, in a building that was once Florence’s oldest tripperia. A neighbourhood trattoria that has kept its identity while modernising, with warm ochre rooms, exposed beams, and a wine list with real depth including small niche producers.
Il Vecchio e il Mare
Named for the Hemingway novel, and split between Neapolitan-style pizza and seafood. Chef Mario Cipriano’s dough is the draw, and the fish dishes hold their own. Good for a night when nobody can agree on what to eat.
Pizzeria Giovanni Santarpia
On Via Senese, and the best pizza in Florence by most measures. Santarpia is Campanian and widely considered one of Italy’s finest pizzaioli, with a near-obsessive focus on dough and ingredient sourcing.
Worth the drive into Chianti
Two of the best tables on this list aren’t in Florence at all. Both sit in the Chianti countryside about forty-five minutes out, and both hold a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Pair either with a wine day.
Osteria Le Panzanelle
In Lucarelli, a hamlet of Radda in Chianti. A rural trattoria with a shaded garden, generous portions of regional cooking, homemade pici with garlic, and rabbit stuffed with spinach. Fresh Elba fish on Fridays. Book ahead.
Antica Trattoria La Toppa
In the medieval village of San Donato in Poggio. Two classic dining rooms, exceptional homemade pasta from young chef Matteo, and game dishes in season — the wild boar stew in particular. Finish with the caramel panna cotta.
Wine bars in Florence
Il Santino
The tiny wine bar next door to Il Santo Bevitore, standing room and excellent cheese.
Coquinarius
Near the Duomo, long wine list, famous pear and pecorino ravioli.
Casa del Vino
A century-old enoteca behind the Mercato Centrale, crostini and glasses at the counter.
Caffè dell’Oro
At Portrait Firenze, riverside, best at aperitivo hour.
Cantina de’ Pucci
Small, informal, in the Duomo quarter.
Babae
In the Oltrarno, and the wine window still opens at set hours in the evening.
Osteria Belle Donne
Traditional Tuscan food and one of the most photographed wine windows in Florence.
Osteria San Fiorenzo
Central, relaxed, good by-the-glass selection
Breakfast & brunch spots in Florence
Ditta Artigianale
Florence’s specialty coffee benchmark, several locations, proper flat whites.
Caffè Gilli
Founded in 1733, the oldest café in the city, on Piazza della Repubblica. Marble counters, pastry cases, and a very good negroni from mid-morning.
Caffè Concerto Paszkowski
On the same square since 1846, once the haunt of D’Annunzio and Montale.
Melaleuca Bakery + Bistrot
Riverside brunch and specialty coffee, popular and worth booking.
La Ménagère
An all-day space that is café, florist, restaurant, and cocktail bar at once, open 8am to 2am.
S.Forno
A restored old bakery in the Oltrarno, still baking.
Santarosa Bistrot
In a garden on the city walls by the Arno, good for a slow morning.
Shake Café
Juices, bowls, and the healthiest breakfast in the centre.
Galleria Iginio Massari
Pastry from Italy’s most decorated pastry chef.
Caffè Michelangelo
For a longer, later breakfast.
Picteau Bistrot & Bar
At Hotel Lungarno, for breakfast on the terrace over the Arno.
Gelaterias in Florence
Florence claims to be the birthplace of gelato, and Bernardo Buontalenti, the architect who built the Boboli grotto, is credited with the original recipe. The flavor named after him is the one to order first.
Vivoli
Florence’s oldest gelateria, open since 1929, near Santa Croce. Cups only, no cones. Best wild strawberry in the city, and a wine window they served gelato through during lockdown.
Gelateria Pasticceria Badiani
Founded 1932, and the shop that created the Buontalenti flavour for a competition honouring the architect. Still the best version of it.
Gelateria La Carraia
By the bridge it’s named after, in the Oltrarno. Rich creams, generous value, small cones.
Perchè No!
Serving since 1939, between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria. Delicate flavours: lavender, persimmon, honey and sesame.
Sbrino Gelatificio Contadino
Oltrarno, experimental, largely organic. Ricotta and fig, burnt caramel with sea salt, rosemary and lemon.
Gelateria della Passera
On the little square of the same name. Rosemary-honey is the signature.
Gelateria de’ Neri
Santa Croce, the most consistent across every flavor.
My Sugar
Near the Accademia, and the pistachio people queue for.
Cocktail bars in Florence
Manifattura
On Piazza San Pancrazio, and the first fully Made-in-Italy cocktail bar: Italian spirits only, fifties design, one of the best bars in Europe.
Locale Firenze
In a 16th-century palace, with cocktails as theatrical as the Renaissance interiors. Make a reservation.
Atrium Bar
At the Four Seasons, under head mixologist Edoardo Sandri, with a garden setting and a serious Negroni.
Winter Garden Bar
At The St. Regis Florence, under the arcades with live piano. Order the Brunello Bloody Mary.
Cosimo Rooftop Bar
Rooftop views over the centre at golden hour.
The Kitchen & The Bar
At The Place Firenze, and home to a Negroni masterclass.
Fede Cocktailab
Small, precise, and a favorite among Florence’s bartenders.
La Petite
Intimate, low-lit, good for a nightcap.
Must-try local treats in Florence
Bistecca alla fiorentina
A thick T-bone from Chianina cattle, grilled over charcoal, served rare, seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper, and olive oil. It is sold by weight and sized for two or three people.
Lampredotto
The fourth stomach of the cow, simmered and served in a bun with salsa verde. Florence’s great street food, sold from carts and eaten standing. Try it at Il Magazzino if you want the refined version first.
Schiacciata
A thin, salty Tuscan flatbread, split and filled with prosciutto, pecorino, truffle cream, or roasted vegetables. The best lunch in Florence costs about six euros.
Instagram spots in Florence
For detailed information, including exact Google coordinates to the best photo locations in Florence, you can check out my complete guide here.
Day trips from Florence
Pisa
Fifty minutes to an hour by regional train, running every fifteen to thirty minutes. Piazza dei Miracoli is genuinely extraordinary in person — the tower, the cathedral, and the baptistery on that improbable green lawn — and most people leave after an hour without seeing the rest of the city. Stay for lunch along the Arno and walk the Borgo Stretto arcades. Half a day is enough, which makes it easy to pair with Lucca.
Bologna
Thirty-three to thirty-seven minutes on the high-speed line, which makes it closer to Florence than some Florence suburbs. This is the food capital of Italy and it earns the title: tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in brodo, mortadella, and a market quarter that runs on food alone. The porticoes are a UNESCO World Heritage site and cover almost forty kilometres of the city. Go hungry and book lunch.
Lucca
Around 1h20 to 1h45 by regional train. Lucca is the most relaxed of the four: a walled Renaissance city with its ramparts fully intact and planted with trees, so you can cycle the four-kilometre circuit above the rooftops. Piazza dell’Anfiteatro follows the oval of a Roman amphitheatre, and the whole place moves at half the speed of Florence. This is the day trip for when you need the city to stop for a moment.
Siena
About 1h30 by regional train. The station sits at the bottom of the hill, but a series of escalators and moving walkways carries you almost to the old town. Piazza del Campo is the finest medieval square in Italy and the striped marble Duomo is, for many people, better than Florence’s. Siena is smaller, steeper, and more medieval, and it makes a good contrast to a Renaissance week.
Suggested itinerary for X days in Florence
What to pack for Florence
Florence dresses well and expects the same of you. Think linen, natural fabrics, and a palette that doesn’t fight the architecture: cream, ochre, olive, navy. In summer, breathable dresses and a light scarf or wrap for churches, since shoulders and knees must be covered to enter the Duomo, Santa Croce, and Santa Maria Novella. In spring and autumn, add a trench and a knit for evenings that turn cool once the sun drops. Winter needs a proper coat.
The one thing that matters more than anything else: shoes. The historic centre is cobblestone throughout and you will walk fifteen thousand steps without trying. Bring flats or block heels you have already broken in, and leave the stilettos for a restaurant you’re arriving at by taxi.
GOOGLE MAP PINS FOR FLORENCE
Destinations to visit after Florence
Tuscany
The obvious continuation, and the reason to rent a car on your way out of the city. Chianti’s wine roads, Val d’Orcia’s cypress hills, San Gimignano’s towers, and Montepulciano’s cellars are all within two hours of Florence. Give it four days minimum.
Milan
One hour and forty minutes by high-speed train, and a complete change of register: fashion, design, aperitivo culture, and the Duomo’s rooftop. Milan rewards the traveller who treats it as a design city rather than a sightseeing one.
Ninety minutes by Frecciarossa or Italo, and the natural pairing with Florence. Bigger, louder, and layered with three thousand years of building on top of building. My complete Rome, Italy: Luxury Travel Guide to the Eternal City covers where to stay, eat, and photograph it properly.
Around two hours by train. Nowhere else looks or moves like it, and it is best in shoulder season when the day-trippers thin out. Stay two nights minimum so you get the city in the early morning, which is when it’s yours. Read my Venice Luxury Travel Guide.
Paris
A short flight from Florence, and the classic second half of a European trip. Different rhythm, same appetite for beautiful streets and long lunches.
Other destinations to visit in Italy
Cinque Terre
Five villages stacked into the Ligurian cliffs, reachable from Florence in about two and a half hours by train via Pisa or La Spezia. Best as an overnight rather than a day trip, and best in May, June, or September.
Lake Como
Calm, cinematic, and completely unforgettable. Around three and a half hours by train via Milan. Base yourself in Bellagio, Como, or Menaggio and see Varenna, Lecco, and Nesso by private boat.
hey there
I'm Maja Kamali
CEO, frequent flyer, self-taught photographer, and luxury travel content creator.
Blog Categories
Travel beautifully.
GET THE UPDATES.
My seasonal sensations
I’ve curated a special selection of some of my favorite products.
