Florence Things to Do

Guided tours are excellent ways to get acquainted with a new destination when you first arrive. There are hop on/hop off bus tours, walking tours, and bicycle tours. Cities on water often have boat tours. But some cities lend themselves well to yet another kind of transportation – the Segway. Florence is just such a city, with a compact and flat enough historic center to make a Segway tour a good option for getting to know the city.

Parents who love to travel know the value in exposing their kids to the world’s wonders – but sometimes making Renaissance art interesting to children isn’t an easy task. Italy is a very child-friendly country in which to travel, however, and bringing your kids to Florence can be as much of an education for you as it is for them.

If you’re familiar with any of the churches in Florence, it’s likely that you’ve seen the Duomo – that famous facade with its layers of multi-colored marble is pretty easy to remember. It’s a completely different church, however, in which you’ll find the tombs of many of Florence’s famous sons – the Basilica of Santa Croce.

While some cities have clear high and low seasons, others are popular pretty much year-round. Florence, as you might expect, falls into the latter category. Partly because the differences aren’t as stark between Florence at its busiest and Florence at its quietest, there’s really no wrong time of year to visit the Tuscan capital. Still, if you’re looking for some insight to help with your trip planning, here are some tips on what to expect throughout the year so you’ll have a better idea of when to go to Florence.

Long before Frances Mayes arrived in Tuscany and bought a now-famous farmhouse called Bramasole here, the hillside town of Cortona was already drawing tourists from all over Europe. Now, of course, the number of visitors has increased to such a degree that in the summer the streets are clogged with people. Still, it’s a beautiful town and it’s easy to see why so many people have fallen in love with it over the years.

Besides money, time is the most precious commodity we have when we travel – which is why it’s so frustrating to waste time standing in lines. If there are long lines for the big museums – you know, the ones you came to Florence to see – then you have no choice but to wait, right? Wrong. Travelers who plan ahead and know where they’ll be on a given day of their trip can book visits to the big museums and attractions in advance, effectively “skipping the line.”

The first thing to know when you see “Florence” on the itinerary of your Mediterranean cruise is that your ship won’t be docking in Florence’s city center. A quick glance at a map of Italy will show you the Renaissance capital lies quite a distance from the coast, so the top tip for cruise visitors to Florence is this: you need to get yourself to Florence.

From the austere facade of the Pitti Palace in Florence, you would never know that an expansive and elaborate garden lies just over the palace walls. The Boboli Gardens were once the private gardens of the ruling Medici family who used to live in the palace. Today, this former royal backyard is open to the public.

Celebrating their 400th anniversary this year, the pharmacy at Santa Maria Novella church in Florence is clearly something special. If you would like to leave Florence with perfume from the place it was invented, or other natural beauty products, this is the right place. If you’d like to marvel at a Renaissance interior, you should certainly visit!

Oh Florence, it’s impossible not to feel romantic amongst those beautiful stone buildings, and sensual artworks. This is a city made for love as all the (illegal) padlocks scrawled with lovers’ names on the Ponte Vecchio attest. Here are some suggestions of things to do to make your visit extra-special.