5 Days in Florence, Italy Itinerary
I’m sharing our 5 Days in Florence, Italy including our daily itinerary and free time to recharge and explore. I hope this guide will help you plan your trip abroad.
I’m excited to share our trip to Italy with you guys. This trip was for our family of four and included 5 days in Florence and 3 days in Venice. I’ll be sharing the experience in a series of posts, but for now I’ll cover our 5-day itinerary to help you in your planning process.
As I’ve mentioned in our trip to New York City and from visiting New Orleans, we don’t like to spend all our time inside buildings or running from tourist attraction to tourist attraction. We prefer to balance our time between must-see attractions, architecture, and discovering the city on our own.
Booking & Planning
First of all, we booked the trip through Costco travel packages (Florence + Venice) which includes airfare, hotel, and ground transfers. We learned about this service from my husband’s uncle and it turned out to be a great decision!
The hotels were 4-star, the train ride from Florence to Venice was first class, and the transfers between hotel and airport were punctual and so convenient. I encourage you to check it out if you’re a member of Costco.
I will say that if you like being on the go when you travel, you could do this itinerary in 3 days. Just omit the ‘free day’ and use day 1 to explore the Oltrarno Quarter before or after you visit the Uffizi Gallery.
Where We Stayed
We arrived in Florence early afternoon so we had plenty of time to relax, settle in, and get our bearings. We checked in to the NH Firenze hotel which has a contemporary design, spacious rooms & bathroom, and a rooftop pool and bar. It has a beautiful view of the Duomo as you can see in the photos here. It’s right off the river and about a block from the US Consulate.
The one drawback is that it’s at the outer edge of the historic center so you have to walk about 3/4 of a mile before you get to the Ponte Vecchio. Most everything else stems off of the famous bridge so you can always find your way as long as you find the river.
We took the afternoon to walk along the river, grab some dinner at a small restaurant, and recover from a day of travel.
Day 1 – Uffizi Gallery & The Duomo
Our first full day was on Thursday and we had tickets to the Uffizi Gallery to see some famous works of art! This is where pre-planning came in very handy. I was fortunate to partner with TripAdvisor to help plan some of our excursions. I’ve used them before to check reviews on things, but I’ve never booked an excursion through them so I was excited to give it a try.
Booking directly through the website was quick and easy. I did a search for “Florence,” clicked on their “Things to Do” button, and then I clicked on “Museums.” From there it was just a matter of narrowing down the exact match for us. We chose self-guided skip-the-line tickets with a 4:30pm time of entry. This gave us the entire morning and early afternoon to explore Florence beforehand.
Ponte Vecchio
We followed a logical path from our hotel along the river. We crossed at the Ponte Vecchio which is filled with jewelry shop after jewelry shop. It’s extremely touristy and I was happy just get to the other side!
It crosses over to the Oltrarno quarter which is the cutest, most quaint neighborhood with shops, restaurants, and beautiful architecture at every turn. This is also where you’ll find Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. We didn’t go inside because there just wasn’t time. You would need a large portion of the day to get through it all.
Piazza della Signoria & Palazzo Vecchio
As time drew closer for our scheduled gallery tour, we headed back across the Ponte Vecchio and towards the Uffizi Gallery. We had just enough time to walk into the city square known as Piazza della Signoria. It’s decorated with famous statues like Perseus with Head of Medusa, Hercules and Cacus, Neptune’s Fountain, and a copy of David. It’s also where the Palazzo Vecchio tower stands.
Uffizi Gallery
When it was time for the art gallery, our skip-the-line passes allowed us to move straight into the entrance line which moves quickly. When you buy a skip-the-line pass you’re simply bypassing the line to PURCHASE tickets, which can get very long and is worth the pre-planning to avoid.
Annunciation
Birth of Venus
Allegory of Spring
The Incredulity of St. Thomas
As an art lover, this was my happy place. I love seeing great works that I’ve studied in college and seen in documentaries. Artists such as da Vinci, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Botticelli and more are all there. Religion is the predominant theme throughout and it’s interesting to see the transition from the idealic Gothic period to the realism of the Renaissance.
Duomo
After spending a couple of hours in the art gallery we made our way to see the Duomo in all it’s iconic glory. The massive cathedral is beautiful! The architecture and the nature of the marble panel facade are just stunning. I could have spent half a day looking at every detail.
Day 2 – Wine Tasting in Tuscany
I had scheduled a wine tasting tour in Tuscany for Friday. You can read all about it in the link, but for now I’m just going to say that it was FABULOUS, and a MUST-DO expereience for wine lovers.
It included transportation, two wineries, and a stop at San Gimignano, a medieval walled town and UNESCO World Heritage site, and home to the winner of the best gelato in the world!
Day 3 – Academy Of Florence Art Gallery | Statue of David
For Saturday morning I had purchased skip-the-line passes for the Galleria dell’ Accademia to see the iconic statue of David. This has been on the bucket list for years and I can now say I’ve seen the trifecta of famous artworks: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, da Vinci’s Mona Lisa at the Louvre, and now Michelangelo’s David.
Galleria dell’Accademia
The statue is as magnificent as you can imagine and we must have stared at it from every angle for at least half an hour. The art gallery is fairly small and David is near the entry so it was a pretty quick tour of maybe an hour and 15 minutes. There are smaller rooms with paintings and sculptures that we took a quick look at and kept on moving.
After the gallery we covered a lot of territory.
Outdoor Street Market & Indoor Food Market
The outdoor market is a block (or two?) lined with street vendors selling their goods, mostly leather and gifts/souvenirs. Be warned, the workers are very aggressive and you’re pretty much being pandered to the entire time. It’s worth a look though, and you can find some cute leather purses or bags to bring home.
Along the way is the indoor food market. As an American I would refer to it as a gourmet food market, but in Italy it’s just their normal way of life. The shops are overflowing with meats, and cheeses, and fresh produce, and olive oil, and wine, and… Oh my, I was in heaven.
Piazza della Repubblica
Another pretty city square to stop and rest for a bit is the Piazza della Repubblica which is known for its colorful carousel in the center. There’s also lots of shops and restaurants surrounding the square; great for sitting with a glass of prosecco and people watching.
Tornabuoni Street
On the way back to the hotel we had to take a stroll down Via de’ Tornabuoni. It’s like the Rodeo Drive of Florence featuring stores like Gucci, Prada, Fendi, BVLGARI, Armani, and others we can’t afford. We did our share of window shopping and even went into a few stores just to see inside.
Quick Tip
All throughout the city there are water fountains you can drink from so make sure to carry a bottle to fill up. Italy is famous for it’s delicious fresh water and fountains that date back centuries.
Day 4 – Free Time
Sunday was day four and we decided to take it easy and rest because the World Cup finals were taking place, and we watched it in the hotel bar/lounge along with everyone else. It’s like watching the Super Bowl playoffs back home. It was a nice way to spend the day OFF of our feet and it gave us a chance to recharge after 3 days of going non-stop.
We also had the chance to head out for some night life finally. We crossed the river into the San Frediano neighborhood where we found an outdoor cabana bar and had a drink and a snack. Next we crossed back over the Arno, and went to the rooftop bar at the Weston hotel. The night views were gorgeous and the Prosecco was molto bene!
Day 5 – Exploring the Oltrarno Quarter
We spent our last day in Florence in the Oltrarno Quarter exploring the streets and shops. I highly recommend spending time there as it’s away from most of the tourist attractions, and although there are visitors roaming the streets, it’s definitely less crowded.
The neighborhood is a good way to spend “unscheduled” time walking down narrow streets and alleyways. I took lots of photos of doors and bicycles here, and purchased a gorgeous hand-printed picture from an artisan who worked on her craft right in front of us.
This is where we found an endless amount of visual joy and inspiration through street art, architectural details, and artisans. The street art reminded me of Banksy’s work.
Final Thoughts and Tips
Our 5 days in Florence were certainly relaxing and exhausting at the same time. I don’t feel like we were over scheduled, but the walking was extra since the hotel was on the outer edge, and the mid-July heat was intense.
As you can see we only paid to enter two attractions (the art galleries). If you were so inclined you could spend a small fortune to go inside all the sites. We’d rather spend money and time on experiencing the culture and lifestyle, exploring side streets, and partaking in the food and drink of the city we’re in. Speaking of which, here are a few final tips for your visit to Florence:
- You must have a Florentine steak while you’re there! It’s iconic and is made to share.
- Italy is known for its gelato, so make sure you stop at one of the shops and get some.
- I highly recommend finding a small family-run restaurant off the tourist path, for lunch or dinner. It really is the best food for the money!
- Drinking local wine is a given, but also enjoy the Italian custom of an after-dinner sip of Lemoncello or Vin Santo. Sometimes they’re offered at no extra charge after dinner.
- Find a rooftop bar to enjoy a cocktail and take in the view of the city. We ended almost every day on our hotel rooftop bar with a glass of prosecco. It was wonderful to relax and review the day’s activities.
- Take photos and notes and you may be inspired to host an Italian dinner party to share your experience with friends or family when you get home.
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What an amazing trip! I would love to see Florence in person one of these days.
Loved reading your travel tips! The artwork is really stunning, and you took so many gorgeous photos! can’t wait for the next post! 🙂