3-Day tour of Firenze - questions

M

MikeTichondrius

New member
Good morning!

I would like to ask for some help with planning my short stay in Firenze. I'll be going on a one-week tour of Tuscany, starting on the 27th of April (Sunday) for my honeymoon. Finding this forum and associated website was probably the biggest stroke of luck I've had so far, as I've found a lot of helpful hints! However, I'd like to have a little more specific advice. :)

I'll be landing in Bologna at mid-afternoon on the 27th and was planning on spending the rest of the day there before heading out to Firenze for the night (we'll be traveling by rental car). We'll be spending three nights there. My first question is regarding parking. We really aren't planning on using the car for the duration of of our stay in Firenze (though, we are open to suggestions regarding off-city attractions!) so we would prefer a free, safe location to leave it while we explore the city center. We'll be staying at the AC Firenze near SMN, which I've read is a pretty expensive area in what comes to parking...

More importantly, I'm slightly concerned over our three-day plan for sightseeing around Firenze. I was trying to work around something like Lourdes' 3-day itinerary:

http://www.visitflorence.com/itineraries-in-florence/3-days-in-florence.html

As suggested in the guide, I was planning on getting two Firenze Cards for ourselves to fully enjoy the three-day experience (seemed like a nice enough fit!), however, I have found that most museums such as Uffizi and the Accademia are closed on Mondays. How easy would it be to change the schedules around in order to fully take advantage of our time in Firenze without wasting away a whole day. Not that there won't be enough things to discover in such a beautiful place though!

Thank you in advance for the attention! :)

Miguel
 
Hello Miguel and congrats on your upcoming wedding (or very recent wedding) ;-) Italy is definitely a great destination for your honeymoon, you'll fall in love all over again :)

I checked out the location of your hotel and found it is just a little outside of the ZTL area/historical center. You are still within walking distance to most all sights, but the Firenze Card will also include public buses for those times when you are on the other side of the center and want to catch a bus back closer to your hotel.

As far as parking goes, 3 days and nights is a while to leave your car parked without moving it. The "free" parkings are becoming more rare and those that exist are not exactly central.... I suggest you just use the hotel's on-site parking which at 15 euros per day is not bad at all, it is in line with some of the cheapest you'll find as far as private parking goes. You can then not worry about it at all.

3 days will pass quickly - that itinerary is definitely to give you an idea of how to best use the Firenze Card but taking it slower might actually be a better idea. Try to enjoy the places you visit, if you feel hurried it won't be pleasant... remember to eat lots of gelatos as you stroll around one from place to the next ;-).

The Uffizi and Accademia are closed on Monday (I also wouldn't recommend doing them both on the same day so you can do one the Accademia on Tuesday and Uffizi on Wednesday) and for Monday, choose any of the ones listed on this other article:
http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/open-on-mondays.html
There are plenty to choose from for that day, as well as lots of walking around to see the sights from the outside :)

I imagine after Florence you're heading off somewhere else in Tuscany or Italy to account for the car.... consider another option: take train to Florence from Bologna so you won't have to worry about the parking and then rent the car here once you're done with your 3 days in Florence.

If you have any other questions, feel free to post. In case you don't, hope you have a wonderful honeymoon in Florence and Italy!
 
Thank you for you reply Lourdes, that is a really good idea actually: both convenient and cost-saving. I like it! The page regarding what to do in Florence on Mondays will come in handy too. I did have one remaining question: does using the Firenze Card mean you don't have to book an hour to visit the Accademia, as I've read is required?

And yes! We are heading out of Florence after our three-day stay, we have a night to spend in Siena and I'm also hoping to visit some of the surrounding towns like San Gimignano or Volterra. I'm sure it will be an amazing trip. Once again, thank you for you help!

Miguel
 
Yep, I can confirm: with the Firenze Card, you don't need to book any hour for visits to any of the museums. I do suggest you still try to visit at the busiest time of the day, so that you may actually have a little bit more space. Right as they open can be quite nice, as well as in late afternoon right after lunch ;)

I am sure you will have an amazing trip! if you have any other questions, do post (I'll get to ALL of the questions soon, I promise!)
 
Ciao Miguel,

I forgot before but if you're still looking for a very romantic place to stay after Florence, I've seen great comments about staying at Palazzo Malaspina in San Donato in Poggio, a small medieval village in Chianti.
Just if you're still looking for ideas ;)
 
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