How to Spend One Day in Florence

With a world-class array of art, architecture, and more, Florence, Italy has so much to offer visitors.

You could easily spend days exploring Florence without running out of things to do (and I have!). But because Florence isn’t massive, even if you have just one day in Florence, you can see the best of the city without stretching yourself too thin.

With this one-day Florence itinerary, you’ll experience a sampler platter of what Florence has to offer: a tower with spectacular views, an incredible cathedral, one of the world’s most famous works of art, the perfect sunset spot, great food, and more.

This is how to spend one day in Florence.

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One-Day Florence Itinerary

9 am: Breakfast at Ben Caffè

Begin your day at Ben Caffè, a much-loved spot with specialty coffee drinks and a great breakfast menu.

10 am: Arnolfo Tower

Once you’re fueled up, walk to Arnolfo Tower, or Torre di Arnolfo — which stands atop Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s town hall.

As towers in Florence go, Arnolfo is not as famous as Brunelleschi’s Dome or Giotto’s Bell Tower (both in the Duomo cathedral complex), but if you ask me, it’s the tower with the best views AND the best climbing experience.

For one thing, Arnolfo tends to be much less crowded with visitors, and there are multiple levels where you can stop and enjoy the views. At least one of the levels even has seating, and all of them have more breathing room than you’ll find at the Duomo.

More importantly, though, Arnolfo has the very best views of the Duomo itself — views you (obviously) can’t get when you’re standing on the dome instead!

Purchase your ticket to Arnolfo Tower here, or take your chances and plan to buy one on the spot (hoping they won’t be sold out). For what it’s worth, I had no trouble buying a ticket on the spot shortly after the tower opened on an August weekday.

11 am: Duomo

After enjoying views of Florence’s famous Duomo from a slight distance, it’s time to go see it up close. Walk over to the cathedral complex and line up to enter the cathedral (though it’s generally just called the Duomo, it’s the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore).

TIP: Heads up that you will not be permitted to enter the Duomo with bare legs (above the knee), bare shoulders, or hats. During my most recent visit to the Duomo, in the middle of scorching-hot August, there were even vendors selling scarves to people waiting in line for entrance to the cathedral. So, for this one-day Florence itinerary, either wear clothes that cover your shoulders and thighs or carry a scarf with you. This rule extends to the baptistery as well!

This massive building — the tallest in Florence — is one of my favorite cathedrals in all of Europe…at least from the outside. I could look at the intricate marble patterns of white, pink, and green all day.

Admittedly, the inside of the Duomo is much less interesting. It’s a surprisingly sedate interior — that is, except for the frescoes inside the dome.

Started by Vasari and completed after his death by Federico Zuccari, the dome’s frescoes depict the Last Judgment — complete with images of people being tortured in hell. Yikes!

From the floor of the cathedral, you can gaze up at the massive frescoes. Or, if you choose to climb Brunelleschi’s Dome (more on that in a bit), you’ll walk right beside them and get an excellent, close-up look.

It is free to enter the cathedral, but not to climb the bell tower (the “campanile”) or the massive dome (Brunelleschi’s Dome), or to enter the baptistery, which sits in a matching octagonal building across from the entrance to the cathedral.

If you only have one day in Florence, I don’t think that climbing either the campanile or the dome is a must-do experience. (That’s especially true for the dome.) That said, climbing one or both of these towers wouldn’t be a waste of your time, either. If you want to do it, I recommend planning it for the afternoon — more on that later.

12 pm: Lunch at Ristorante Toto’

On my last visit to Florence, I had a leisurely and lovely lunch at Ristorante Toto’, which has a nice cave-like setting that kept me cool despite the blistering August heat outside.

1:30 pm: Ponte Vecchio

After lunch, walk just a few steps to one of Europe’s most famous bridges: Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte Vecchio is a covered bridge full of small shops. Above them is the Vasari Corridor — an elevated passageway that connects the Pitti Palace with the Palazzo Vecchio. (Learn more about how to visit the Vasari Corridor here.)

Though in medieval times, Ponte Vecchio was full of smelly shops run by butchers and tanners, it’s now primarily full of jewelers and art dealers. Take some time to walk across the bridge, experiencing the historic structure and appreciating the sparkly gems you could purchase there.

2 pm: Galleria dell’Accademia

With one day in Florence, it would be a shame not to visit one of its world-famous museums — but which one?

I don’t personally recommend the Uffizi for this; it’s too big for a fairly brief visit, and to be honest, I think it’s overrated.

Instead, I recommend that you visit Galleria dell’Accademia, where you’ll find Michelangelo’s famous statue of David.

Brace yourself, though: David’s a wildly popular guy, and you should expect huge crowds. I still think it’s worth a visit — on my last visit to the Accademia, I spent almost half an hour just circling David (sometimes sitting on the benches behind him), admiring the way Michelangelo captured the details of his veins and muscles.

Plus, once you’ve had your fill of David, the Accademia has many other rooms that may not be quite so overwhelmed with visitors.

Book your ticket for the Accademia at least a month in advance if you can (or longer!); they tend to sell out. In fact, at the time of writing this, it looks like many ticket slots are sold out as much as two months in advance. With one day in Florence, you don’t have a lot of flexibility, so it’s crucial to lock in your tickets as early as possible.

If tickets are already sold out by the time you go to book them, try purchasing from a reseller like this one:

4 pm: Wander! (Or…Climb)

Even when I’m planning an itinerary for just one day in a city, and feel like there are a ton of things I’m trying to squeeze into a short period of time, I try to resist the urge to plan out every moment of my day and instead leave some time and space to follow my whims.

That’s what I recommend for you as well. For the rest of your afternoon, do whatever sounds good!

That might mean hunting down one of Florence’s famous wine windows, where you can order a glass of wine through a small window in a wall. (Just search “wine window” in Google Maps to find many of them!)

Or maybe you’d rather stroll through an open-air market, shopping for leather goods and other souvenirs.

Or, for a true hidden gem of Florence, head to the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a totally delightful and wildly underappreciated mosaic museum that’s just around the corner from the Accademia.

Or perhaps you just want to sit somewhere and relax with a drink and a snack (I really loved Bar Uffizi for this, myself!).

Alternatively, if you still want to climb Giotto’s Bell Tower or Brunelleschi’s Dome, this would be your best time to do it.

The only way to climb Brunelleschi’s Dome is to purchase the Brunelleschi Pass, which allows you to climb the dome and the bell tower, as well as to enter the baptistery, the Opera del Duomo Museum (a museum about the Duomo), and Santa Reparata (ruins and a crypt under the floor of the cathedral). The Brunelleschi Pass costs €30.

If you want to climb the bell tower but don’t care about climbing the dome, you can instead buy the Giotto Pass, which gives you access to all of the above sites, except for Brunelleschi’s Dome, for €20.

For either of these options, you will need to book a ticket with a specific time that you will climb the tower of your choice.

If you don’t want to climb either the bell tower or the dome, but do want to enter the baptistery, Opera del Duomo, and/or Santa Reparata, you can buy the Ghiberti Pass for €15.

Be warned that tickets may be sold out at the official source if you’re buying them last minute — if that’s the case for you, check availability from a reseller like this:

7 pm: Sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo

About an hour before sunset, head up to Piazzale Michelangelo — a viewpoint over the city on a hill across the Arno. (I’ve put in 7 pm here as a placeholder, but you should obviously adjust your timing based on the actual time of sunset on the day of your visit!)

Piazzale Michelangelo is one of the most popular spots to watch the sunset in Florence. That’s for good reason — the view is fantastic — but temper your expectations for the experience. Especially if you are there during the summer, you will be sharing Piazzale Michelangelo with hundreds of other visitors, all jostling for the best viewpoints along the railing. There are also a number of vendors selling all kinds of cheap souvenirs.

All in all: beautiful, yes; peaceful, no.

That said, the presence of many other tourists doesn’t have to be a bad thing! During my last trip to Piazzale Michelangelo, a Spanish choir that was touring Italy gathered together on the plaza and joyfully sang several songs as the sun plunged toward the horizon, to the delight of those of us standing near them.

8 pm: Dinner at La Buchetta

After the sun sets, return to the other side of the river for dinner. (If you’re visiting Florence at a time when the sun is setting particularly late, you might want to go to dinner before the sun sets instead!)

I recommend La Buchetta, where my friend and I lingered for hours, sharing appetizers, a bottle or two of wine, and fabulous dishes. The gnocchi is excellent, but the Florentine steak I saw at the next table over looked pretty great too.

If you’re not feeling another sit-down meal, another option is to stop at a supermarket on your way to Piazzale Michelangelo and grab some items to eat at the plaza — meat, cheese, bread, wine, whatever. My friend and I actually did this on one of our nights in Florence! But be warned that you might struggle to find a place to sit at Piazzale Michelangelo.

Best Places to Stay in Florence

During my last trip to Florence, I stayed near the train station at Affittacamere Z&I. This was great for the days of arrival and departure — I could easily walk with my bag between my lodging and the train station — but the main sights of the city were a bit further away. On future trips, I’ll probably try to stay closer to the historic center and accept that I need to take a bus or a taxi to get to my lodging from the train station.

For other lodging options in Florence, consider the following:

How to Get Around Florence

Much of this itinerary is totally walkable for people with average mobility. Indeed, during my own visits to Florence, I’ve walked almost exclusively.

However, you may want to take a bus to and from Piazzale Michelangelo — it’s not near the other destinations on this itinerary, is inconvenient to get to on foot, and requires a climb up a hill. To get to Piazzale Michelangelo, catch bus 12 or 13 (use Google Maps on the day of to figure out which bus is closer to you at the time you’re ready to go!), which will drop you off right at the plaza.

The easiest place to buy bus tickets in Florence, in my experience, is tabaccheria — tobacco shops that sell lots of other stuff too. Just look for the sign with a big “T”!

When you get on the bus, be sure to validate it at the machine near the front of the bus. If you don’t validate your ticket, and an inspector boards the bus, you’ll be fined! (Yes, this is a real possibility — it happened to people sitting right in front of me on a Florence bus to Piazzale Michelangelo.)

One Day in Florence: Interactive Map

Below is a map with the locations included in this itinerary. To use this map during your own trip to Florence, click the star next to the map’s name (which saves the map to your account). You can then find and use the map from your Google Maps app by going to “Saved,” then “Maps.”

Final Thoughts

There are good reasons that Florence is one of Italy’s most popular tourist destinations: it’s beautiful and full of incredible art and architecture. Even if you have only one day to spend there, it’s worth the effort!

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