Hello from Atlanta!

[Elizabeth Harty]

I am going on a once in a life time month long trip to Florence and am planning to primarily do day trips but hang in Florence quite a bit as well. I haven’t been to Italy in almost about 25 years, so interested in opinions about the “can’t be missed day trips” and activities. thank you for any suggestions or help.

 

[BethC]

"Can't miss" depends on what you are interested in (Renaissance art? shopping? gelato?) and what you like to avoid (Renaissance art? crowds?).

Before I add my suggestions, could you tell us
What month will you be there?
What do you enjoy seeing and doing?
For day trips, will you drive, take mini-bus tours, or take the train?
Do you like to have tickets booked in advance, or go with the flow once you're there?

We went in April 2019 for three weeks and it was glorious.

 

[Elizabeth Harty]

I am going for the month of May. For day trips I will either take the train or get a driver. I don’t mind really small tours, but don’t want to do larger ones.
I prefer not to be in large crowds and really love a nice walk and trying all kinds of delicious food.
The first two weeks I have two friends joining me so for those weeks I prefer to have things
booked, I have booked a foods tour in Bologna , haven’t attempted to book the train rides yet, and a driver to go to cortona and montepulciano one day. That’s it for now.

 

[BethC]

This trip will be wonderful. I'm so excited for you!

The various museums and historical sites have varying days of closing, so there is always something open, even though it's hard to keep them straight. Closed alternate Saturdays? Or every Tuesday?

If you want to see the Uffizi or Accademia, the best of the timed tickets will probably start to sell out soon. I suggest buying tickets for the first entry of the day. The galleries will get crowded within 20 minutes, and if you're first through security check, you can stay ahead of the giant tour groups.

Similarly, strolling the Ponte Vecchio is best done in the morning while the shops are in the process of setting up for the day. Once the shops are open, the bridge may be gridlocked with pedestrians.

The Galileo science museum is an underappreciated treasure a couple minutes' walk from the Uffizi. Since the Medici were his patrons, his scientific instruments are works of beauty. The science exhibits upstairs are wonderful too, and I wish I had had more energy for them.

We loved most of the restaurants we tried, but the one we still talk about is Konnubio for both lunch and dinner (different menus).

In planning this trip, you have probably read about food court upstairs in the Mercato Centrale. It's fairly cheap and therefore very popular. The crowds made it difficult to get up to a counter to buy anything, much less grab a seat at a table. Beware of the street market near the mercato--it was full of Chinese knock-offs of Florentine leather goods sold by aggressive vendors. The Porcellino market was much better.

OK, that's more than enough from me about Florence. I hope to go to Bologna and Ravenna some day and would love to hear about your plans and experiences.

PS Fiesole is a worthwhile and easy day trip on the #7 bus.
PPS Museo Stibbert is an uncrowded and quirky delight. We took a cab there, but it's an easy, downhill walk to get to the bus stop for the return journey.

 

[Elizabeth Harty]

This trip will be wonderful. I'm so excited for you!

The various museums and historical sites have varying days of closing, so there is always something open, even though it's hard to keep them straight. Closed alternate Saturdays? Or every Tuesday?

If you want to see the Uffizi or Accademia, the best of the timed tickets will probably start to sell out soon. I suggest buying tickets for the first entry of the day. The galleries will get crowded within 20 minutes, and if you're first through security check, you can stay ahead of the giant tour groups.

Similarly, strolling the Ponte Vecchio is best done in the morning while the shops are in the process of setting up for the day. Once the shops are open, the bridge may be gridlocked with pedestrians.

The Galileo science museum is an underappreciated treasure a couple minutes' walk from the Uffizi. Since the Medici were his patrons, his scientific instruments are works of beauty. The science exhibits upstairs are wonderful too, and I wish I had had more energy for them.

We loved most of the restaurants we tried, but the one we still talk about is Konnubio for both lunch and dinner (different menus).

In planning this trip, you have probably read about food court upstairs in the Mercato Centrale. It's fairly cheap and therefore very popular. The crowds made it difficult to get up to a counter to buy anything, much less grab a seat at a table. Beware of the street market near the mercato--it was full of Chinese knock-offs of Florentine leather goods sold by aggressive vendors. The Porcellino market was much better.

OK, that's more than enough from me about Florence. I hope to go to Bologna and Ravenna some day and would love to hear about your plans and experiences.

PS Fiesole is a worthwhile and easy day trip on the #7 bus.
PPS Museo Stibbert is an uncrowded and quirky delight. We took a cab there, but it's an easy, downhill walk to get to the bus stop for the return journey.

Wow, thank you so much, this information is invaluable!

 

[BethC]

I had fun reminiscing. I look forward to hearing more about your plans.

 

[Pauline]

Moving this to the Italy forum so more people will see it.

 

[Ian Sutton]

May is a super time of year to visit, with the cities (usually) not too hot, but enough warmth and daylight to explore the countryside and enjoy the colours it offers.

I'll echo @BethC 's comment about must sees - very much a matter of personal tastes and I've learnt that many of the mainstream touted 'must sees' don't tally with what we want to see & do, whilst ours might seem utterly mundane to others wanting to see the famous sites.

As well as train & taxi / private driver, it's also useful (especially in Tuscany) to consider regional buses (the inter-city ones called 'pullman') and indeed organised trips e.g. via the tourist office. The bus network is good, and unlike the trains, will typically drop you in the centre.

I agree with you on smaller tours - and it can help that the quirkier stuff is naturally that way. If travelling solo, they can also be a way to ensure some socialising, with the ability to limit it to just that day, or arrange to meet again on another day with any people who you get on really well with.

I find Trenitalia an easy site to use, and booking in advance can save a lot of money (on already reasonably price trains). This makes trading up to 1st class on the fast 'freccia' trains a very affordable luxury, and such journeys have become a pleasure in their own right, not just a functional necessity.

For a month-long stay in one city, I'd be tempted to avoid the usual tourist focus of aiming to stay 'in the centre', but instead look for somewhere where you'll have a bit slower pace / surrounded by locals not tourists. This might mean a pleasant suburb, or somewhere a little further out, but with easy bus connection into the city (and/or close enough to get a taxi 'home'). Definitely an apartment for the flexibility / space it offers. By way of example, our 1st two visits to Bologna were day trips via train from further away, and that didn't work well for us, with my partner simply wanting to go back 'home' at lunchtime on the one trip. It got one last chance for us, with us staying south of Bologna (Rastignano), which was a 45 minute bus ride in, but crucially that bus journey ends at a very central location. We enjoyed every trip in, yet also enjoyed being out in the countryside. It worked well enough that we've returned to stay in Bologna itself a couple of times since. I reckon a 20-30 minute bus ride away is often ideal, to get into the countryside (or a nice leafy suburb), but where it feels easy to get into the city (and to get back out again).

A couple of easy day trip options to throw into the mix:
- Colle val d'Elsa, which had charm and a modest level of tourism, which struck a nice balance for us. Also it's a place known for glass-making if that appeals
- Lucca, which is a lovely manageable size for a day trip, unusually for tuscany has its train station just outside the walls, so very convenient, and has a lovely peaceful feel to it.

 

[Ian Sutton]

p.s. In case it's of use, if only to get some familiarity with street names you're likely to encounter on that food tour of Bologna, here's the cribsheet that I made up for previous trips to Bologna (from differing sources, including simply 'lucking' on a few). It's very focused on food shops, as I love 'grazing' the city.

I expect the focus of the tour will be on the criss-cross of streets between le due torri and Piazza Nettuno/Maggiore, but hopefully also a couple of the good places on via Oberdan, plus (though it's a solid walk away) the covered (Ugo Bassi) market. There are some brilliant specialist food shops in that criss-cross of streets, that make the branch of Eataly there feel rather underwhelming.