Florence

Florence Travel Tips: Getting Around, Money and Tourist Traps

Last checked October 8, 2026

Florence's old centre is small enough to cross on foot in half an hour, so the practical groundwork — getting in from the airport, buying the right transit ticket, and steering around a few well-known ticket pitfalls — matters more than distance ever will.

Arriving

Florence Airport (FLR, Amerigo Vespucci), in Peretola about 5 km from the centre, is connected by tram line T2, "Peretola Airport – San Marco University." The journey to the centre takes about 20 minutes, with trams every 5 minutes; the terminus is on the left as you leave the airport. The on-board ticket machine takes coins and cards, and a paper ticket must be validated once you're aboard — you can also tap a credit card on the reader, one card per person. The tourist infopoint sits on the arrivals side.

A taxi to the historic centre runs a fixed fare, excluding luggage and night or holiday surcharges. Florence taxis are white; you can phone the radio-taxi companies, book through the itTaxi app, or find a rank at the station, the Duomo, Santa Croce, Repubblica or Santa Maria Novella. The meter shows the fare, and many taxis take cards, though carrying some cash is still worth it.

Almost all trains arrive at Firenze Santa Maria Novella (SMN), on the north edge of the old town, with Trenitalia ticket machines on the platform concourse and staffed kiosks in the main hall.

Getting around

Most of Florence's major sights sit within easy walking distance of each other, and crossing the historic centre on foot takes about half an hour. A classic route runs across the Ponte Vecchio, the city's oldest bridge over the Arno, and on into Piazza della Signoria, the civic square fronting the Uffizi Gallery, with the Duomo's dome visible for much of the walk.

Autolinee Toscane (AT) runs the city's buses and trams. A ticket is valid for 90 minutes on both, sold at tabacchi, newsstands, tram-stop machines, and the AT office near SMN station. A valid ticket is required before boarding, and you must validate it as soon as you get on — AT fines passengers whose ticket hasn't been validated when boarding. You can also tap a Mastercard, Visa or Amex card on the validator instead; each card buys one ticket, and you tap again every time you change vehicle.

Tram T2 runs from the airport through SMN to Piazza San Marco. Electric mini-buses C1 to C4 cross the centre, bus 13 climbs to Piazzale Michelangelo, and bus 7 heads out to Fiesole.

The whole historic centre is a limited-traffic zone with camera-controlled gates (ZTL) — driving in without a pass means a camera-issued fine, so if you're driving to a hotel or garage inside it, give reception your vehicle details so they can pass them on to the Municipal Police.

Uber (Comfort, Van, Black) and the itTaxi app both operate across the city if you'd rather skip tickets altogether.

Money and tipping

Italy has used the euro since cash changed over on 1 January 2002, so everything in Florence is priced in euros. If a card terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, pay in euros instead — converting through the merchant's own bank is usually the more expensive route.

Carry some cash for taxis: Florence's official taxi guidance says cards work on many vehicles, but travellers commonly find cash is still the safer bet for a street-hailed ride.

Tipping isn't customary in Florence. Most restaurants add a coperto (cover charge) to the bill instead, and waiters don't expect a tip on top — leaving small change in cafés, bars and taxis is common, but a tip can't be added to a card payment. There's no law capping the coperto, pane or servizio charges, but they must be shown clearly on the menu or before you order; a charge that wasn't shown can be contested.

Tourist traps

For the Uffizi, Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, buy directly through the official ticket platform — tickets.uffizi.it, the call centre, or the ticket offices under the Uffizi loggia, in front of Pitti Palace, and at the Boboli gates. Tickets are now issued by name, and if the name doesn't match the visitor's ID at the door, entry is refused with no refund.

For Michelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Accademia, the museum's own B-Ticket system is the only channel authorised by the Ministry of Culture — book through its official tickets page, ideally in advance.

Eating right around the Mercato di San Lorenzo, and immediately south of the cathedral, tends to carry the worst price-to-quality ratio in the centre — a short walk to another neighbourhood usually serves you better. Without a booking, the queue for the Uffizi can run for hours, worst on the free-entry first Sunday of the month and on Tuesdays.

Florence's municipal rules are stricter than visitors expect: entering or bathing in public fountains is an offence, and the city also fines people for sitting on monument steps or eating and drinking next to the main churches and monuments. Buying from unlicensed street traders is illegal too, and can bring a fine of its own.

Staying safe

Crime levels in Italy are generally low, but petty crime — bag-snatching and pickpocketing — runs higher in city centres, at major attractions, on public transport and around main stations, often using a distraction technique. In Florence, pickpockets concentrate around SMN station and on the buses.

Don't take drinks from strangers or leave yours unattended, and watch your belongings in crowds the same way you would anywhere. The police emergency number is 112, the ambulance 118 and the fire service 115.

On a practical daily note, Florence's water utility actively promotes its public drinking fountains (fontanelli), which supply chilled still and sparkling water that's already good to drink — look for one in Piazza della Signoria, behind the Neptune statue, or on via dell'Agnolo in Sant'Ambrogio.