Florence, Tuscany Your trip to Florence
Florence is a city you can get to know well in a relatively short time, and the city center is ideal for daily walks. You feel free and safe with all the pleasures that a city with this character not automatically provides. If you only have a few days in the city you can follow the crowd, tourists flowing from the Galleria dell'Accademia to the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi, then over the Ponte Vecchio to the Giardino di Boboli.
If you travel to Florence during the summer, or in connection with holidays, there are often queues at several of the Florentine museums, especially at the Uffizi and Accademia. Though, the experience is undoubtedly worth waiting, when you considering you can look at unique masterpieces from up close, and in a incredible surrounding.
It is possible to reserve tickets online to all 13 Musei statali (state museums), including Uffizi, the Galleria dell'Accademia, Palazzo Pitti, Museo del Bargello, Museo Archeologico and the Medici Chapels. To get into the Uffizi or Accademia in high season, you should think of making reservations at least six weeks in advance.
Most hotels in Florence can help you to book guided tours, so use like the locals to help with the planning. In this way you get the most out of your stay in this remarkable city.
For those who would like to experience Florence without shelter, it is advisable to start the day off with a game of cappuccino at the local coffee shop while you inhale the Tuscan morning air. Then you can walk out and see the big churches, such as Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce and San Marco. Lunch of course you do at one of the city's many terraces.
On a big day Florence migjht be a bit narrow, but especially Bargello, San Marco and San Lorenzo are fine sights that generally attract little crowds. Even better is the individual masterpieces like those in Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia, Chiostro dello Scalzo and Basilica di Santa Trinita. Side streets in Oltrarno are charming and less frequented visited by tourists, and when the day is not too hot, consider a walk up to San Miniato al Monte.
There are several direct flights to Florence Airport from Northern European cities. The airport is only 5 kilometers from the center and outside you find an abundance of taxis waiting. There is also the option of taking local buses into town. In addition, a light rail in the future will make it easier to get from the airport to the city center and the railway station.
The alternative to the periodic direct flights, is traveling with a stopover in one of the larger European airports, but actually many choose instead to fly to either Rome, Milan and Pisa. All three cities have direct train to Florence in less than 1.5 hours, and it often gives a better net results in both time and money.
Fiorentina is the city's pride, and the Italians are generally crazy about football. Home matches are played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi with capacity for almost 50,000 spectators. Tickets are generally used to get to, and is not overly expensive - certainly not in comparison with some of the other major leagues in Europe. Danish pioneers such as Brian Laudrup and Martin Jørgensen have played here - the latter with great success. If you travel to Florence in football season, it's definitely worth the experience to take a walk on the stadium if the opportunity presents itself.
