Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Florence
Florence in a day: David to San Miniato
The David at opening, the dome climb, lunch at the market, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi, then over the river to the Piazzale for sunset, San Miniato and dinner in the Oltrarno.
Florence in one day is two museums and a climb, and the order matters because all three are timed and all three sell out. The Accademia opens early, the dome takes the late morning, and the Uffizi gets the long afternoon after the groups have moved on. Then cross the Arno and climb to the Piazzale Michelangelo for the view the whole day has been leading to. Book everything: the city is small, but its queues are not.
The route, stop by stop
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Accademia Gallery — David
Michelangelo's David at the end of a corridor lined with his unfinished Prisoners, still struggling out of the marble. More than five metres of him; photographs do not prepare you for the scale.
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Brunelleschi's Dome
463 steps up between the inner and outer shells of the dome, past the Last Judgement painted inside it. Booked slot only; the ticket also covers the baptistery and the bell tower.
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Mercato Centrale
Lunch. The ground floor is the working market and upstairs is a food hall. Lampredotto — tripe in a bun — is the Florentine street food, and it is better than it sounds.
60 min here Walk here → -
Palazzo Vecchio
The town hall since the 14th century and still in use. The Salone dei Cinquecento is the room, and the tower above it has the best view of the dome you climbed this morning.
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Uffizi Gallery
Botticelli's Venus and Primavera in the same room, Leonardo's Annunciation down the corridor and Caravaggio at the end. Late afternoon is the quietest slot of the day.
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Ponte Vecchio
Goldsmiths since 1593, when the Medici moved the butchers out. The corridor along the top is Vasari's, built so the duke could cross the river without meeting his subjects.
15 min here Walk here → -
Piazzale Michelangelo
Up the steps through the rose garden to the terrace for sunset: the dome, the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio and the whole red-roofed city in the light the day has been waiting for.
45 min here Walk here → -
San Miniato al Monte
Five minutes higher, and the most beautiful church in Florence that most visitors never reach: Romanesque, in green and white marble, with the monks singing vespers most evenings.
30 min here Walk here → -
Piazza Santo Spirito
Back down into the Oltrarno for dinner. The square in front of Brunelleschi's last church is where Florence itself eats and drinks in the evening.
60 min here Walk here →
More in Florence
Every walking route in Florence, or the full Florence guide for where to stay and what a day costs.