Florence is one of the best home bases for exploring Tuscany and nearby cities. The most popular day trips from Florence are conveniently accessible by train, with destinations like Pisa, Lucca, Bologna, Arezzo, and Siena just one to two hours away. Renting a car or joining a guided tour provides access to Tuscan hill towns, […]
If you’re planning your first visit to Florence, where you stay will shape the entire experience. Florence is compact and walkable, which means a well-chosen hotel puts the Duomo, the Uffizi, and the Ponte Vecchio at your doorstep. A poorly chosen one means commuting to the magic instead of living inside it. We’ve visited Florence […]
Planning a trip to Tuscany? This guide covers everything you need to build the perfect itinerary, whether you have 3 days, 5 days, or a full week. How long should you spend here? Where should you stay? Should you rent a car? What towns are worth visiting? These are all questions that may be running […]
From world-famous cities like Florence and Siena to quiet hill towns and scenic drives through vineyard-covered hills, Tuscany offers a wide range of experiences, but deciding what to do (and what to skip) can be overwhelming. We’ve explored Tuscany on two very different trips: a one-week highlights tour with our kids and a longer 10-day […]
One day in Florence is enough to see the best of this city, if you plan it right. With a well-planned day, you can visit Florence’s top sights, including the Duomo, Michelangelo’s David, the Uffizi Gallery, and Ponte Vecchio. Watch the sunset over the rooftops, stroll through Florence’s scenic streets, and end the day with […]
Some cities in Italy overwhelm you with options. Siena does the opposite, and that’s exactly what we loved about it. The historic center is compact and entirely walkable, the main sights are clustered within easy reach of each other, and the city has a pace that makes it easy to slow down. The things to […]
Pisa and Lucca are two popular day trip destinations from Florence. Their close proximity to one another, small sizes, and handy train stations make them very easy to combine into one amazing day trip from Florence. We’ve visited both cities on separate trips to Italy. We stopped in Pisa while traveling by train from Florence […]
Two days in Florence is the sweet spot for a first visit. It’s enough time to see everything that matters, without the feeling that you’re sprinting from one landmark to the next. With two days, you can climb the dome of the Florence Cathedral, stand in front of Michelangelo’s David, spend a proper morning in […]
Lucca is one of Tuscany’s most rewarding cities to visit. While Florence gets the crowds and Pisa gets the selfies, Lucca has a charm that’s entirely its own: Renaissance city walls you can walk or bike, medieval towers rising above the rooftops, and a piazza built inside a Roman amphitheater. What we loved most was […]
Florence is one of the most rewarding cities in Europe, and the best things to do in Florence range from climbing Brunelleschi’s iconic dome to watching the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo. We know this firsthand, having visited Florence twice. Our first trip was a quick day and a half visit in July with our kids. […]
The Florence Cathedral, the Duomo di Firenze, is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, and yet seeing it for the first time still catches you off guard. The sheer scale and detail of the marble facade up close is something no photograph quite prepares you for. We’ve now visited the Florence Cathedral […]
There are a lot of ways to see Florence from above, from climbing the Duomo dome, walking up to Piazzale Michelangelo, or ducking into a museum rooftop café. But the best way, in our opinion, is from a rooftop bar in Florence at golden hour with a Negroni in hand. Tim and I have been […]
There’s a moment on the train from Rome to Florence, about an hour in, where the landscape shifts from the flat Roman countryside to something greener and hillier, and you realize you’re already in a different Italy. We’ve made that journey more than once over six trips to Italy, and it never gets old. This […]
With one week in Europe, you have an infinite number of possibilities for coming up with your “perfect” itinerary. Do you dream of visiting world-class cities like Paris, Barcelona, or Venice? Or would you rather hike the Alps, go on a scenic train ride, explore the beautiful beaches and coastal towns in southern Europe, visit […]
We have been to Italy six times, and this route — Rome, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Florence, Tuscany, the Cinque Terre, and Venice — is the one we recommend above all others for a first visit. We’ve traveled every stretch of it firsthand and refined the planning advice in this post trip by trip. What […]
Italy is one of the most photogenic countries in the world, and after six trips here, we’ve stood at a lot of viewpoints, from clifftop villages in Tuscany to the jagged peaks of the Dolomites to the canals of Venice at twilight. The views never get old. In this guide, we share 20 of our […]
With 10 days in Italy, you have enough time for an incredible trip, but not enough time to see everything. That’s the good news and the hard news at once. Italy is enormous, wildly varied, and deeply worth savoring. The biggest mistake most people make when planning a 10-day Italy itinerary is trying to fit […]
In this guide, you’ll discover 25 beautiful places to visit in Italy, from Rome’s ancient wonders to the Cinque Terre’s coastal charm. See the highlights in 7 to 14 days or spend 3+ weeks to dive deeper into Italy’s extraordinary sights. If you are planning your first trip to Italy, be prepared to fall in […]