Your Ultimate Guide to Florence, Italy

If you went through my previous blog post about Rome, you already know that I left Rome a day early and added that day to my 2 days in Florence making it a 3-day trip! Leaving Rome as fast as I could be my main concern and I had achieved it by getting on my train to Florence a day earlier, my 5th city on my Europe backpacking journey. Florence is in the northern part of Italy, sometimes also known as the Tuscany region. I was getting really excited as I sat on the train and starred out the window. Another city full of adventure, meeting new people and well, more pasta and pizza. While I was booking my train to Florence a day earlier, I started thinking about what I was going to do with a full day on my hand. Florence is a small city so it can be done in a day or two max. As I was sitting in my hostel room in Rome, I started doing my research and came across this day trip tour to Cinque Terre offered by a company called Walkabout Tours on TripAdvisor for $80. I had always seen amazing pictures of Cinque Terre on Instagram but when I was planning this trip, it had totally slipped out of my mind. So, when I was this on Tripadvisor, I jumped on it. I’ll be posting my Cinque Terre experience next Monday.

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1. Train Station – Firenze Santa Maria Novella

I arrived by train from Rome because of five main reasons. One— they are absolutely cheap and as a budget traveler, that’s a huge plus point. I got my one-way ticket from Rome to Florence for $14. Two— The views are worth it. Three— There are trains from Rome leaving for Florence every 30-40 minutes, so if I missed one, I could jump on the next one! Also, the ticket is valid for the whole day, so if you missed your train then you can use that same ticket for the next train leaving in however long it is. I booked my tickets online and just had the ticket conductor scan them for me. Four— it’s only an hour and 30 minutes ride, and you don’t have to go through all the airport security. And, five— usually in Europe, train stations are in the city center, so you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to get to the city center from the airport. The train ride to Florence was comfortable and scenic, there was one problem though, the train that I was going to take a day later was a direct train to Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station from Rome’s Roma Termini but the train I had booked after my sudden trip change, I had a quick train change in a small town called Chiusi-Chianciano Terme, it was a 9-minute change and I wasn’t the only one, there were multiple people on the same train as me that was in the same boat. To make matters worse, my train from Rome was delayed by good 20 minutes and I had already started to look for another train to Florence but since there were a lot of people that were on my train that had to change, they actually delayed our second train on purpose so we could all get on and luckily, our second train was on a platform right next to the one we arrived on our first train.

• You can purchase your tickets here: LINK

2. Public Transportation

Florence actually does not have that much public transportation. They have trams & buses but usually on the main streets and lot of the attractions are located in the smaller streets and everything is also very close by one another. When I was there, I didn’t get on a single bus or a tram and I was just fine.

• If you still think that you might need it, then you can look into it here: LINK
• Although if you’re arriving by train and getting off at Firenze Santa Maria Novella, you won’t need any public transportation to get to the city center as the station is right in the center of the city.

3. Hostel – Plus Florence Hostel, 3 Days.

I arrived in Florence at around 5:30 pm, checked in my hostel, and started exploring the city according to my itinerary. I stayed at PLUS Florence Hostel and this was my favorite hostel out of all. Here is why: they had a pool! According to the locals, it was Europe’s hottest summer so when I found that my hostel had a pool, I couldn’t resist. It also had an open Terrance roof that was really cool because we all go to hang out in a common space. The workers at this hostel are really nice as well. On day 2, I was in a bit of a rush in the morning to start my Cinque Terre tour and I forgot my iPad in the room and didn’t realize it until I got back to the hostel at night after a whole day of the tour. I went to the front desk to ask if anyone had turned it in and I was told that lost and found was locked at the moment and their boss is the only one that has a key to it and since it was already really late at night, their boss had left for the day. By this time, I had already lost hope because I stayed in a room with 8 people, anyone could’ve taken it, it was my mistake. I went to sleep, woke up the next day, and went down to the reception first thing. The lady that was cleaning my room had placed it carefully in her manager’s office. HOW FREAKING NICE. She could have taken it and could have easily said she had not seen an iPad on the bed but instead she locked it safely in her manager’s office.

• You can book PLUS Florence here: LINK

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4. Five things you HAVE to see

I pretty much covered most of what I wanted to see that first evening in Florence, got dinner at a small street-side restaurant, and came back to the hostel since my Cinque Terre tour would start at 7 am the next day. My second day was Cinque Terre all day and I’ll be posting my Cinque Terre blog next Monday! On the third day in Florence, I met a Canadian guy Zach and after some conversations, I left to go see the Duomo and I ran into him over there. We decided that we might as well explore the city together. We exchanged a lot of great stories about our traveling and hometowns while having lunch at Gustas Pizza and lavender flavored gelato at Gelateria Artigianale La Strega Nocciola (this place was recommended by a co-worker back at home). I was pretty much done with my itinerary for Florence except watch the sunset from Piazza Michelangelo. We went back to the hostel and relaxed by the pool. He went out for dinner with a couple of people from the hostel and I left for Piazza Michelangelo to see the sunset, where Mark, Lucy, Lizzie, Nic & Roslynn were waiting for me. Later, after the sunset, we had dinner together and after dinner, Lucy, Mark, and I went to see the Lunar Eclipse that was happening in the city of Florence that night. We watched that Eclipse sitting in the middle of the river! LIKE LITERALLY. I know that sounds crazy and weird but since the river was dried up a little bit, there was a piece of land in the middle where we could go sit and enjoy the view, which reminded me of St. Charles back home. After Lunar Eclipse, we followed each other on social media and left our ways. The next day, I was headed to Milan, Lucy was headed to Amsterdam and Mark was headed towards another city that I can’t recall right now.

1. Basilica of Santa Maria Novella

5 Euros ($5.44)

Their hours are a bit awkward depending on what time of the year you visit so don’t forget to check that here: LINK

The church is also right across the Santa Maria train station so when I arrived around 5:30, I couldn’t go inside as it was closed for the day but I did check it out from outside before heading to my hostel.

You can get your ticket here: Link

2. The Famous Duomo/Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

FREE

It’s free to go inside and check out the cathedral but you will have to pay if you want to go up the Duomo and the city from an aerial view I would say. It’s 19 Euros ($21.06).

I personally didn’t go because I had plans of seeing the aerial view from Piazza Michelangelo which was free.

3. The Ponte Vecchio Bridge

FREE

It’s a medieval arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence. It’s mostly famous for the shops that are built along with it, which was once common. In the earlier days, butchers and farmers occupied these shops but the current tenants are jewelers, gelato shops, and souvenir shops.

You HAVE to walk across this bridge, it’s a whole another environment.

4. Porcellino

FREE

It’s believed that if you put a coin into the boar’s gaping jaws, with the intent to let it fall through the underlying grating for good luck, and if you rub the boar’s snout, that’s to ensure a return to Florence

It’s an interesting one personally. There is an Italian restaurant in Chicago called Il Porcellino and I had never thought that the concept came from this statue of the boar in Florence. In Chicago, if it’s cuisine from another country, you get a postcard of that country/city where the concept of the restaurant originated with your receipt. Months after coming back from my Europe trip, I was at this restaurant for a friend’s birthday and when they handed me my receipt, they also handed me a postcard of Florence and that’s when it hit me. I screamed internally ‘“WAIT, I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THEY GOT THE NAME OF THIS RESTAURANT”

5. Piazza Michelangelo

FREE

Don’t pay $21 to go to the top of the Duomo. Instead, take yourself on a little hiking adventure. It is a bit of a mission to get up here, but when you get views like this, it’s worth it.

I met up with my friends that I had met on my Cinque Terre tour here and watched the sunset.

5. Currency Exchange

Currency Exchange. Local Currency: Euros (EUR). 1 USD = 0.88 EUR

You have 3 options, I recommend option 3:

1) Open a prepaid card. This is the method I used and it had its ups and downs. I used Travelex Money Card that you can find here. It’s pretty much like a debit card. What you will have to do is, open the card for $10 and you will be able to link it to your bank account. Every time you feel like you want to convert some money onto your Travelex Money Card, you can use their app to say what currency you want to convert it in and with in seconds, that money will be on your card and you can use it right away. It’s also contactless, so you can use it on the public transportation and you can set a 4-digit pin so you’re safe as well. I did a lot of research when I went to open this card and I couldn’t find a better exchange rate than Travelex. So if you are planning on picking this option, you’ll get a good rate out of its competitors.

2) You can also carry around cash but I DO NOT recommend this option. When you’re exchanging cash, you won’t get a good exchange rate and there is change of it getting stolen or lost.

3) Open a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees. I recommend this option because when I left for my backpacking trip for the first time, I did not know such credit cards existed and so I never did my research. My personal favorite is United Explorer Visa Card that you can apply for here. I use this card pretty much anywhere I go abroad and since it’s a Visa card, it works almost everywhere. Another reason why I really like a credit card is that no one will give you a better exchange rate than a bank. It’s also very easy to use, simply use it as if you were to use it in the US and when prompted to choose between USD or EUR, pick EUR. It’s also contactless, no foreign transaction fees and you 2 lounge passes for United. So, if you’re in a place to open a credit card, I really recommend this option.

6. Food

I got really lucky with Florence and the food places I tried there. When I left for Europe, I had already accepted a job offer that would start after my return from my backpacking trip. After I accepted the offer, I was invited to go check out the office location and while I was there I might some of the coolest individuals. Lot of people asked me what my plan was after graduation and before starting my job. I graduated on June 9th 2018 and wasn’t starting work till September 9th 2018, after my 21st birthday. So, I had three months in the middle to whatever I wanted and whenever someone asked me, I would tell that I’m taking this amazing backpacking trip to Europe. One of the individuals among the many I met, told me that she did her study abroad in Florence and had a huge list of gelato shops and restaurants she tried while she was there. Later that day, she forwarded me the list and I tried my best to go through as many as I could in 3 days I was there.

• Take a loot at some of my favorites:

1. Zeb Gastronomia: location is extremely small and only seats 20 people (but they have a huge U-shaped island/bar type of seating so you don’t have to sit at a whole table) so I highly recommend making a reservation for opening
   • Perfect for dinner after walking to see the sunset at top of Piazza Michelangelo
   • Tagliatelle cinghale, PEAR RAVIOLI INCREDIBLE, ravioli with pesto amazing, truffle.
2. Gelateria Artigianale La Strega Nocciola: (might just be called La Strega Nocciola)
   • AMAZING authentic gelato, try the Lavender flavor. It sounds weird but that was my favorite at least taste test it…it’s a little shop on the “local” side of the river/bridge (Ponte Vecchio = the bridge, “Arno” = the river) and their logo/symbol on the window is a witches hat is how you’ll know you’re at the right place
3.  All’antico vinaio/noe:
   • For Lunch:
     • AMAZING sandwiches – recommend the rose or spicy sauce on sandwiches at Noe!!!
       • Antico Noe: More regular-sized but more options for building your own like sauces and veggies, etc
       • All’antico Vinaio: People fight on what the best sandwich/Panini place is between antio noe, pinos, and oil shoppe but go to all four and decide yourself; You can get whatever you want on your sandwich here– the bread is amazing and the sandwiches are huge (enormous sandwiches with awesome bread and lots of meat, not AS many options like sauces but still a lot of meat, cheese and topping choices and the dank huge bread)
4. Porcellino Bistro
   • This place was a bit further away from my hostel.
   • Try their Pesto Pasta! I ordered it and it was so good that I got one to go for the next day.
5. GustaPizza
   • They only take CASH.
   • Great pizza place and each pizza are so BIG. for less than 10 euros, you get a pizza big enough for two meals in the day.
   • The menu is simple and if there isn’t a place to sit you can simply take your pizza and drink outside and sit in the beautiful square.