Off to Lucca at the end of April and will be spending a full day in Florence using the train as transport.

I don’t want to spend that day queuing for art galleries and would rather see the city from it’s various aspects.

Hoping for good views over the city for sunset and general recommendations that people may have for throughout the day, food included.

Thanks

My general recommendation would be to go somewhere else: it’s a horrible place packed full of tourists (yes, I realise I was one of them), and there are much nicer places to visit in the area. Sienna, for example.

If you have to go, though, you can pre-book tickets to the Uffizi online, in fact I’d say you have to pre-book, unless you want to spend all morning queuing… The other sights were nothing like as bad, although it’d probably be worth getting the tickets beforehand anyway.

I visited Florence off-season (Feb a few years ago) and it was utterly fantastic. I can imagine the hell of it with tourists but you should be OK with it not being summer. There was no queue anywhere when I went. The Ufizzi is well worth seeing as are the centra piazzas. As for ‘various aspects’ – get up a hill or over the river.

Only been there once, and that was in 1994. I enjoyed it, but that’s because I did all my sightseeing from 04:00 until 10:00 then went elsewhere. It’s a beautiful city when it’s deserted.

Did the same in Santiago de Compostela.

My general recommendation would be to go somewhere else: it’s a horrible place packed full of tourists (yes, I realise I was one of them), and there are much nicer places to visit in the area. Sienna, for example.

Florence is nice enough but I don’t remember being anywhere where there was a view out beyond the city. Siena on the other hand is less of a tourist mecca with a fantastic walk around the city walls, a much nicer if smaller cathedral and with some fine views out over the surrounding countryside. Reasonably quick train journey IIRC

Uffici is worth a visit, from memory you can book in advance so you don’t have to queue.

Lucca is a great place to go btw, a good place to hire a bike for a morning.

We went there in Feb for a WE and it was pretty busy already with long queues for things. God knows what it’s like in the summer. We thought it was OK, city centre is very small, a bit underwhelmed would be a good summary.

God knows what it’s like in the summer

Hell on Earth if my experience is a reliable indicator!

(And my bad earlier: Siena, not “Sienna”).

The Basilica di Santo Spirito is well worth a look on the south side of the river. Brunelleschi tested his theories of proportion and scale there before doing the Duomo (which is amazing and worth a visit too). But the smaller church is less crowded and I was pretty stunned when I walked in – one of the highlights of my visit.

Another highlight was the preening Italian roadie, all tanned and white kit with an extravagant hairstyle (no helmet of course). He looked very cool and was a big hit with the ladies. I did wonder if he ever actual rode his bike…

Lucca is a great place to go btw, a good place to hire a bike for a morning.

We spent a day there as an off day on a cycling holiday. A bit small to kill a whole day. Walking round the City walls kills an hour or two, if you hire a bike it’ll only take 10 mins!

You need to read (or see) Room With A View – lots of tourist advice 🙂

Spent a day there at the end of May a couple of years ago.
It wasn’t overly busy but you do need to book in advance for the Uffizi.
We liked the south side of the Arno, particularly the walk up the hill which gives a superb view over the whole city.
And go up the Campanile rather than the Duomo as that way you get a proper view of the Duomo.
Sienna is also very beautiful and we liked the cities to the east of Tuscany (Arezzo and Cortona in particular) as they are quieter.

I had a great couple of days there. The Uffizi is definitely worth the money and the wait, although the original David is in the archaeology museum, at least it was when I was there.

Great for people watching, the main square is infested with kids trying to rob tourists with some quite creative methods. Is crawling with Caribinieri too – they guard the Uffizi since the bombing. They are meant to be the Military Police in Italy but seem to the the security services wing in charge of preening, tight trousers, posing on expensive motorcars and sunglasses.

I’d quite like to spend a full day in Florence too.

We’d probably have to find something keep The Machine occupied though.

You have to see Michaelangelo’s David, it is phenomenal. The market there is pretty good. I seem to remember picking up some good leather belts and some triple weight silk ties. Florence is not as rammed as Venice.

Done a bit of research and have come up with an ‘alternative’ style itinerary, basically swapping out the obvious for nearby alternatives that should have no queuing.

Palazzo Veccio tower rather than Duomo

The Basilica of San Miniato al Monte – amazing views over the entire city

Ponte Trinita bridge

I think the mass crowds can be avoided anywhere, certainly not a reason not to visit a city.

Statue of David is also a possibility, as is sitting and drinking lots of coffee whilst watching the world go by.

in defence of the Uffizi (other galleries are available)

been a couple of times, last was a long weekend in December. We strolled round a reasonably quiet Uffizi, rooms just full of Titians, Carravagios etc, winter sun streaming in, views down the meandering Po with all the bridges (one with the shops on is worth a visit)… Incredible, basically.

One of my favourite euro trips. Not really party town, mind.

Science Museum – http://www.museogalileo.it/en/index.html

Went there many years ago but has stuck in my memory as one the best museums I’ve ever been to.

Wear comfortable shoes, take your own food and water and just wander about the place, it’s absolutely beautiful. Otherwise, eat and drink well away from the tourist traps, and don’t even think about ordering anything at an outdoor table in the centre, unless money means nothing to you. It’s a wonderful place and well worth a day visit.

Science Museum

+1 That was good.

Already full versed in the avoidance of centrally located boutiques and food purveyors, before I has done any substantial traveling I once purchased two lovely ice creams in Rome for the modest sum of 27 euros 😳

I love Lucca – have stayed there at least 6 weeks over the years
The main branch of this is my favourite Ice Cream shop in the world.

Florence – my number one places would be the San Marco museum – for the Fra Angelicos, and Santa Croce. The markets North of the Duomo are fun.

The Pitti Palace, Accademia, Bargello and uffizi are great – but crowded. Not sure I would try going excpet first thing in the morning.
And there is good food to be had – espescially off the beaten track, eg South of the Arno.
But you do have to do the Ponte Vecchio and the old market to the North of it.

The cafe in the Oblate library overlooks the Duomo and is very untouristy. A handy spot for a snack. You need to get up one of the surrounding hills to see the city properly – once you’re high up you can’t believe something looking like Florence’s centre still exists!

The big hill on the south side of the river has a massive Roman gate tower at the base a nice walk up through gardens and a great view of the city from the cafés at the top . All the locals both stylish and obviously chav were turning up to have their wedding photos taken at the railings with the city as a background.

And you do need to buy ice cream.
Rule 1: Don’t buy from somewhere that the ice cream is in plastic containers; it is mass produced.
Rule 2: If you can find somewhere with metal tubs that are covered over, that should be the best quality.
Our favourite was La Strega Nocciola on the south side of the Arno just over Ponte Vecchio and left. Really interesting flavours.

I lived there for two years, rode my bike, rode my scoot, drank espresso.

It’s proper shite 😆

Go to the Boboli Gardens, you’ll see a helluva lot from there with spectacular views of the city. It’s quiet too, then walk towards town before the Pont turn left down Borgo S Jacopo, then before the Trinita Bridge on the left look for a small cafe on the edge of a very small triangle building. Go there, sit, eat, drink Italian… It’s Ace. Once fed take a left towards the Bassilica Santo Spirito. Very quiet square, unaaposing, yet the wonders within are quite spectacular.. Don’t forget to look up, walk backwards towards the Font 😉

Your day, right there.

Wonderful city, just walk around, and look into the churches. as well as that the pitti palace and gardens are lush for a bit of quit time, the santa croce piazza is nice for people watching, and a great church, and it’s just around the corner from THE BEST ICE CREAM IN THE WORLD. Geleto Vivoli…