Getting around Florence: public transport, passes and taxis

Florence is a walking city with a small bus and tram network layered on top. Match the mode to the trip: feet inside the old centre, bus or tram for the ring around it, train for day trips, taxi for luggage and late nights.

Almost everything a first-time visitor wants sits inside a rough circle around the Duomo: the Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio to the south, Santa Maria Novella to the west, Santa Croce to the east, San Lorenzo and the Accademia to the north. Distances are short and the ground is flat, so walking usually beats waiting for a bus.

The exceptions are the hills. Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato al Monte sit above the river on the south bank, a 25–35 minute climb from the centre; buses run up from near the river. Fiesole, in the hills northeast, is a bus or short train ride plus a walk. In July and August, plan the uphill stretches for early morning or evening.

The centre is largely pedestrianised and the stone streets are uneven, so comfortable shoes matter more than any transit pass. Cross the river by Ponte Vecchio, Ponte Santa Trinita or Ponte alle Grazie depending on where you are headed.

The city bus network covers the ring roads, the hills and the suburbs; the tram lines T1 and T2 connect Santa Maria Novella with the western city and the airport. For most visitors the useful routes are the ones to Piazzale Michelangelo, Fiesole and the station, plus the T2 to Peretola.

Buy tickets before boarding: tabacchi shops, ticket machines and the operator app are the usual channels. Paper tickets must be validated in the machine on board, and inspectors do fine passengers without a validated ticket. Drivers do not sell tickets.

A single ticket covers 90 minutes of travel on buses and trams, including changes, which is enough for most cross-city trips. If you plan several rides in a day, a day pass is cheaper than three singles. Multi-day passes exist for longer stays (check current prices).

Taxis are white, metered and available from ranks at Santa Maria Novella, the Duomo area, Piazza della Signoria and other main squares, or by phone and app from the main cooperatives. Fares are regulated; a short hop inside the centre is roughly €10–20 in 2026, more at night, on Sundays and with luggage (check).

Ride-hailing apps operate in Florence through licensed taxi drivers rather than private cars, so the experience is close to booking a taxi. Private-car services such as Uber Black have historically been limited or absent in Italian cities; check what is live in the app when you arrive.

Taxis make sense with luggage, for early train departures, for the airport and after dinner when buses thin out. They do not make sense for crossing the historic centre, where walking is faster than the one-way system.

Santa Maria Novella is the main station, a 10-minute walk from the Duomo, with high-speed trains to Rome, Bologna, Milan and Venice and Regionale trains to Pisa, Lucca, Siena and Arezzo. Regional tickets are fixed-price and can sell out on peak days; validate paper tickets before boarding or risk a fine.

For Pisa and Lucca, Regionale trains run frequently and take about an hour to Pisa. Siena is reached by Regionale, often with a change at Empoli. For hill towns without a station, buses are the only public option. If you are basing yourself outside the city, the towns of the Chianti hills such as Greve in Chianti and Reggello are bus or car territory.

Public transport is cheap by Western European standards; the main costs are taxis and airport transfers. Budget a few euros a day if you mostly walk, and more if you use taxis daily.

Validate paper tickets in the machine on board; an unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket. Keep the ticket until you leave the vehicle in case of inspection.

The ZTL, the camera-enforced limited-traffic zone, covers most of the historic centre. If you hire a car, park outside it and walk or take the tram in; fines arrive by post weeks later.

For the airport, the tram T2 from Santa Maria Novella is the cheap, predictable option, about 20 minutes. A taxi is faster door to door but costs many times more.

Buy bus tickets before you need them; not every stop has a machine, and drivers do not sell tickets.