6 Days in Florence: First-Timer Itinerary

Six days keeps the same core as the 5-day version, Duomo complex, Uffizi, Santa Croce, Accademia, San Lorenzo, Bargello, and adds a second Oltrarno day for the hidden-gem museums and an actual wine crawl instead of one rushed pass through the neighborhood. Less time? Drop to 5 days . Have a full week? Move up to the 7-day version .

Book these before you go

Day Focus
Day 1 Duomo complex, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio
Day 2 Uffizi, Santa Croce, Oltrarno evening
Day 3 Accademia, San Lorenzo, Mercato Centrale
Day 4 Full Oltrarno day, Piazzale Michelangelo sunset
Day 5 Bargello, Medici Chapels, slow wander
Day 6 Hidden-gem museums, second Oltrarno day, wine crawl

Day 1: The Duomo Complex And The Historic Core

  • Booked Brunelleschi Pass slot up the dome, 463 steps, then the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile on the same three-day pass
  • Piazza della Signoria, the free open-air statue gallery; the outdoor David is a 1910 replica, the original lives in the Accademia
  • Cross Ponte Vecchio, goldsmiths since 1593, for an Arno-side evening

Day 2: The Uffizi And Santa Croce

  • Morning timed slot at the Uffizi (EUR 25), three hours minimum for the Botticelli rooms and the full circuit
  • Afternoon at Santa Croce (EUR 9.50-10), tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli, plus the Pazzi Chapel
  • Dinner in the Oltrarno, quieter and cheaper than the Duomo side

Day 3: The Accademia, San Lorenzo And Mercato Centrale

  • Morning slot at the Accademia, book further ahead than the Uffizi given its smaller capacity
  • San Lorenzo market and Mercato Centrale lunch, ground floor until 14:00 Mon-Sat, upstairs food hall until midnight daily
  • A slower afternoon around Via Tornabuoni before the evening’s plans

Day 4: A Full Day In The Oltrarno

  • Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens (EUR 22 combined same-day, EUR 25 booked ahead)
  • Santo Spirito piazza and its artisan workshops, leatherworkers, goldsmiths and bookbinders in small storefronts
  • A Chianina bistecca alla Fiorentina dinner, priced by the kilo (EUR 45-95/kg), shared and served rare
  • Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset, free, arrive 45 minutes early; walk up from Ponte Vecchio in 30 minutes or take bus 12 or 13

Day 5: The Bargello, Medici Chapels And Slowing Down

  • Morning at the Bargello, Donatello’s bronze David predates Michelangelo’s marble one by decades, plus Cellini’s bronzes
  • The Medici Chapels in San Lorenzo, Michelangelo’s tomb sculptures, covered by the same 72-hour six-museum pass (EUR 38 plus a EUR 4 fee) that adds the Bargello
  • An unhurried afternoon, an enoteca tasting or retracing a street you liked on day one

Is six days too much time for Florence? Not if you split the two galleries across separate days and give the Oltrarno the two full days it actually needs. Cramming the same sights into three or four days is what turns Florence into a queue-management exercise, six days is the version where the Bargello and the second Oltrarno day both fit without feeling like filler.

Day 6: Hidden-Gem Museums And A Second Oltrarno Day

  • Morning at Orsanmichele, a former grain market turned church, and Palazzo Davanzati, a preserved 14th-century merchant house, both on the same cumulative museum pass and both far less crowded than the Uffizi
  • Back into the Oltrarno for a second pass, San Frediano’s quieter streets this time, and an artisan workshop visit if one of the leatherworkers or goldsmiths on Via Santo Spirito has the door open
  • An evening wine crawl through two or three enotecas, Chianti by the glass runs EUR 5-8, before a farewell dinner wherever won you over across the week

Six days is enough to stop optimizing the trip and just wander a street because it looked interesting, that’s the actual reward for the extra nights over a rushed three-day pass.