7 Days in Florence: First-Timer Itinerary

A full week keeps the same six-day core, Duomo complex, both galleries, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, the Bargello and two Oltrarno days, and adds a genuinely slow seventh day with a cooking class and real buffer time. That buffer matters more than it sounds: if a Duomo dome or Accademia slot fell through earlier in the week, day seven is where you rebook it. Shorter trip? Drop to 6 days or see our 5-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 7 Cooking class, buffer day, relaxed departure

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

How much buffer should a week in Florence actually build in? At least one full day, which is exactly what day seven is here. Peak-season Duomo dome and Accademia slots sell out weeks ahead, and a single missed alarm or sold-out date can otherwise wreck the one reservation the whole trip was built around.

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 retracing a street you liked on day one

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

  • Morning at Orsanmichele and Palazzo Davanzati, a preserved 14th-century merchant house, both far less crowded than the Uffizi
  • A second pass through the Oltrarno, San Frediano’s quieter streets and an artisan workshop visit if a door happens to be open
  • An evening wine crawl through two or three enotecas, Chianti by the glass runs EUR 5-8

Day 7: A Cooking Class, A Buffer, And A Slow Departure

  • A morning hands-on pasta or bistecca cooking class near Mercato Centrale, book ahead through your accommodation or a local cooking school, a genuinely different way to spend a last full day than another museum queue
  • Use any remaining daylight as your buffer, rebook a bumped Duomo dome slot here if one fell through earlier, or just revisit the one piazza that stuck with you most
  • A relaxed final dinner and an early night before departure; Santa Maria Novella station and FLR airport are both a short taxi or tram ride from the center

A week in Florence is enough to actually slow down by the second half, don’t fill day seven just because you can, the buffer is worth more than one more rushed museum.