Handpicked experience · Florence
Florence, Italy
An open-top bus pass for Florence whose real value is not the centre at all, but the two lines that climb out of the river basin to the hills above it.
Climb aboard the hop-on-hop-off bus and start your sightseeing tour around the city of Florence
Travel in an open-top, double-decker bus as you cruise through the city of Florence and see the sights
Enjoy the best of Florence, a historical city with a rich culture, just waiting for you to discover
Panoramic views over the medieval and Renaissance centre from the bus
Two lines, one reaching Fiesole and one the Roman amphitheatre and Civico del Borgo
Unlimited hop-on hop-off within a 24, 48 or 72-hour validity
Free Wi-Fi on board
A multilingual audio guide covering the main sights
Florence is among the smallest great cities in Europe, and its historic core is closed to traffic and crossable on foot in twenty minutes. That makes a sightseeing bus here a different proposition from most: the ticket is not really about moving you between the cathedral and the river. It is about getting you up out of the bowl the city sits in, to the hillside where the whole thing can be seen at once — and on that count it earns its place easily.
You board at any stop with your ticket, take the open upper deck or the covered saloon, and collect headphones for the commentary, which runs in eight languages. Two lines operate: one working the ring of avenues around the old centre, the other climbing north-east into the hills. Your ticket covers both for its full validity, and you move between them without arranging anything.
The hill line is the one to prioritise. It winds up through cypress and villa walls to Fiesole, an Etruscan town on a ridge three hundred metres above the river, with a Roman theatre cut into the slope and a terrace looking straight back down at the dome. Nothing in the centre gives you that.
Worth being direct. The cathedral, the Signoria, the Uffizi and the old bridge stand within a few hundred metres of one another inside a zone where the bus cannot go anyway. Down there you walk, and the pass adds nothing.
Fairly said: an ordinary city bus climbs to Fiesole from the centre on a standard ticket, and takes about the same time. What the sightseeing service adds is the open deck on the way up — which on that particular road is not a trivial difference — plus the commentary and the freedom to break the journey. If you simply want to be at the top, the public route does it.
No admission is included anywhere. The cathedral complex, the galleries, the Roman site at Fiesole all charge separately, and the major museums run on timed entry that should be booked ahead. This is transport with a view and nothing further.
Which matters more in Florence than the map suggests. Ringed by hills and well inland, it holds summer heat with no breeze at all, and July and August in the centre are genuinely oppressive. The upper deck is unusable in the afternoon, and the hills are several degrees cooler — which is precisely why the Florentines with money built up there.
Tickets are sold in blocks of twenty-four, forty-eight or seventy-two hours from first use rather than by calendar day. Boarding for the first time late in the afternoon quietly spends a quarter of a one-day ticket before you have seen anything.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Not really. The cathedral, the Signoria, the galleries and the old bridge sit within a few hundred metres of one another in a zone closed to traffic. Down there everyone walks.
The hills. The second line climbs to Fiesole, on a ridge three hundred metres above the river, where you get the view of the dome and the whole city laid out that the centre cannot offer.
Yes — a regular city bus makes the climb on a standard ticket in about the same time. The sightseeing service adds the open deck on that road, the commentary and the freedom to stop en route.
None. The cathedral complex, the galleries and the Roman site at Fiesole all charge separately, and the major museums need timed tickets booked in advance.
In hours from first boarding rather than calendar days, in blocks of twenty-four, forty-eight or seventy-two. Starting late in the day wastes a noticeable slice of a short ticket.
Not in the afternoon. Florence sits in a basin ringed by hills, holds heat with no breeze, and July and August are oppressive at street level. Ride early or late, or go up to the hills where it is cooler.