Five days in Tuscany by train, no car

One base, five nights in Florence, because the fast train puts Rome 1 hour 35 minutes away, Milan 1 hour 54, and every historic center on this route is closed to cars anyway.

Why one base beats a rental car here

The whole historic center of Florence is a limited traffic zone, split into 5 sectors, A, B, O, F and G. In sectors A, B and O it operates all year on working days, 7:30 am to 8:00 pm Monday to Friday and 7:30 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday.

A summer night zone is added from the first Thursday of April to the first Sunday of October, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, indicatively 11:00 pm to 3:00 am, with the exact dates fixed each year by ordinance. Some gates are barred 24 hours a day to everything except public transport and emergency vehicles.

Arriving is the easy part: Roma Termini to Firenze Santa Maria Novella takes 1 hour 35 minutes at best, with 48 direct Frecciarossa services on the weekday sampled, and Milano Centrale to Florence takes 1 hour 54 minutes. All prices here are in euros.

Day 1: the Uffizi, where booking costs more

The Uffizi charges €25 for a same day ticket and €29 if you book in advance, which is the reverse of what most visitors expect, with €2 for the reduced rate. Since January 2026 there is also a €16 afternoon ticket for entries after 4:00 pm.

The combination with the Vasari Corridor is €43 same day and €47 booked ahead, groups of 11 or more pay a €70 supplement, and the first Sunday of the month is free.

If your dates are fixed and the gallery is the point of the trip, pay the €29 and stop thinking about it. If they are not, the €16 afternoon slot is the cheapest way into the same rooms.

Day 2: the Duomo sells 3 passes and no single tickets

Florence's cathedral complex has no single monument tickets: it sells the Brunelleschi Pass at €30 covering the dome, Giotto's bell tower, the museum, the Baptistery and Santa Reparata; the Giotto Pass at €20 without the dome; and the Ghiberti Pass at €15 for museum, Baptistery and Santa Reparata.

Ages 7 to 14 pay €12, €7 and €5 respectively, and under 6s enter free. The climb up the dome exists only inside the Brunelleschi Pass, which is the fact that catches out anyone who wants the view and nothing else.

The dome slot is compulsory, cannot be changed and cannot be cancelled. Last entries are 6:45 pm on weekdays and 4:30 pm on Saturdays, and on Sundays and holidays the climb runs only from 12:45 pm to 4:30 pm. It closes for maintenance from November 16 to 20, 2026, and the Baptistery vault mosaics are under restoration and not visible in 2026.

Day 3: San Gimignano sells one pass, or nothing

San Gimignano does not sell single tickets for its main monuments: there is one San Gimignano Pass at €15, €12 for ages 6 to 17, valid 3 days, covering the Collegiata complex, Palazzo Comunale with the picture gallery and the Torre Grossa, the Santa Chiara complex and San Lorenzo in Ponte. Advance sale adds €1.

The Torre Grossa is the only climbable tower in town and it is reachable through that pass alone. Of the 72 or so towers raised between the 11th and 13th centuries, 14 survive, on a World Heritage core zone of 13.88⁸ hectares inscribed in 1990.

Under 6s, disabled visitors with a companion, residents and licensed guides go free.

Day 4: Siena, where the tower cannot be booked

The Torre del Mangia has no online sale at all: tickets are bought on the day at the Museo Civico and Santa Maria della Scala ticket desks, climbs leave every 45 minutes and are capped at 25 people, and they run out.

That works out at a few hundred people a day for the best view in the city, so the climb is a morning decision, not an afternoon one. Everything else in Siena stays open around it.

Day 5: Pisa, €20 flat and no discounts

The Leaning Tower costs €20 in 2026 with no reduction of any kind, not for children, students or school groups; the only free admission is for a visitor with a disability plus a companion, booked by email at least 5 days ahead and limited to certain slots.

From Pisa Centrale, take line 1+ towards Park Pietrasantina from stop Stazione 1, every 10 minutes, to the Torre 1 stop; line 4 runs every 20 minutes to Del Parlascio and the night line 21 every 30 minutes. Arriving at Pisa airport, the PisaMover connects to Pisa Centrale first.

Full detail on the age limits and the climb itself is on the Leaning Tower page.

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