Visitor guides to 14 Florence landmarks — verified 2026 ticket prices, opening hours, closure-day traps and worth-it verdicts, from the Duomo and Uffizi to the Bargello.
Florence compresses an implausible share of the Renaissance into a historic core you can cross on foot in twenty minutes. Within that square kilometer sit Brunelleschi's dome — still the largest masonry dome ever built — Michelangelo's David at the Accademia, the Uffizi's Botticelli rooms, and a medieval bridge lined with roughly 40 working goldsmith shops. Cross the Arno and the Medici's Pitti Palace, its 30-hectare Boboli Gardens and the free sunset terrace at Piazzale Michelangelo are all within another fifteen minutes' walk.
The hard part of visiting in 2026 isn't picking landmarks — it's the admin. Florence's major sights run on separate ticketing systems with genuinely confusing rules: the Uffizi charges €25 at the door but €29 booked ahead, the Dome climb sells out days in advance while the cathedral nave below it stays free, the Medici Chapels close on a rotating pattern of Mondays and Sundays that catches out more travelers than the ticket price does, and the San Marco Museum shuts at 1:50pm with no afternoon session at all. Each guide below verifies the current ticket price, the real opening hours, how long to plan, and — where it matters — an honest verdict on whether the ticket is worth it or whether a free alternative does the job.
Use this page as your index: every card links to a full visitor guide with the details that don't make it into official-site FAQs — sold-out workarounds, the best hour to arrive, and which combined passes actually save money. Below the landmark guides you'll find our Florence trip-planning pieces for itineraries, pass math and day trips.
The cathedral nave is free to enter, but climbing the 463 steps of Brunelleschi's dome takes the €30 Brunelleschi Pass — with weekday slots from as early as 08:15. Our guide weighs whether the climb beats the free view from the piazza.
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Standard adult tickets run €25 at the door or €29 in advance, Tuesday–Sunday 8:15am–6:30pm, closed Mondays. The guide gives a straight verdict on whether the Uffizi earns its place in a one- or two-day Florence visit.
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Home of Michelangelo's David — €16 at the door or €20 online (the €4 difference is a mandatory reservation fee), open Tuesday–Sunday 8:15am–6:50pm. Includes sold-out ticket alternatives and how long the visit really takes.
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The bridge itself is free and open to pedestrians 24 hours a day — the "tickets" people search for are the Vasari Corridor running above its 40 jewelry shops, a reservation-only Uffizi bundle priced €43–47 in 2026.
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Florence's panoramic terrace is a public square — free, open 24/7, no gate and no turnstile. The guide covers the walk up from the Oltrarno, the best sunset timing, and what the $20–40 guided sunset tours actually add.
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Florence's fortress town hall on Piazza della Signoria — museum entry from €15, open daily 9am–7pm, with combined tickets adding the 94-meter Arnolfo Tower climb for around €17–22.
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Five Medici museums under one roof for €16 same-day or €19 in advance, Tuesday–Sunday 8:15am–6:30pm — and a combined Boboli Gardens ticket at €22–25 that's usually the smarter buy.
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A 30-hectare UNESCO-listed Renaissance garden behind the Pitti Palace — €10 at the gate, opening daily at 8:15am with closing times that slide from 4:30pm in December to 7:10pm in July, plus two closed Mondays a month.
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The basilica holding the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo — €10 full price (€6 reduced), Monday–Saturday 9:30am–5:30pm with Sunday entry limited to afternoons from 2pm.
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Michelangelo's New Sacristy for €11 — but mind the closure trap: beyond Tuesdays, the chapels also close the 1st, 3rd and 5th Monday and the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month, the most common reason visitors find a locked door.
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Florence's Renaissance sculpture museum — Donatello's David without the Uffizi's queues — at €12, one of the lowest ticket prices among the city's major museums, open Tuesday–Sunday 8:15am–6:50pm.
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Fra Angelico's frescoed monastery cells for €11 — with the schedule quirk that trips up more visitors than the price: morning-only hours, Tuesday–Sunday 8:30am–1:50pm, last entry 12:45pm and no afternoon session.
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The basilica that gave Florence's main railway station its name sits directly across the piazza from it — €7.50 admission makes it the easiest major sight to fold into an arrival or departure day.
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The cathedral's freestanding bell tower — 414 steps, no elevator — covered by the €20 Giotto Pass, open daily 08:15–18:45. The guide compares it head-to-head with the Dome climb for views and queues.
Visitor guide →The landmark guides above cover tickets, hours and worth-it calls sight by sight — these companion guides handle the trip-level decisions. Start with the 2 days in Florence itinerary for a day-by-day route that sequences the big tickets around their opening windows, and run the numbers with is the Florence Pass worth it before buying any city pass. Budget travelers should pair the free landmarks on this page with our free things to do in Florence round-up, and photographers will want the best viewpoints in Florence for alternatives to Piazzale Michelangelo. When the ticket queues wear thin, hidden gems in Florence covers the quieter corners locals actually use, and day trips from Florence gets you to Siena, Pisa and the Chianti hills by train or bus.
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