Florence is a wondrous city, where one day is enough to fall in love with it, and one year will still leave you craving for more. It offers an abundance of places to discover, be it very atmospheric alleys, romantic inns, alluring bakeries, impressive monuments or breathtaking art galleries. If you’re planning on exploring a lot in Florence, and you’d like to save a few bucks while you’re at it, you can always get yourself a Firenze Card. But how much does it cost? Where can I get a Firenze Card? Is it worth it? Here’s our take on it.
Is Firenze Card worth it?
Firenze Card is a card for tourists, that serves as a priority ticket for most museums in Florence. It allows us to use the museums without having to preemptively book a slot (with a few exceptions, more on that later). It’s extremely useful in Florence, since, especially during the season peak, the amounts of tourists get pretty insane, which as a result, creates gigantic queues. If our time in Florence is fairly limited, and we didn’t decide to come here during low season, then every minute of having to stand in a queue is quite precious.
But what about the biggest tourist attractions?
The biggest Florence attraction, which is the Florence Cathedral (“Duomo”), does not offer guaranteed priority access for Firenze Card users. Unfortunately, you’ll have to book a slot, due to the sheer amount of tourists interested in visiting the place. Just based off of that limited information, it’s hard to say if the Firenze Card is worthwhile. However, there are more pros and cons to consider, which we’ll be going over in this article, to hopefully aid you in forming your own judgement on whether the Firenze Card is right for you.
Sometimes, the priority access offered by the card, gets suspended for a period of time, for certain locations. Currently, for instance, such cases can be seen in Campanile di Giotto, Battistero di S. Giovanni, Cripta di Santa Reparata, and Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Just to make sure, you can always visit the card’s official site (at Benvenuto su Firenze Card | Firenze Card) for updates. There are also places, like Galleria degli Uffizi, or Galleria dell’Accademia that, even with the priority access from the card, still require a reservation. If, during high season, you ever find yourself near Galleria degli Uffizi, you’ll quickly figure out why.
Still, the card’s a very comfortable solution. When going to a museum or a gallery, we don’t have to worry about bringing cash or your credit card, and in fact, we don’t even have to visit the checkout – we can just go directly to the entrance and someone there will verify our card. Since it’s such a seemingly flawless solution, it comes as no surprise that almost every European capital utilizes their own version of such a card.
How much does the Firenze Card cost?
Sadly, the Firenze Card is not the cheap type. Currently, it will cost you 85 EUR – once again, worth checking their official site, since the card’s price is gradually increasing.
Where can I buy a Firenze Card?
Once you’re in Florence, you can acquire the card from (as of 2019):
Cappella Brancacci – piazza del Carmine 14
Complesso di Santa Maria Novella – piazza Stazione 4
Galleria degli Uffizi – Porta 2 – piazzale degli Uffizi
Museo di Palazzo Vecchio – piazza Signoria
Museo Nazionale del Bargello – via del Proconsolo 4
Museo Stefano Bardini – via dei Renai 37
Palazzo Pitti – piazza Pitti 1
Palazzo Strozzi – piazza Strozzi
InfoPoint Turistico Staziona – piazza Stazione 4 (it’s located very near the main station in Florence, so it’d be the best location for those who got to the city by train)
Museo Novecento – piazza Santa Maria Novella 12
InfoPoint Turistico Cavour – via Cavour 1r
Buying the card in Florence is quite simple, but if you desire to buy it online, you can do so, in two ways. Either you order it online and pick it up in Florence (list of locations from which you can collect the card is on the official site), or you can use an app on your phone instead of a physical card. Both options are just as comfortable and easily accessible. The card always costs the same amount, no matter what form of purchase you choose.
What is Firenze Card +? How much does it cost?
It’s an option for people who want to use public transport, once in Florence. The Firenze Card + costs 7 EUR and serves as a usable ticket for 72h. We can either pick this option when buying the FirenzeCard online, or just buy it locally. It also works just like the Firenze Card, where you can either use the physical card or the app. In both cases, the card can’t be shipped to us after the purchase.
Can I buy Firenze Card at a discount? Can it be bought for less than 85 EUR?
No. The card’s price always stays the same – at 85 EUR. Those who are under 18, and are planning on viewing the museums with their family, don’t need their own card – the card also provides free access for children. There are no discounts for students, so we highly encourage checking the pricings of the museums you’re going to visit – it may turn out that it’ll be more worthwhile to utilize the discounts on normal tickets than to buy a Firenze Card. Although, of course, it’s a less comfortable solution, it may be much cheaper.
For people with disabilities, many museums in Florence offer free priority access without the card, so there’s no need for a cheaper version for them. However, not every place does offer such an option, so make sure, prior to the trip, that your desired destinations offers such conveniences for the disabled. The staff of the museum also needs to see the valid documentation, confirming the need for a discount.
Firenze Card – is it worth it?
The easiest way of determining if that’s the case is to just simply check the ticket prices of the places you’re going to visit, and calculate how much it’ll cost to not use the Firenze Card. In most cases, the card does tend to be a better deal on its own, without considering the value of not having to wait in queues, thanks to the priority access. It’s also worth considering, however, if all the places you want to visit, can be visited in 72 hours.
The card is usable for precisely 72 hours – the countdown starts upon your first entry to a location, not the time of purchase. It only makes sense to plan the tour in such a way, that once the card’s time is almost up, you enter a museum that will take you a long while to properly explore. For instance, the 72 hours period ends on 13:00 and on 12:00, we enter Galleria degli Uffizi, where we can safely stay till the evening.
The card is a perfect solution for when it’s the second time we’re visiting Florence, or the trip is longer than the 72 hour period. The art in Florence is absolutely incredible, often the most famous art pieces we only know from school books can be seen in this city. After such a dose of wondrous sculptures and paintings, it’s only fair to give yourself some time to rest properly. If you’re going to Florence for the first time, on a weekend for instance, and you’ll spend the entirety of it on running from museum to museum, you’ll most probably not have time to rest. And in that case, maybe it’d be wiser to only pick a small selection of places you actually want to see, and leave the rest of the weekend for wandering through the various valleys of Florence, which offer us just as many attractions.
The decision is obviously up to you, and your own priorities, be they alike those of an art connoisseur or a group of friends that just want to take a breather from work, and relax in this magnificent Italian city.
The Florence Cathedral (“Duomo”) – how to get there with a Firenze Card?
Duomo di Firenze is without a doubt the most recognizable part of the Florence panorama. The huge dome of the cathedral, towering over the city, marks a symbol of Florence, and it’s hard to imagine a trip to Florence and not visiting Duomo. Sadly, there’s no way of booking a slot before the arrival to the city. It’s only possible at the checkout at the San Giovanni 7 square. There, you’ll find ticket machines which allow you to check for free slots (that can also be viewed online at: http://en.grandemuseodelduomo.waf.it/museo_dett.php?idtour=8484). After the reservation, you can collect a free ticket, which will be necessary alongside our Firenze Card. Picking up the ticket will activate our Firenze Card, if it has not yet been activated!
Which museums are available for Firenze Card users?
We can certainly count on visiting the biggest Florence attractions, like:
The Florence Cathedral (if there are free slots at the time)
Galleria degli Uffizi
Galleria dell’Accademia
Museo di Palazzo Vecchio
Basilica di Santa Croce
Battistero
Campanile
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
Palazzo Medici Riccardi
Santa Maria Novella
Cappelle Medicee
Pitti-Galleria Palatina e Appartamenti Monumentali
Pitti-Galleria d’arte moderna
Pitti-Museo Giardino di Boboli
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica
Casa Buonarroti
Museo Casa di Dante
Basilica San Lorenzo
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
Forte Belvedere
The list is quite sizable, and certainly everyone will find something fit for them. The Firenze Card does not only include the most famous, profitable attractions, but also the smaller, but just as worthy ones. The full list can be seen on the official site of the card, or on the booklet we get when purchasing it. It’s worth visiting their website regularly, as there are some time limited, seasonal events, that the card also covers. Also, as the time goes, the rules concerning entering certain locations without a reservation may change, so keep an eye out for updates.
The Firenze Card Restart, or “can I extend the duration of the card?”
Such an option is only available online. It costs 28 EUR, and it allows us to reactivate the card for 48 hours, 12 months after the original purchase of the Firenze Card. At a premium price, it allows us to visit all the locations we just didn’t have time for. Beware – Firenze Card only allows us to visit each place ONCE. The option to extend can only be used once, even if the year has not yet passed since the original purchase. Overall, it’s a fantastic deal for those who, charmed by the first trip to Florence, would like to revisit the place fairly soon.
To sum up – Firenze Card is a perfect solution for those who seek to visit a lot of tourist attractions in a short period of time. It’s more than likely, that the card will allow us to save lots of time and money, and the viewing experience will be greatly improved by not having to spend an eternity in the queues. It’s worth considering once more however, if we want to fully commit the three days to viewing museums and galleries nonstop, since even though it can be quite a thrilling experience, it’s usually also a fairly tiring one, which may not be what some are looking for. Florence is also a great place for walks or spending time in nature. But if tourist attractions, marvelous art and museums are what you’re looking for – you should strongly consider the Firenze Card.
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