HOW TO REACH FLORENCE
By plane: from Europe to the airports of Florence, of Pisa or of Bologna. From other continents to the airports of Rome or Milan.
FLORANCE: The Peretola (Amerigo Vespucci) Airport is small but very efficient. It is about 5 Km. from the historic center.
PISA: The Galileo Galilei Airport is well served by budget airlines including Ryanair, Easyjet, and British Airways also offers a good service from Gatwick. Terravision operates a bus service from Pisa to Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence. There is also a train from Pisa airport which runs directly to Florence but the service is not frequent. Alternatively, you can take a bus or taxi to Pisa central station (about 8 minutes) and take the train from there. See www.trenitalia.it for the train timetables.
BOLOGNA: G. Marconi Airport is served by Easyjet and Ryanair. You can take a bus from the airport to Bologna central station and a train to Florence from there. The journey takes approximately one hour with the Eurostar service. The Eurostar service normally has to be booked in advance so you may have to take a slower Regionale train. See www.trenitalia.it for the train timetables.
ROME: from the Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) Airport you have to take the train to the central railway station Roma Termini (distance: about 15 Km.) and then the train to Florence (distance: about 280 Km.). See www.trenitalia.it for the train timetables.
MILAN: from the Malpensa or Linate Airports there are buses which take you to the central railway station of Milan (distance: Malpensa about 45 Km. and Linate 10 Km.). Then you have to take the train to Florence (distance: about 300 Km.). See www.trenitalia.it for the train timetables.
By train: from the main European and Italian railway stations to the central railway station Firenze Santa Maria Novella.
By bus: there are many bus lines which take you from the main European cities directly to Florence. The most famous is Eurolines.
By car: from the Italian motorways (“autostrade”) to the exit of Firenze Nord
(from Bologna), to the exit of Firenze Mare (from Genoa), to the exit of Firenze Sud
or Firenze Certosa (from Rome).
| Distances from Florence | |
| Siena | 70 Km |
| Lucca | 75 Km |
| Arezzo | 80 Km |
| Pisa | 90 Km |
| Viareggio | 100 Km |
| Orbetello | 200 Km |
| Bologna | 110 Km |
| Perugia | 160 Km |
| Venice | 270 Km |
| Rome | 280 Km |
| Milan | 300 Km |
| Naples | 500 Km |
LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONS
By bus: Public transportation in Florence is widely used. City buses (orange buses, but the newer models are a deep purple and white color) are run by ATAF and LI-NEA. Ordinary (a single-use 90-minute ticket) and multiple-ride tickets (four 90 minute rides on one single ticket) can be purchased from authorized sales points (bars which are coffee shops here, tobacconists, newsagents: anyone with “ATAF” stickers on their shop windows) and from the ATAF booth in Piazza Stazione. See www.ataf.net
How to use buses in Florence?
There are three doors on the ATAF buses, the front, and back ones are for getting on and the middle one is for getting off. After you get on, make your way to the nearby “ticket validating” machine and put your ticket in. The date and time is then printed on the ticket, starting the time validity of your ticket. You basically have 90 minutes on your ticket, so you could get on and off onto different buses and you use the same ticket.