Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, is a must-see place for art lovers. The city itself feels like an outdoor museum, and you’ll most likely need weeks to admire its beauty. The gorgeous Italian city is home to numerous iconic landmarks and masterpieces, and you can feel lost if you don’t pre-plan your visits. Therefore, to avoid that, I narrowed down the best art tours in Florence and included their prices.
So, before starting with the best Florence art tours, I’d like to tell you that you can, of course, visit every place mentioned in this guide independently. However, many of the tours you’ll see below are guided tours. The reason is that a guided tour will give you a better insight into the places you visit. Moreover, these art tours in Florence guarantee that you’ll skip the line. If you decide to visit a museum or landmark spontaneously, you’ll probably have to queue for hours.
Therefore, it’s always better to pre-book your art tours or at least your skip-the-line ticket. Otherwise, you might lose valuable vacation time. That said, guided tours to the best art museums in Florence and skip-the-line tickets are this guide’s focus.
So, let’s start now with the best art tours you can take right now in Florence, Italy.
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The best art tours in Florence (with prices)
The Uffizi Gallery tour
The Uffizi Gallery is probably the most iconic museum in Florence. Considered one of the first modern museums, the Uffizi is famous worldwide for hosting masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Located next to the Piazza della Signoria and close to Ponte Vecchio in Florence’s historical center, the museum is a must-see for your Florence vacation.
You’ll sometimes have to book months in advance to get a ticket. For many people, that’s the best art museum in Florence and, therefore, the most desired one. Moreover, all tickets are timed, meaning you’ll have to enter at a specific timeframe. If you’d like to visit the gallery on your own, you can pre-book your Uffizi ticket here.
For the art lovers among us, there are plenty of guided tours that guarantee an excellent experience. Every Uffizi guided tour will offer you loads of info about Renaissance masters like Michelangelo or Botticelli and is provided by professional guides. Moreover, a small group tour means you’ll interact better with your guide. Plus, you’ll skip the line and enter straight inside.
Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Price: from 55 euros.
How to book: Book the Uffizi Gallery small group tour here.
Explore the Florence Cathedral & The Opera del Duomo Museum
That’s one of the most action-packed art tours in Florence. Florence is home to a world-famous Cathedral called Santa Maria del Fiore. Your guided tour will start here, and you’ll learn everything about the Baptistery of Saint John. Then, you’ll enter the Florence Duomo to admire the mosaics and the Crypt of Santa Raparata. Later, you’ll visit the Opera del Duomo Museum, which hosts masterpieces like Michelangelo’s Pieta and Donatello’s Maria Maddalena.
Duration: 2-3 hours.
Price: from 69 euros per person.
How to book: Book the Duomo tour here.
Leonardo Interactive Museum (skip the line)
Visiting the Leonardo Interactive Museum is one of the most original things to do in Florence. Just a few steps away from the Accademia Gallery, the Leonardo Interactive Museums hosts fifty machines based on the codes of Leonardo Da Vinci. You can actually interact with most of these machines and figure out how they work and what’s their purposes. It’s such a fascinating experience: you won’t have every day the opportunity to -somehow- explore the brain of a genius.
The museum has four distinct sections: earth, water, fire, and air. Moreover, you will also see some of Leonardo’s original paintings and sketches. Last but not least, several multimedia stations and displays will inform you about his life and work. Waiting times are long, and pre-booking is a must.
Duration: 50 minutes.
Price: from 8 euros per person.
How to book: Book here your Leonardo Interactive Museum ticket.
Michelangelo’s David entrance ticket
Michelangelo’s David is probably the most iconic sculpture of Florentine art. Once a symbol of civil liberties for the Republic of Florence, the Biblical hero David became almost a synonym of the Italian Renaissance. A timed entry ticket to Accademia Gallery will give you access to the impressive statue. Still, there’s more Michelangelo to admire: “The Prisoners” and “St. Matthew” are also within the Accademia’s premises.
What’s also important is that, unlike other museums, you can spend as much time as you want here. Well, I think I shouldn’t repeat it, but I’ll do it: the waiting times are very long. The ticket guarantees you skip the line and proceed straight into the Accademia.
Duration: Valid for one day.
Price: from 19,50 euros per person.
How to book: Book here your Accademia ticket.
*Guided Tour: You can, of course, book a guided tour of the Accademia and learn everything about its exhibits. The tour lasts 1 hour, and prices start from 47 euros per person. You can book the guided Accademia tour here.
Florence in a nutshell: Florence Walking Tour with Accademia & Uffizi
Now, if you are on a short visit to Florence, you might consider taking this guided tour. As its name suggests, it’s a guided Florence walking tour that will take you through the city, and your guide will share info about every place you see. Moreover, you’ll have access to both Uffizi and Accademia (skip-the-line tickets included).
That’s a pricier option, but you’ll see plenty of things in a short time. So, if you’re on a day trip to Florence, that’s the art tour you should book.
Duration: 3 to 4 hours (depending on what you choose).
Price: it currently starts from 117 euros per person.
How to book: Book this combo tour here.
Explore the Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti)
The Palazzo Pitti is one of the most iconic works of Filippo Brunelleschi, dating back to 1458. Once the home of the powerful Medici family, this Renaissance palace nowadays hosts an impressive art collection. The Medicis managed to acquire several masterpieces, and among the exhibits, you’ll see works from Caravaggio, Titia, Rubens, and Raphael.
Specifically, the Pitti Palace hosts the Palatine Gallery (16th and 17th-century art) on its first floor and the Royal Apartments, presenting furnishings from a 19th-century remodeling. On the other hand, on the second floor of the Palazzo, you’ll find the Gallery of Modern Art.
As is the case in Florence art tours, you’ll have to enter the Palazzo Pitti at a specific timeslot.
Duration: The ticket is valid for 1 day.
Price: from 16 euros per person.
How to book: Book here your Palazzo Pitti ticket.
*Guided tour: You can also book a guided tour to Palazzo Pitti, Palatina Gallery, and the adjacent Boboli Gardens. The tour lasts 3 hours and currently costs 98 euros per person. You can book this combo tour here.
Stroll around the Boboli Gardens
Straight behind the Palazzo Pitti, you’ll find the Boboli Gardens. Designed for -surprise, surprise- the Medici family, the Boboli Gardens is one of the earliest examples of Italian gardens. That’s an open-air museum full of Renaissance statues and fountains. Apart from these, you’ll also come across the Grotta del Buontalenti, an artificial cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites and statues of Roman goddesses, sheep, and shepherds.
Duration: the ticket is valid for 1 day.
Price: from 11,20 euros per person.
How to book: Book your ticket for the Boboli Gardens.
Palazzo Vecchio (small guided tour)
If you can’t have enough of the Medici family, taking a tour of Palazzo Vecchio is a great idea. This guided tour is all about art and history, where the lives of the Medicis connect to famous artworks. The building is stunning, featuring decorated ceilings and frescoes, while statues by Michelangelo and Donatello seem to supervise everything.
There’s also a room filled with ancient maps -and through them, you’ll learn a lot about the powerful Medici family. A visit to Palazzo Vecchio feels like a history lesson, and time-traveling in a past era will show how life unfolded once upon a time in Florence. Plus, you’ll learn the story of a secret fresco created by Leonardo da Vinci…
Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Price: from 25 euros.
How to book: Book the small group tour to Palazzo Vecchio.
The best art tours in Florence: final thoughts
Apart from admiring the city’s beauty, most travelers visit Florence as part of their education. The impressive city of the Renaissance hosts an impressive number of architectural and artistic masterpieces. After visiting Florence a couple of times, I can assure you there’s never enough time to see everything. However, carefully planning your journey to Florence will help you navigate the city and see as much as possible.
The Florence art tours mentioned in this guide will give a good impression of the city’s treasures. If you are into Renaissance art history and would love to see as much as possible, pre-book your entry tickets or guided tours. The waiting lines are long, and it’s a pity to queue for hours only to find that there are no tickets left. So, plan your visit and enjoy this spectacular city.
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Last Updated on October 2, 2024 by George Pavlopoulos