Florence Hop on Hop off Bus Tours

Renaissance Florence, with a population of 400,000, is not an excessively large city, but it is one of the cities with the most sights to see in Italy. Taking a tourist bus will make your stay much more comfortable.

The most comfortable and practical way to visit Florence, especially if you have little time or it is your first trip to this city that has remained unchanged since the 16th century, is with this tourist bus of the company Sightseeing Experience.

Thanks to it, you will be able to get an overall idea of the city comfortably seated and from the heights of its convertible deck, doing a complete tour of almost 2 hours or using it as a means of transport to get in the fastest and easiest way to the most important places of the city that you want to know.

What's included in this ticket

• Free Wi-Fi on board
• Free "Sightseeing Experience" mobile app to listen to the audio guide in English and 7 other languages while you see the city and with a recommended walking tour to discover it on your own.
• Access to the Sightseeing Experience visitor centre inside the ticket sales area at the SMN train station

Itinerary

Piazzale Michelangelo

The best way to get to this viewpoint, one of the best in the city of Florence, is by bus. Therefore, the fact that it is included in the route of this tourist bus is a great advantage. From Michelangelo Square, located on the plateau south of the Arno River, you will enjoy a bronze replica of Michelangelo's David and, of course, some incredible panoramic views of Florence that I recommend you to take pictures at midday, the ideal time to take the best snapshots.

Florence Duomo

The wonderful Florence Cathedral, popularly known as the Duomo and officially as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, is one of the largest and most important churches not only in Italy, but in all of Europe.

Built over several centuries since 1296, Il Duomo is famous for its Giotto-designed bell tower, its impressive green and white marble façade, and the bronze doors with themed reliefs in its Baptistery, including the 'Door of Paradise' to the east with scenes from the Old Testament.

Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore

The incomparable dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, 114 metres high and 45 metres in diameter, deserves special mention. Today it can be visited by climbing the 463 steps that lead up to its belvedere. Its construction aroused great scepticism and remained a mystery for centuries, as it was considered too large and heavy for the structure of the basilica that supports it.

However, it remains undisturbed thanks to the genius of its author, the great Filippo Brunelleschi, who spent 14 years creating it, a century after the completion of the cathedral.

Piazza del Duomo

The Florence Cathedral is located in the Piazza del Duomo, where other fundamental buildings of the city, the Battistero and the Campanile, also stand, making it the most famous place in Florence together with the Ponte Vecchio.

To round off your visit to the Duomo of Florence, besides getting there in the most comfortable way with your tourist bus, get one of the fast-track tickets to the Florence Cathedral, since they include the entrance to its dome, baptistery, crypt and campanile without waiting. If you are interested in exploring this option more, I leave you here linked my practical guide about Florence Duomo Tickets and Tours: how to buy, prices and schedules.

Pitti Palace

Another must-see in Florence is the Palazzo Pitti, the former residence of dukes, important families such as the Pitti and Medici, the King of Italy and even Napoleon's military barracks, now converted into an important museum.

The exterior of this large palace does not reveal its spectacular interior, full of galleries with the remarkable works of art that its inhabitants have been collecting since it was built in 1458 and the famous Boboli Gardens, a haven of peace and beauty in the middle of Florence. The most remarkable thing about the Pitti Palace, in my opinion, are the views over the beautiful Tuscan landscape, a true Renaissance painting.

Church of Santa Croce

If the Duomo is Florence's most famous and largest cathedral, the Church of Santa Croce is its most interesting temple. It is the largest Franciscan church in the world, 115 metres long and 38 metres wide, and the true pantheon of the city, with almost 300 tombs, including the tombs of Michelangelo himself, Machiavelli, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Galileo Galilei.

The sculptures, paintings and frescoes inside this church, built in 1294, are truly magnificent and the work of artists such as Donatello, Giotto and Brunelleschi, among others. As the Pantheon of Florence, the Santa Croce accumulates tombstones of illustrious personages from the 14th to the 19th century.

If you found this article about how to visit Florence by tourist bus interesting, don't miss some of my other articles with information that will be of great help for you to plan your trip to this magnificent city, such as: Florence Duomo Tickets and Tours: how to buy, prices and schedules, Uffizi Gallery Tickets and Tours in Florence: how to buy, prices and schedules y Accademia Gallery Tickets and Tours in Florence: how to buy, prices and discounts.

To know in detail how to go from this city to other interesting areas, in these guides you have all the necessary information: Cinque Terre Day Trips from Florence, Siena Day Trips from Florence y Pisa Day Trips from Florence.