Continuing a series of publications on transport between the most remarkable cities of Italy, our today's post is devoted to the question: How to get from Rome to Florence and / or from Florence to Rome. Both cities are in the top five of our impromptu TOP-10 ranking of the most interesting cities in Italy, and both are strongly recommended by travel agencies specializing in the Apennine Peninsula.
Distance from Rome to Florence "in a straight line" - 274 km. However, only planes fly in a straight line. If you use land transport, you get a little more.
In a good way, one way or another you can "hit the road" in one day, or you can use Florence as an intermediate point of travel between Rome and rich sights, cities of Northern Italy. Be that as it may, we, by tradition, will consider all the possible travel options, talking about the strengths and weaknesses of each of them, and we will leave the final choice to you.
From Rome to Florence by Train
If we talk about the most convenient and quick option to get from Rome to Florence, of course, this is a train.
The latter depart from Roma Termini and Roma Tiburtina stations in Rome to Santa Maria Novella in Florence so often that whatever plans you have, you will almost certainly find in the schedule the departure time that is right for you. As for the travel time, the fastest trains run the distance from Rome to Florence in an hour and a half.
The fast train travels from Rome to Florence in 1.5 hours
Buy train tickets Rome-Florence it is possible both online and directly at the station. Most travelers, especially those who visited Italian stations at the height of the season, find the first option much more convenient, since it allows you to avoid long lines at the station.
In addition, the principle applies on Italian railways: the earlier the purchase, the cheaper the ticket price. Respectively, immediately before departure prices reach their peak. Finally, on popular ticket routes before departure, it may well not be on sale. And the Rome-Florence route is considered the most popular in Italy.
To get an idea of how critical everything can be at the station itself, watch this short video that we shot in 2017. And by the way, be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel - there are many useful things for travelers to Italy:
It is most convenient to get acquainted with the train schedule and purchase tickets on the Omio.ru website. It is good because it shows the schedule of not only the largest railway operator, but also smaller companies, whose tickets are usually cheaper. And this sometimes helps to save very nice.
For an instant purchase, a bank payment card is enough. A purchased ticket for a fast train arrives at your e-mail address as a PDF file in a few minutes. The ticket must be printed and carried with you on a trip.
By the way, few people know that buying tickets through Omio, you can get a discount of 10 Euros, if the purchase amount is more than 40 Euros, you can take tickets for several people or round-trip. To do this, you need to go through a short registration in the service at this special link, and when paying you will have the opportunity to apply your discount. BlogoItaliano described this way of saving in full detail in a separate article.
Important: The 10 Euro discount is valid only on the first purchase. If you are traveling with a large company, send your travel companions a link to register with Omio so that they too can get a discount when buying tickets.
The main sights of Florence are within walking distance
Please note that tickets forfast train Rome Florence issued with an already reserved seat on the train and indicating the time of departure. And this means that you just need to have it with you and present it to the control.
Since there are several train stations in Florence, when choosing tickets, travelers should better focus on Santa Maria Novella - this is the main station of the city, and it is within walking distance from all the main attractions.
Important! Forslow Regionale class trains, a trip between Rome and Florence takes more than 3 hours, you may need to reserve a place, for this you need to go separately to the ticket office at the train station and compost the ticket. Composters on Italian railways are installed before entering the platform.
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From Rome to Florence by bus
Another way to get from Rome to Florence and back is to use the bus. The European bus carrier Flixbus daily carries out about 10 flights between cities in each direction. Travel time is from 3.5 to 7 hours.
In Rome, buses leave from Fiumicino Airport and from Tiburtina Bus Station. In Florence, the main bus station is at Piazzale Montelungo - not far from Santa Maria Novella Station. You can check the current schedule and ticket prices on this page.
From Rome to Florence by car
Driving in major cities in Italy is another challenge even for an experienced driver. Especially when it comes to the historical center of Rome. If you are still inspired by the thought of traveling from Rome to Florence by carthen it makes sense to rent an "iron horse" as far as possible from the city center. This, by the way, in most cases will cost less.
Rent a car directly at Rome Airport.
The distance from Rome to Florence by motorway is about 275 km and can be covered in 3-3.5 hours. The good news is that most of the way runs along the A1 motorway, which is one of the most beautiful in Italy. The bad one is that in addition to gasoline and the cost of renting a car, you will have to budget for the use of the autobahn, which will increase your costs by about 18 euros.
If you still decide to rent a car, then in order to save money, it makes sense to do this through a car rental price comparison service. We at BlogoItaliano regularly use the Rentalcars project of the same company that Booking.com had once created.
Rentalcars online compares prices and terms of the largest car rentals and very quickly allows you to find the most profitable option. This is much more convenient than going to all sites on your own, writing everything down on a piece of paper and then, already at the car rental itself, to find out that the service is still not including, say, insurance. Everything will be transparent right there. Moreover, car rental in Italy is famous for its affordability.
| Check car rental prices ››› |
From Rome to Florence by plane
A plane is not the best solution to get from Rome to Florence. Due to the small distance between cities, it may be difficult to find direct flights.
In addition, the airports in both Rome and Florence are located outside the city, and therefore, in addition to the direct flight and all security procedures, you will need to spend another hour in Rome and about 30 minutes in Florence to travel to the airport. Thus, even with a direct flight, the road will take at least 4 hours.
At the same time, the main stations both in Rome and in Florence are located in the very center of the city, and the train runs a distance of 1.5 hours. So is a plane needed for this?
1 day excursion from Rome to Florence
You can get from Rome to Florence not only by public transport, but also as part of a full-day field trip.
Such tours from Rome are performed regularly and include a round-trip bus transfer, as well as a full sightseeing tour of the city center with a Russian guide. During the trip, travelers visit all the main attractions of Florence: the Cathedral of Santa Croce, the Ponte Vecchio bridge, Piazza Duomo and Signoria and others.
Tour to Florence involves a sightseeing tour of the city
What is not included in the trip is sightseeing tours themselves, but if you wish, you can order the organizers a visit to the Uffizi Gallery or Pitti Palace to choose from.
You can book a trip from Rome to Florence with the help of the Lela guide, whom BlogoItaliano described in detail in this article. Just email Lele email protected or through the feedback form under this article, and she will contact you.
We only recommend writing in advance, because a tour from Rome to Florence is one of the most popular outings from the Italian capital, and often all places on the bus are scheduled several days in advance.
More details about the most popular excursions in Rome and the Vatican on BlogoItaliano can be found here and here, respectively.
Reaching Florence
If you are planning an independent trip to Florence, then you need to be prepared for the fact that there are a lot of attractions and covering them all as part of a day trip is quite problematic.
That is why watch a city better with a guide. This will not only allow you to better learn about the history of Florence, but also to see those places that are easy to miss during an independent walk. A detailed review of the Russian-speaking guide in Florence, as well as contact contacts can be found in this article.
To help you sort out which of Florence's sights are worth looking at first, BlogoItaliano recorded a separate video:
In the video, I mention the service where you can pre-purchase tickets to the Uffizi Gallery so as not to lose half a day in the queues (link), as well as one of the most popular BlogoItaliano routes - in Florence in 1 day.
This is a ready-made step-by-step plan for visiting the city. inside which you will find:
- A carefully thought-out walking route covering 25 of Florence's main attractions
- Information on why each of them is interesting, including the mode of operation and ticket prices
- A detailed route map in Google Maps and tags for maps.me to transfer an online map with all objects to your phone and use without internet
- A PDF version of the route that you can print and take with you
- 6 viewing platforms from which it is best to take a photo
- A selection of colorful places where to eat and where to have a tight lunch
- How to get on free and budget excursions in Florence
- Where, for free or for a nominal fee, take an audio guide around the city that can replace a live tour
The route will greatly facilitate your trip and allow you to cover the most important thing in 1 day in Florence. To learn more about BlogoItaliano routes about the most interesting cities in Italy, visit this page.
Another very useful solution for independent travelers is the ready-made Florence audio guide for the iPhone link, which presents short informative audio stories about 56 of the most interesting places in the city.
The audio tour works without the Internet, and all the route objects are marked on a convenient map of the city. The application also has the ability to connect GPS to track your position and find the path to the excursion objects.
In the trial version, immediately after loading, the first 5 points are available, and the full version of the entire audio guide of 56 objects will cost only a few Euros. It is much cheaper than any city tour with a live guide. You can download a free trial on your iPhone on this page.
For those who decide to stay in Florence for longer than 1 day, we recommend this selection of hotels in the city center - within walking distance of the main attractions.
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