AirScrew

Romantic long weekend coming up (4 days/5 nights).

Any suggestions please on good restaurants,
streets/areas to avoid or head for,
must see stuff,
hints on making it less painful.

Thanks.

27mm

Hi AirsCrew, spent a very nice weekend with the Memsahib a while ago. Try to fly into / out of Peretola airport, which is right on the edge of the city, rather than Pisa. Florence is easily explored on foot - major sights are the Ponte Vecchio (best in the evening, at sunset), the Uffizi gallery and a beautiful park with stunning views over the river Arno and Florence. Try to find Dante's house and the house where the Brownings lived. There's a great little restaurant with a small terrace overlooking the Arno river - can't remember the name, but you'll easily see the balcony from the Ponte - a very romantic setting for either lunch or dinner - be sure to reserve a table specifically on the balcony. For us, Florence is one of the most romantic and underrated european cities. Enjoy!

cats_five

The Academia has the *original* David, along with the Prisoners (uncomplete statues) and a Pieta all by Michaelangelo was stunning. There is also Fiesoli to the north, with lots of Roman remains - I caught the bus to it. And the Duomo, and lots of other cultural icons.

There are so many places to eat, most of them are good.

I went to the food market which was amazing, brought stuff for a picnic there when I went to Fiesoli.

There are also lots of expensive shops, especially for leather goods and jewellry....

Now the center is pedestrianised it will be much better than when we visited, just about anywhere in the center is worth visiting.

sooms

I honeymooned there four years ago and a great time.

Agree with what everyone's said so far regarding Uffizi/academia etc..

The queue to get into both these places can be very long though- and I mean long!

We bought advance tickets for the uffizi from the office opposite the main entrance to the museum which worked well enough as we avoided the queue. If memory serves me right you are told what time you will be admitted and you go to different entrance avoiding the queue if that makes sense.

We went to the Academia about 2hrs before closing and got virtually straight in.

Eating out was good- avoid the 'touristy' places with the boy on the door trying to entice you in; that was the only duff meal we had.

Virtually everywhere is walkable- enjoy