Florence & Tuscany Guidebook

In Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany you'll find in-depth Rick-tested information on:

• Practicalities
  • Easy-to-follow maps (including color maps of Tuscany, central Florence, and Siena)
  • ​Trip planning: When to go, pre-trip checklist, festivals and holidays, recommended books and movies
  • Getting around Florence by public transportation
  • Advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • Transportation in Italy: Trains, buses, and driving
  • Detailed advice on managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints
• Recommended sights and activities
• Recommended hotels and restaurants
• Florence self-guided walks
  • Renaissance walk through the city center
  • Oltrarno neighborhood
• Florence self-guided museum/sight tours
  • Accademia Gallery
  • Uffizi Gallery
  • Bargello
  • Museum of San Marco
  • Duomo Museum
  • Palazzo Vecchio
  • Medici Chapels
  • Medici-Riccardi Palace
  • Santa Maria Novella
  • Santa Croce
  • Brancacci Chapel
  • Pitti Palace
  • Galileo Science Museum

• Siena
  • Including a self-guided city walk and in-depth info on the Duomo, Duomo Museum, and Civic Museum
  • Nearby: Crete Senesi self-guided driving tour
• Pisa
  • Including a self-guided walk and in-depth info on the Leaning Tower, Duomo, and Field of Miracles
• Lucca
• Tuscan hill towns
  • Volterra
  • San Gimignano
  • Montepulciano
  • Pienza
  • Montalcino
  • Cortona
  • Nearby: Self-guided driving tours through the Heart of Tuscany (through the Val d'Orcia) and Brunello Wine Country, plus a side trip to the island of Elba
• And more
  • Florentine and Tuscan history, culture, and cuisine (including recommendations for cooking courses)
  • Florence with children
  • Florence shopping and nightlife
  • Handy Italian survival phrases

Also included: a 10¾" x 19½" full-color foldout Planning Map with a fairly detailed overview of the city center and its sights (with a close-up of the historic core showing the route of our self-guided Renaissance Walk), plus an overview of Greater Florence, a route map for our recommended drives in the Tuscan countryside, and a large map showing all of Tuscany.

Should I get this Florence & Tuscany book in addition to either Rick's complete Italy guidebook or his Best of Italy guidebook?

Probably not. If you're only spending a few days in Tuscany, as part of a longer trip in Italy, the Tuscany chapters of either Italy guidebook are all you're likely to need.

If, however, you're spending four days or more in Florence — or, say, at least week in Tuscany as a whole — the extra information in Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany can be worthwhile. It offers more in-depth sightseeing information for Florence and Siena, several additional self-guided city walks and museum/sight tours, chapters on Cortona and Elba (not covered in either Italy book), and more specifics on shopping and nightlife in Florence, plus suggestions for kids. Other information is generally the same, especially compared to the complete Rick Steves Italy guidebook, which includes nearly all the hotels, restaurants, and nitty-gritty practical advice for the region that you'll find in this Tuscany-specific book. (But compared to Rick Steves Best of Italy, the Florence & Tuscany guidebook does have more hotel and restaurant listings, and in general far more comprehensive coverage of small-town Tuscany.)

What's the difference between this Florence & Tuscany guidebook and Rick's Pocket Florence guide?

The biggest difference: The full-size Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany is not only a comprehensive guide to Florence, but also covers Rick's favorite small-town Tuscan destinations.

Rick Steves Pocket Florence works best for people taking a short trip, or perhaps a return trip, to Florence — and not venturing beyond it. Like our other Pocket guides, Pocket Florence is smaller than the complete guidebook (and in full color), but still offers our best sightseeing advice and a handful of self-guided city walks and museum tours.

For travelers who want to delve deep into Florence, or travel elsewhere in Tuscany, the full-size guidebook is a better option. It offers complete chapters for plenty more Tuscany destinations, as well as more substantial (and more frequently updated) advice on Florence itself: practicalities, sightseeing, self-guided tours, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, kids' activities, and the city's history and culture.

Should I get Rick Steves Snapshot: Hill Towns of Central Italy in addition to this Florence & Tuscany guidebook?

Only if you'd like coverage on Assisi, Orvieto, or Civita di Bagnoregio, none of which are covered in Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany (but are covered in Rick Steves Italy). But the full-length Florence & Tuscany guidebook already includes all the information on Tuscan destinations that's in the Snapshot: Hill Towns guide (and even has a little more on Siena and Pisa).

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in our guidebooks on Italy, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.