How do I get from the airport to Florence?

The T2 tramway is the right answer from Amerigo Vespucci Airport (FLR). You walk out of arrivals, cross about 50 meters of pavement, and you're at the Peretola stop. Buy a €1.70 ticket ($1.95) from the machine, coins or contactless, and 20 minutes later you're standing in Piazza della Stazione in front of Santa Maria Novella. The tram runs every 4 to 5 minutes during the day and every 7 to 8 minutes in the evening, with service from roughly 5am to half past midnight. The ride passes through Novoli, a residential neighborhood where Florentines actually live, all apartment blocks and corner bars with 90-cent espresso. You might notice the air shifting from jet fuel to something warmer as the tram rolls south through Via di Novoli, the smell of warm stone and baking bread from one of the forno along the route. Worth noting that the 90-minute ticket also covers ATAF city buses, so if your hotel is in San Frediano or near Piazza San Marco, you can transfer without buying another ticket.

If your flight lands after midnight, the tram is done for the night. Licensed white taxis queue outside arrivals at FLR with a flat fare of €22 ($25) to anywhere inside the centro storico, €24 on Sundays and holidays, plus €1 per bag. These are regulated fares set by the Comune di Firenze. Do not negotiate. If a driver quotes higher, walk to the next car. The ride to Piazza del Duomo takes about 15 minutes at that hour, when the streets are empty and the yellow streetlight catches the rough-cut pietra serena stone on every facade. One thing to watch for at FLR is anyone approaching you inside the terminal offering a ride. Florence is a smaller airport than Rome's Fiumicino, so the hustle is mild, but the rule still holds. Walk past them, follow the taxi signs outside, and get in the white car at the official stand. The queue at FLR is usually short. Five minutes at most.

Many budget carriers, Ryanair chief among them, fly into Pisa's Galileo Galilei Airport (PSA) instead of FLR. That's 80 km west, but the connection only has one transfer. Take the PisaMover, a short automated train, from PSA to Pisa Centrale station for €5. It runs every 8 minutes and takes about 5 minutes. From Pisa Centrale, buy a Trenitalia regional ticket to Firenze Santa Maria Novella for around €9.90. The Regionale Veloce takes 50 minutes. The slower all-stops service can take 80. Check the departure board for the word Veloce. Total door to door from PSA to Florence centro tends to run 70 to 90 minutes and costs around €15 ($17). That's a real trip, not a quick hop, so factor it into your arrival day. The Autostradale shuttle bus from PSA directly to Firenze SMN runs about €14 and 70 minutes, but the train tends to be more punctual and the connection at Pisa Centrale gives you a 10-minute buffer if you need coffee.

Sort your phone situation before you leave the airport. The free Wi-Fi at FLR is unreliable and times out after 30 minutes. An eSIM activated before your flight is the easiest option. Otherwise, a Vodafone tourist SIM from the small kiosk in arrivals runs about €20 for 5 GB over 30 days. You'll want data working by the time you step off the tram at Santa Maria Novella. Florence uses separate red and blue street-number sequences, red for commercial addresses and blue for residential, and Google Maps still struggles with them in 2026. Having offline maps downloaded for Firenze makes the difference between finding your hotel on Via dei Calzaiuoli in 3 minutes and walking the wrong direction for 15. One more thing. Do not rent a car to drive into Florence. The ZTL, the restricted traffic zone covering the entire centro storico, is enforced by automatic cameras. Fines start at €80 per entry, and your rental company will cheerfully charge them to your credit card weeks after you leave.