What's the must-see thing in Florence?

The dome of Florence Cathedral, not the Uffizi. The Uffizi is the correct second answer, but great paintings can be seen in Paris or Madrid, and nowhere else lets you walk inside the double shell of a brick dome that Filippo Brunelleschi raised without wooden centering. The climb is 463 steps. There is no lift, the stairwell stone stays cold to the touch even in July, and the passages narrow to shoulder width near the top. Partway up you step onto a gallery an arm's length from Giorgio Vasari's Last Judgment fresco, close enough to see the brush marks on the devils. Then the lantern, the wind, and the terracotta roofs of Florence running out to the Fiesole hills. Skip it if you are claustrophobic or have bad knees. Giotto's bell tower next door has 414 steps, wider landings, and the better photograph, since the dome is in it.

The dome is sold only through the Brunelleschi Pass, currently about €30, which at the 13 October 2026 rate of 0.8938 euros to the dollar is roughly $34. You pick the dome slot when you buy the Brunelleschi Pass, and it likely cannot be changed afterwards. The pass stays valid for three days and also covers the bell tower, the Florence Baptistery and the Opera del Duomo Museum, so spread those out. Don't book the climb for your arrival day, because jet lag and a spiral staircase make a poor pair, and the first slot on day two, at around 8.15am, tends to be the quietest. The queue on Piazza del Duomo for the free cathedral floor can run 45 minutes, for an interior that is plainer than the green and white marble outside suggests. Shoulders and knees must be covered at the cathedral door.

The Uffizi Gallery comes second, and what it needs from you is a plan, not stamina. Tickets currently run around €25 in high season, the gallery is closed on Mondays, and booking a timed entry slot could save you an hour on the pavement under the Vasari loggia. Head straight to the second floor for the Botticelli rooms, where Birth of Venus and Primavera hang a few steps apart, then find Leonardo's Annunciation. Ninety minutes is enough for a first visit. By 11am the Botticelli rooms sound like a station concourse, with guides murmuring into headsets in six languages, so book the opening slot or one after 4pm. If Viator shows the morning sold out, check GetYourGuide before giving up: the two resellers often hold separate allocations.

Third is the Bargello National Museum on Via del Proconsolo, and this is where we part with most lists. The Galleria dell'Accademia has Michelangelo's David, 5.17 metres of marble, and it is worth seeing if you can get a slot. That said, the Accademia is one statue and a long queue on Via Ricasoli. The Bargello holds Donatello's bronze David, early Michelangelo and a stone courtyard that was once the city's jail yard, for around €10 and often with no line at all. It tends to close in the early afternoon on many days, so go in the morning. A full-size copy of Michelangelo's David stands free outside Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria. Tuesday 13 October was clear and 18.7°C at 7pm, and on an evening like that the square is the place to eat a schiacciata from All'Antico Vinaio on Via dei Neri, warm and salty with olive oil, while the campanile bells carry over the rooftops. Ponte Vecchio is a five-minute walk west from there.