When Is the Best Time to Visit Florence?

No single month is best for Florence; it depends on how you take heat, rain and crowds. By the 1991-2020 averages, August is the hottest month, with an average high of 32.5 °C, and July is close behind; November is the wettest, with 118 mm of rain, and July the driest, with 26 mm. By the Tuscan tourism observatory’s counts, January and February were the quietest months in both 2024 and 2025, while the busiest moved from July in 2024 to May in 2025. Whatever the month, the week shapes a museum visit too: the Uffizi, the Accademia and Palazzo Pitti close on Mondays, and on the first Sunday of every month the state museums are free, with no bookings taken.

Florence weather by month

The figures are the Aeronautica Militare’s 1991-2020 averages for Florence’s Peretola airport station, published by LaMMA, the Tuscan region’s weather service. January is the coldest month, with average lows of 2.1 °C, and November has the most rainy days, 10.4 on average, against 3.0 in July.

Source: Aeronautica Militare data for Firenze Peretola, 1991-2020 normals, published by Consorzio LaMMA, Regione Toscana; mean daily highs and lows. Long-term averages, not a forecast.

What is the rainy season in Florence?

Autumn. October, November and December are the three wettest months, 310 mm between them, more than a third of the year’s 821 mm by our sum. Summer is the dry season.

Palazzo Vecchio shuts the top of the Arnolfo Tower in the rain, leaving only the walkway open, with no refund. The highlights walk featured on the walking tours page, Tour-Tale’s Renaissance and Medici walk and the Fat Tire Tours - Italy bike tour run rain or shine by their listings. My Green Tour srl’s two bike tours become walking tours in bad weather, and if poor weather cancels StarFlorence’s walk, you are offered another date or a full refund.

When is Florence busiest?

The region’s tourism observatory publishes monthly counts of nights spent in hotels and other registered accommodation in the Florence area, short-term rentals excluded. Our sums of its monthly files:

The quiet months hold steady and the peak does not: July in 2024, May in 2025, a year in which June brought the most arrivals (495,571). For the first ten months of 2025, the Centro Studi Turistici, the city’s tourism research centre, found July the only month with fewer nights than the year before.

These counts leave out day trippers, about 8 million a year by the same centre’s mobile-phone estimate. Quiet is relative, too. The Uffizi’s ticketing concessionaire warns that on busy days visitors without a reservation may face long waits or find the day’s tickets gone, and the city’s tourism site says that in high season the queues at the Uffizi or the Accademia “may reach three hours”.

The year in Florence

January and February

The coldest months were also the quietest in 2024 and 2025, with 5.2% of the year’s nights each in 2025. The Boboli Gardens close at 16:30 from November to February, last entry an hour earlier. On 1 January the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, the Accademia and the Duomo’s monuments are closed.

March to May

Spring warms fast, from an average high of 16.3 °C in March to 24.5 °C in May. May was the busiest month of 2025 and the second busiest of 2024. The state museums are free on 25 April, Liberation Day, and the Duomo’s monuments close on Easter Sunday. The Boboli Gardens close at 17:30 in March until the clocks go forward, then at 18:30.

Out of town, the Cinque Terre trip on the day trips page adds its boat ride from late March to October, weather permitting; the boat is not in the price and is paid on the day. The night e-bike tour on the bike tours page talks of summer evenings in its listing, and when we checked on 7 October 2026 its next date was 3 May 2027.

June to August

Summer is hot and dry, and July was the busiest month of 2024. The state museums are free on 2 June, Republic Day. The Boboli Gardens stay open until 19:10 in June, July and August. In a red-code heat alert, Palazzo Vecchio lets visitors up the Arnolfo Tower only as far as the walkway and closes the Tesoretto, the Terrace of Saturn and the mezzanine floor, with no reduction in price. From 3 July in 2026 the Vasari Corridor also opened on Friday evenings, from 19:00 to 23:00.

September and October

The rain comes back: 74 mm in September and 104 mm in October. The summer night limited-traffic zone, which shuts the centre to unauthorised cars from 23:00 to 03:00 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, ran from 2 April to the night of 3 to 4 October in 2026. The Boboli Gardens close at 18:30 until the clocks go back, then at 17:30. The Bargello adds Monday evening openings, 17:00 to 21:00, on 12, 19 and 26 October 2026.

November and December

November is the wettest month. The state museums are free on 4 November. Two Duomo closures fall in November 2026: Giotto’s Bell Tower from 9 to 13 November and Brunelleschi’s dome from 16 to 20 November. The Vasari Corridor’s Friday evenings end on 20 November, and on 30 November, the Festa della Toscana, the Bargello and the Medici Chapels open from 17:15 to 21:00. On 25 December the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens, the Accademia, the Medici Chapels, Santa Croce and the Duomo’s monuments are closed.

Day trips change too. From 1 November to 31 March the Cinque Terre trip uses the train instead of the boat, and from November to March the San Gimignano, Siena and Chianti day run by CAF Tour & Travel - Gray Line Florence leaves out Monteriggioni and returns about 30 minutes earlier.

Which days the museums close

• Mondays: the Uffizi, the Accademia, Palazzo Pitti, the Bargello and the Medici Chapels are closed, and so are the Boboli Gardens on the first and last Monday of the month. The Duomo’s monuments, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce and San Miniato al Monte are open.
• Thursdays: Palazzo Vecchio’s museum and the Arnolfo Tower close at 14:00.
• Sundays: the Cathedral, the free part of the Duomo, is closed to visitors, as it is on religious holidays. The dome’s slots run only from 12:45 to 16:30, and Santa Croce opens at 14:00.
• The first Tuesday of the month: the Opera del Duomo Museum is closed.
• The first Sunday of the month: the state museums are free, nobody takes bookings and nobody is let in ahead of the queue, so you wait your turn at the door. The Vasari Corridor and Pitti’s Royal Apartments still need a free online booking, and the Baptistery closes at 13:30. Palazzo Vecchio’s and the Duomo’s free days are for residents of the Florence metropolitan area only.

Book by the weather on the day:

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators use seasonal pricing, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Tour prices are in US dollars; museum and city charges are in euros.

What is the cheapest time to go to Florence?

No source we read prices Florence month by month, and the Uffizi, at least, does not get cheaper in winter: in 2026 it costs €25 on the day or €29 in advance all year, now that its low-season price and its early-bird ticket have gone. The tourist tax comes on top, at the rates in the Comune’s current table: €3.50 to €8.00 a person a night in hotels, by stars, and €6.00 in B&Bs, holiday flats and short lets, for at most 7 nights, with children under 12 exempt.

The savings come by the day instead: the free first Sunday at the state museums, and the Uffizi’s “Afternoon” ticket for entry from 16:00, €16 on the day or €20 in advance. Operators set the tour prices, and they use seasonal pricing. If you are after lower room prices, start with January and February, the quietest months, though we have no hotel price data to show they are cheaper.

How many days do you need in Florence?

No official body sets a number, but the city’s passes are built around three days. The Firenze Card (€85) runs for 72 hours from the first museum you enter, the Duomo’s passes are valid for 3 calendar days, and a 72-hour ticket (€38, not usable on Mondays) covers the Accademia, the Bargello, the Medici Chapels, Orsanmichele and Palazzo Davanzati.

Is 3 days in Florence too long? Not by those measures, and a third day leaves room for Siena, Pisa or the Chianti from the day trips page. Florence in one day sets out what fits into a single day, and the Florence itinerary plans two days and three.

What to be careful of in Florence

• Pickpockets. The US State Department says petty crime is common in popular tourist places and on public transport, and the UK Foreign Office warns of bag-snatching and pickpocketing at major attractions.
• Summer clothes. The Cathedral turns away bare shoulders, legs uncovered above the knee, flip-flops and hats, and the Uffizi bars swimwear and very skimpy clothes.
• Steps and fountains. The city’s police regulation bans lying on the steps of monuments and churches, eating, drinking or sleeping in public “in a plainly indecent way”, and stepping into fountains.
• Driving. The whole historic centre is a limited-traffic zone with camera gates that read every number plate, and the fines are steep.

What is a must eat in Florence?

Lampredotto, the abomasum or fourth stomach, is in the words of the region’s register of traditional foods the undisputed star of the steaming sandwiches sold from tripe vendors’ carts in Florence’s old streets. Schiacciata alla fiorentina, a sweet cake coloured with saffron and dusted with icing sugar, is found in Florence only at Carnival, says the region’s food site. The food tours page compares the guided tastings.

Sources: Consorzio LaMMA (Regione Toscana), the regional tourism observatory, the Comune di Firenze, the museums, the two Operas and the Ministry of Culture; tour details from each listing. Checked October 2026.