Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
AIR
Tuscany's main international airport (
Click here
)
is located a 10-minute drive south of
Pisa and offers flights to most major European cities.
Florence Airport
(
www.aeroporto.firenze.it
)
Also known as Amerigo Vespucci or Peretola air-
port, 5km northwest of the city centre; domestic and a handful of European flights.
BUS
Services from the
SITA bus station
(
www.sitabus.it
; Via Santa Caterina da Siena 17r; information
office 8.30am-12.30pm & 3-6pm Mon-Fri, to 12.30pm Sat)
, just west of Piazza della Stazione, are
vey limited; generally the train is better.
San Gimignano
(Poggibonsi; €7.10, 1¼ hours, 14 daily)
Siena
(€7.50, 1¼ hours, at least hourly)
Greve in Chianti
(€4.10, one hour, hourly)
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
Florence is connected by the A1 northwards to Bologna and Milan, and southwards to
Rome and Naples. The Autostrada del Mare (A11) links Florence with Pistoia, Lucca,
Pisa and the coast, but most locals use the FI-PI-LI - a
superstrada
(dual carriageway,
hence no tolls); look for blue signs saying FI-PI-LI (as in Firenze-Pisa-Livorno). Another
dual carriageway, the S2, links Florence with Siena. The much more picturesque SS67
connects the city with Pisa to the west, and Forli and Ravenna to the east.
TRAIN
Florence's central train station is
Stazione di Santa Maria Novella
(Piazza della Stazione)
. The
left-luggage counter
(Deposito Bagagliamano; Stazione di Santa Maria Novella; first 5hr €5, then per hr
€0.70; 6am-11pm)
is located on platform 16; Assistenza Disabili (Disabled Assistance)
office is on platform 5. Tickets for all trains are sold in the main ticketing hall, but you
can skip the ever-long queue and buy your tickets from the touch-screen automatic ticket-
vending machines; machines have an English option and accept cash and credit cards.
Florence is on the Rome-Milan line. Services include the following:
DESTINATION
COST
DURATION
Bologna
€24
one hour to 1¾ hours
