Rome to Florence & Pisa: Day Trip with Guided Tour

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/18

Duration14h

GroupUp to 30

LanguagesEN · ES

Mobile ticketAccepted

Two Cities, One Long Day from Rome

You ride four hours to Pisa, spend free time at the Leaning Tower and Cathedral, then four more hours to Florence where you explore Piazza Santa Croce, the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria at your own pace with a guide on hand. The bilingual tour leader travels with you the whole day, and if you choose the audio guide option, you get detailed commentary on Florence's landmarks through your phone. Transport, the guide and the itinerary are all arranged—you just show up at pickup.

14h

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Pisa and Florence highlights

Visit Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa
See Pisa Cathedral
Learn about Leaning Tower of Pisa
Travel to Florence
Stop at Piazza Santa Croce
Walk around Piazza del Duomo
View Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
See 15th-century Dominican church frescoes
Cross Ponte Vecchio bridge
Explore Piazza della Signoria

The Experience

The bus fills up fast at the Rome pickup, and you'll notice right away that this isn't a leisurely pace. Your bilingual guide boards with a clipboard and a matter-of-fact tone—she's done this route maybe a hundred times, and she knows exactly how much ground you can cover if everyone stays on schedule. The four-hour drive to Pisa gives you time to settle in, and she uses it to talk through what's coming: the Leaning Tower, the Cathedral in Piazza dei Miracoli, then the longer push to Florence. Nobody's pretending this is relaxing, but that's also what makes it work.

Pisa comes first, and you get free time in Piazza dei Miracoli to walk around the tower, take the photos everyone takes, and actually look at the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta up close—the one with the marble bands and the medieval Gothic weight to it. The tower really does lean both ways if you know the history; it started tilting one direction during construction, then shifted the other way as they kept building. You're not rushed here, but you're not lingering either. The guide meets you back at the bus at a set time, and the second leg to Florence begins.

Florence hits differently because you've got more freedom. The guide walks you through Piazza Santa Croce first—that's where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried, along with Dante and Machiavelli, all in the Basilica di Santa Croce—and then you're loose in the city. Piazza del Duomo is where the octagonal dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore sits, the one Brunelleschi designed with 4 million bricks and no one thought was possible at the time. You can wander to Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge that survived World War II bombing, and see the jeweler shops built right into the sides. Piazza della Signoria is the civic heart, where thermal baths used to be and where a copy of Michelangelo's David now stands in place of the original. If you've booked the audio guide option, you download it on the bus (Android 5.0 or later, or iOS—bring headphones) and it walks you through the landmarks at your own speed.

The return to Rome is another four hours, and that's when the day catches up with you. The guide is still there if you have questions, but mostly people are quiet, watching the landscape roll back. This works if you're staying in Rome and want to see both cities without arranging separate transport and tickets, but it's not for anyone who needs to move slowly or who gets worn out by long bus rides and walking on tight timing. Bring water, wear comfortable shoes, and know that you'll be moving the whole time you're not on the bus.

What’s included

Your day includes pickup from Rome, the air-conditioned bus journey to Pisa and Florence, a bilingual guide who travels with you the entire time, and free time to explore Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, then Piazza Santa Croce, Piazza del Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
If you select the audio guide option, you'll receive instructions to download it to your smartphone (Android 5.0+ or iOS) before the tour, and it guides you through Florence's landmarks while you walk.
The return journey to Rome is included, with the guide available throughout if you have questions.

Good to know

Moderate physical levelStroller friendlyPublic transport nearbyNot for pregnant travelersNot for back problems

Operated by Amigo Tours Spain

Is this one for you?Right for travelers based in Rome who want to see both Florence and Pisa in one day without arranging separate transport and tickets. Expect a full day of travel and walking on a tight schedule—four hours each way by bus, plus several hours on foot in both cities—which is what makes fitting two major destinations into a single departure possible.