Budget — Florence

Florence is slightly cheaper than Rome but still sits at the upper end of Italian cities. A baseline of €110 per person per day covers a comfortable trip: a double room in a three-star hotel or characterful B&B in the centre, lunch in a neighbourhood trattoria, dinner in a good restaurant and two museum entries.

Accommodation runs below Roman prices outside peak season. A hostel bed (Hostel Plus, YoFi) costs €20-35 a night. A double in an Oltrarno or Santa Croce B&B sits between €80 and €130. Boutique hotels in the historic centre (Piazza della Repubblica, Via Tornabuoni) start at €160-250 a night. Country villas in the Fiesole hills or the Chianti, 20 km from Florence, are an attractive alternative for stays of five days or more — €80-150 per double room, but a car becomes essential.

Food is one of Florence's great pleasures, provided you step beyond the perimeter of the Uffizi and the Duomo. A full lunch (antipasto, pasta, wine, water) in a Santa Croce or Oltrarno trattoria runs €20-30 per person. A bistecca fiorentina in a serious restaurant costs €35-55 for two (sold by the kilo, minimum 600g). Tuscan wines by the glass start at €3-5 in a working enoteca like Buca Mario or Enoteca Pitti. An artisan gelato at Grom, Gelateria dei Neri or Vivoli: €2-4.

Entry fees are not trivial. Uffizi: €25 adult (+ €4 obligatory online booking). Accademia: €16 (+ €4 booking). Palazzo Pitti combined three-museum ticket: €16. Baptistery + Campanile + Duomo + Dome: €18 for the combined Brunelleschi pass. A reasonable museum budget is €20-30 per day for two paid sights. State museums are free on the first Sunday of each month — but unmissably crowded.

Local transport is cheap. ATAF buses (C1, C2, C3 lines through the historic centre) cost €1.50 per ride. But the city is so compact that walking covers almost everything in the historic centre. A taxi from Pisa airport runs around €100-130; from Florence Peretola, €20-25.