Florence and Venice in 72 Hours
My first time visiting Europe was when I studied abroad after freshman year of college in Innsbruck, Austria. It was the most amazing 6 weeks of my entire life. It was what really started my obsession with traveling. During my time in Innsbruck, we only had classes Monday-Thursday mornings. So, as soon as the final bell rang (OK, there was no actual bell, this is just figurative) we would head to the Innsbruck train station to hop on a train to other countries for the weekend. Most weekends, we would focus on one place – some of my weekends were spent in Prague, Amsterdam, London, etc. Well, one weekend we decided to take on the heaping task of seeing TWO fantastic cities in a little over 3 days – Florence AND Venice.
How could we cram in two beautiful Italian cities in just 72 hours? Here’s how it went down.
Thursday
7:00 pm – Arrived to Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station after a 7.5 hour train ride from Innsbruck and a layover in Verona.
7:30 pm – Stopped for dinner at a random Italian restaurant, where I got a the first of MANY delicious meals that weekend – lasagna.
8:30 pm – Started making our way to our hostel, which was actually a campsite called Michelangelo Camping. I was a little skeptical when I learned that we were rented tents for the weekend (because I was a diva back then) but these were awesome! Not only did we get an amazing aerial view of the city, but the tents were a lot nicer than I was picturing. They were big, had lights, and could be locked from both the inside and outside.
**I have heard since that this hostel/campsite is now closed, which makes me really sad because it truly was awesome!
9:00 pm – Finally arrived and checked in to our hostel after getting a little lost and a LOT of climbing stairs uphill. (Did I mention this awesome hostel was on top of a hill? Talking about burning glutes to get up there!)
9:15 pm – Quickly befriended a few guys from Wales after hanging out at the hostel bar (somewhere we would end up spending a lot of time ). We drank and chatted as a jazz band played!
12:30 am – After the hostel bar closed at midnight, we unsuccessfully tried to “continue the party” at a nearby club down the road, only to find out that we were extremely undressed for their dress code.
12:45 am – Went to bed, defeated. Tomorrow was a new day!
Friday
8:30 am – Ate a quick breakfast at the hostel restaurant before heading out into the VERY hot day to explore the city.
8:45 am – Passed the Piazzale Michelangelo right by our hostel on the way down the hill. Caught some incredible views of the bright, sunny day in Florence.
9:15 am – FINALLY finished our downhill trek from the hostel. Took a nice stroll by the River Arno on the way to the Ponte Vecchio bridge to check out the shops.
10:45 am – Stopped by the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence, on the other side of the bridge. It’s massive and looks more like a fortress. It even has a copy of Michelangelo’s David statue (where the original used to be) and several other statues. It overlooks the bustling Piazza della Signoria.
11:15 am – Headed to the Piazza del Duomo to pay a visit to the iconic Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, known commonly as just the “Duomo.”
12:00 pm – Went to a grocery store to buy snacks and wine, then headed to a small park to eat, drink, relax, and take a break from all the walking. (And feed some pigeons!)
1:00 pm – Saw Michelangelo’s David, The Rape of the Sabine Woman, and other amazing art at the Galleria dell’Accademia. The museum was about €17 / person, but to me it was worth it. But I LOVE museums.
3:30 pm – We wandered the streets of Florence for a while, taking in the sights, sounds, colors, and (of course) stopping to get gelato a few times. Ok, fine, like 3 times…
6:00 pm – Watched the sun set from the Ponte Vecchio while listening to some great live music.
8:00 pm – We had to go back up butt-kicking set of stairs to get back to the hostel. That really wore us out, so we had a few drinks and some food at the hostel bar and restaurant once we got back. Then, a few drinks turned into more drinks as we hung out with our Welsh friends again.
12:00 am – Again, the bar shut down on us at midnight while we were still up and ready to take on Florence. Accompanied by our new pals, we went exploring. We trekked all the way downstairs before we realized that we didn’t actually know where any bars were. Some people decided to walk back up and call it a night. Myself and a few others, however, decided to walk down the river a bit. Not because we weren’t tired, but because we really didn’t want to walk back up the hill again just yet.
Sometime early in the am – BEDTIME.
Saturday
10 am – Walked back down the hill into the city to enjoy a late breakfast.
11:30 am – Walked along the river to take in the gorgeous views, yet again
12:30 pm – Stopped by some of Florence’s specialty shops to bring back some Italian goodies with us!
1:30 pm – Had lunch in one of Florence’s many charming cafes. Again, the food NEVER disappointed!
4:00 pm – There were complications with a group member and her blisters being too much to bare. We brought her to the train station as she decided to end her weekend early. After that we ended up going back up to the hostel earlier than usual to hang out with our new friends at the restaurant/bar.
6:00 pm – Ate tons of margherita pizza (I ate over a whole one myself…) at the hostel while also enjoying on of the hostel bar’s specialties – sangria.
Sunday
12:00 am – Lots of live music, beer, and new friends later, the bar closed on us again. Seeing a pattern here?
12:15 am – We had the brilliant idea of going to the Piazzale Michelangelo and take in the amazing views of the city. Besides, we had tons of time to kill before our 4:30 am “overnight” train to Venice…(another one of our brilliant ideas…) since we didn’t actually have a room in the hostel for that night.
12:30 am – Arrived to the Piazzale Michelangelo only to find a huge Spanish street party going on.
3:00 am – Grabbed our bags from the hostel and started headed to the train station…in the dead of night..yep. Not our best idea but at least we passed some great scenes on the way.
4:30 am – Made our train from Florence to Venice, absolutely exhausted. We were planning to sleep on the train. But (of course) it ended up being one of the most uncomfortable trains I’ve ever ridden. The seats didn’t even have cushions!
6:00 am – Arrived in Venice, completely worn out and so tired from lack of sleep. Checked our bags into lockers at the station, since we would only be in Venice for the day.
6:30 am – But stepping out of the train station, we were greeted with the most beautiful views. It definitely helped to wake us up.
7:30 am – Stopped for a much needed breakfast and sit down.
8:30 am – Since we really didn’t have any plans for our day in Venice, we wandering through the city’s winding streets and canals with a goal of finding a decently priced gondola ride. We passed some amazing sights and hidden gems throughout the day.
10:00 am – After wandering around and taking in Venice’s beauty, we came across a Da Vinci Museum. It only cost €5 and highlighted several of Da Vinci’s inventions.
11:30 am – Finally made it to our gondola ride! At the time, there was a promotion with Eurails so we got a free 30-minute gondola ride by showing our Eurail passes! Gondola rides are usually very touristy, and expensive. But hey heyyy it was FREE and a great way to see the Venice from a different vantage point!
12:30 pm – The rest of our afternoon was spent wandering the streets of Venice, taking in the city’s unique beauty and charm. We passed a few free art exhibits, hidden alleyways and, of course, canals. I absolutely fell in love with the city and wish we would’ve had more time there! But unfortunately, we had to catch an afternoon train back to Innsbruck.
PHEW! That was a long post. As you can see, we crammed a lot of walking, a lot of sightseeing, and a lot of fun into just about 3 days in 2 of Italy’s most well-known cities. But there’s no better weekend than a weekend spent in Florence and venice
Since then, I have been back to Florence again. However, I have not made it back to Venice again yet. But would love to go and actually stay for a longer time!
