In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Our judgement, not a ranking: pick Rome for four days or more, for the Colosseum, the Forum and the Vatican, with Pompeii a day trip away. Pick Florence for two or three days on foot, for Michelangelo’s David, the Uffizi and the dome, which sit within walking distance of one another. With six or seven days, do both: the Frecciarossa takes 1 hour 36 minutes on most trains, from €23.90. Both use the euro and share a country, so the price level is the same: the difference is in the entries, €61 for Rome’s three main bookings and €83 for Florence’s. Or book a tour: a guide with entry is from €69 for the Colosseum and €64 for the Vatican in Rome, and from €28 for a walk in Florence.
⚠️ Book the Vatican, the Colosseum and the Uffizi, and plan round the closed days. The Colosseum goes on sale 30 days ahead for a time slot and each ticket carries your name. The Vatican Museums are shut on Sundays except the last Sunday of the month, and the Borghese Gallery takes no one without a booking and is shut on Mondays. In Florence, Mondays shut the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Pitti Palace, the Bargello and the Medici Chapels, and the dome is entered only at a booked slot with photo ID.
Rome and Florence side by side
Prices are the operators’ adult rates in euros. Each row links to the city’s own guide for the detail.
| Rome | Florence | |
|---|---|---|
| What to book | Colosseum €18, on sale 30 days ahead, in your name; Vatican Museums €25 online; Borghese Gallery €16 plus €2, compulsory booking; Pantheon €7; Trevi Fountain €2 for the basin | Accademia €20 plus €4; Uffizi €29 booked or €25 on the day, or €16 on the day from 16:00; the dome €30 on the Brunelleschi Pass, booked slot and photo ID |
| Closed days | Vatican Museums on Sundays, except the last Sunday of the month; Borghese Gallery on Mondays | Mondays: Uffizi, Accademia, Pitti Palace, Bargello, Medici Chapels. Thursdays: Palazzo Vecchio shuts at 14:00 |
| Pass | Roma Pass €38 for 48 hours, €62.90 for 72; it breaks even at about four paid sights in three days and leaves out the Vatican Museums and the Pantheon | Firenze Card €85 for 72 hours; it leaves out the Duomo complex, costs €13 more than separate tickets for the Uffizi, Accademia and Palazzo Vecchio, and saves €58.50 on a heavy three days |
| Public transport | BIT ticket €1.50 for 100 minutes, but one metro ride; 24 hours €8.50; a contactless card is never charged more than €8.50 a day | Bus or tram €2.00 for 90 minutes; 10 journeys €18.20; the centre is walkable |
| Airport to the centre | Leonardo Express €14, 32 minutes non-stop to Termini; coaches from €6; taxi a fixed €55 | T2 tram €2.00, about 20 minutes to Santa Maria Novella; taxi a fixed €28 |
| Tourist tax | €10 a night at a five-star, €6 at a three-star, €3.50 at a hostel, for up to 10 nights | €8 at a five-star, €6 at a three-star, €4 at a hostel, for up to 7 nights; under-12s exempt |
| How many days | Our judgement: three to four; the three-day plan is ancient Rome, the Vatican, then the Borghese Gallery and the Appian Way | Our judgement: two to three; the three-day plan is the Accademia and dome, the Uffizi and Oltrarno, then Palazzo Vecchio and the Medici Chapels |
| Day trips | Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Tivoli, Ostia Antica, Orvieto | Pisa 51 minutes from €9.80, Siena 1 hour 28 minutes, Bologna 37 minutes, Venice 2 hours 13 minutes |
| Best season | Highs of 23 to 27°C in May, June and September; 30 to 31°C in July and August; October and November are the wettest months | Highs of 20 to 25°C in April and May; 32°C on average in July and August; November is the wettest month at 118 mm |
December is the month to check before you choose. The Vatican Museums are shut on 8, 25 and 26 December 2026, and the Colosseum on 25 December and 1 January; Florence’s Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce runs from 14 November to 20 December 2026, and Rome’s Christmas dates have the rest.
Book a tour instead
A guided tour puts the guide and, where the row says so, the entry in one purchase. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult.
| City | From | Tour |
|---|---|---|
| Rome | €69 | Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill guided tourad with entry |
| Rome | €64 | Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and Basilica tourad with entry |
| Rome | €157 | Colosseum, Vatican Museums and St Peter’s in one dayad, 8½ hours |
| Rome | €56 | Pompeii coach day tripad with a guided tour of the ruins, 9 to 12 hours |
| Florence | €28 | Highlights walking tour with an expert guidead, 1½ hours; no museum ticket |
| Florence | €75 | Uffizi Gallery small group guided tourad, 1½ hours, entry included |
| Florence | €49 | Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano day trip with lunchad, 12 to 12½ hours |
For a visit on your own, the official tickets are cheaper than the tours: the Colosseum is €18 and the Vatican Museums €25.
Which city for whom
Each pick below is our judgement, built on the figures in the table.
A first visit: Rome with four days, Florence with two or three
Rome is the bigger first visit because it asks for three separate days: the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine on one, the Vatican Museums and St Peter’s on another, and the Borghese Gallery on a third, each a booking with its own closed day. A fourth day takes Pompeii or Orvieto. Florence fits into two days: the one-or-two-day plan puts David at the 8:15 slot, the dome on a booked slot and the Uffizi on an Afternoon ticket, and a third day adds Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce and the Medici Chapels.
A long weekend: Florence
Three nights suit Florence better than Rome. The Accademia, the cathedral and the Uffizi are a walk apart, so a weekend needs no transport ticket. A Friday-to-Sunday stay misses Monday, when the Uffizi and the Accademia are shut. A weekend in Rome loses the Vatican Museums on the Sunday, apart from the last Sunday of the month, which is free and crowded.
Art lovers: Florence, with the Vatican to add from Rome
Florence packs Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus at the Uffizi into a city a visitor crosses on foot, and the Firenze Card pays back only on a heavy three days. Rome’s counterpart is the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, with the Borghese Gallery, entered on the hour with a booking. If one city has to carry the whole trip, Florence suits a visitor whose list is paintings and sculpture; Rome suits one whose list also includes ruins.
Florence Cathedral from Michelangelo hill. Photo: Petar Milošević, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A tight budget: the same country, so compare the entries
Rome and Florence share Italy’s price level, so a country figure cannot separate them, and what moves the bill is smaller. Rome’s three main bookings come to €61 against €83 for Florence’s, but Florence needs no transport ticket to get round the centre while a busy Rome day on the metro is €8.50. The airport run is €14 on the Leonardo Express in Rome and €2.00 on the T2 tram in Florence. Tourist tax is the same €6 a night at a three-star, and €10 against €8 at a five-star. Our judgement: Florence for a short break that stays inside the centre, Rome for a longer one where the entries are the lower figure.
Doing both: the train, the days and where to stay
The train is the reason to do both. The Frecciarossa runs non-stop from Roma Termini to Firenze Santa Maria Novella in 1 hour 36 minutes on most trains, every half-hour or so in the morning, with fares from €23.90 each way and €47.80 return at trenitalia.com. A coach day trip from Rome with a guide is from €159 and takes 14 hours, against €47.80 for the train return; Florence from Rome has the timetable, and day trips from Florence covers Pisa, Siena and the rest.
Our judgement for six or seven days is three or four in Rome and two or three in Florence. Move on a Monday: Florence’s state museums are shut that day anyway, while the Vatican Museums are open. Fly into one city and out of the other where the flights allow, so you do not have to go back.
For a first visit, stay in Rome’s Centro Storico or in Monti beside the Colosseum (where to stay in Rome), or near Termini if you plan day trips, since the fast trains to Florence and Naples leave from it (hotels near Termini). In Florence, stay in the historic centre, 55 to 540 m from the Duomo (where to stay in Florence, hotels near the Duomo). For what to book in each city, see Rome and Florence; for the weather month by month, see where to go each month; for an evening plan and a table to book as a couple, see romantic city breaks for couples; for two other cities side by side, see Prague vs Budapest.
Common questions
Is Rome or Florence better for a first trip to Italy?
Our judgement: Rome for four days or more, because the Colosseum, the Vatican and the Borghese Gallery each need a day and a booking. Florence for two or three days, because the Accademia, the Uffizi and the dome are within walking distance of each other and the centre is walkable. With six or seven days, do both.
Is Rome or Florence cheaper?
They share one country, so there is no price-level gap to point to, and the difference is in the entries. The three main bookings in Rome come to €61: the Colosseum €18, the Vatican Museums €25 and the Borghese Gallery €18 with its booking fee. In Florence the Accademia (€24 with its fee), the Uffizi booked (€29) and the Brunelleschi Pass for the dome (€30) come to €83. Tourist tax is €6 a night at a three-star in both cities.
How far is it from Rome to Florence by train?
On most non-stop Frecciarossa trains it is 1 hour 36 minutes from Roma Termini to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, with fares from €23.90 each way at trenitalia.com. Trains run every half-hour or so in the morning.
Can you do Rome and Florence in one trip?
Yes, and it is the usual plan: three or four days in Rome, then the train to Florence for two or three. Move on a Monday, when Florence's state museums are shut and Rome's Vatican Museums are open.
How many days do you need in Rome and in Florence?
Our judgement: three to four in Rome and two to three in Florence. Each city has a three-day plan on this site and a one-or-two-day plan for a short stop.
