The Florence airport (FLR) is called Amerigo Vespucci and is situated on the north-west outskirts of Florence, just 4 km from the city center. The airport can be reached from the center of Florence, driving the whole length of Viale Guidoni up to the road leading to the "Firenze Nord/Firenze Mare" superhighway (A1 and A11).
The center can be reached in about 15 minutes by taxi, and in about 20 minutes with the new tram line T2 operating between the airport and the central railway station of Santa Maria Novella. See below for more details.
The Florence Airport is connected to some of Europe's major airports such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Geneva, London Gatwick, Madrid, Munich, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Vienna. There are also flights to and from the following Italian cities: Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Milan Malpensa, Olbia, Palermo, Rome Fiumicino, Turin and Verona.
The airport is also easily reached from other Tuscan cities as it is just off the A11 and A1 Firenze Nord exit : Prato (8 km), Pistoia (24 km), Montecatini (36 km), Lucca (65 km), Siena (68 km), Arezzo (77 km), Pisa (86 km), Carrara and Massa (117 km), Grosseto (143 km), as well as from the sea and its ports: Livorno (115 km) and Piombino (170 km).
For more information, visit the airport's website at: www.aeroporto.firenze.it/
Getting to/from downtown Florence
TRAMVIA - TRAMWAY LINE T2
Since the opening of the T2 tram line in late February 2019 connecting the central Santa Maria Novella (SMN) train station to the Florence Peretola/Vespucci airport, this has become the easiest (and cheapest) way to reach the center of Florence.
For just €1,50 each way (if you have big suitcases, you do need to buy a ticket for them too, max 2 lpieces of luggage per person allowed), you can reach the main central train station in Florence in about 15 minutes. As you leave the airport, head out of the front door and turn left. Follow signs that indicate the T2 tram way stop. At the stop, you will find several ticket machines where you can buy your ticket(s). You need to get on the tram and validate your ticket, which means put it in the small yellow machines near the doors and have the machine stamp the date/time on it, thus "activating" the ticket. If you don't do that, it counts like riding without a ticket (and subject to fines). Read more about the tramway and the line linking the airport with SMN on my blog post here.
BY BUS
Before the tramway connected downtown Florence to the airport, you could take the special "Vola in Bus" bus shuttle but this is no longer running.
BY TAXI
If you have large suitcases and are not staying close to the SMN train station, I would suggest getting a taxi to take you directly to your hotel/B&B or apartment. The cobblestone streets in Florence are not that easy to navigate with suitcases, even the wheeled ones. You might not want to get to the train station and then do the rest on foot, especially after a long journey.
If you're staying within the center, the taxis have to respect a fixed set base fee of €22 for the run (plus €1 supplement per suitcase) from the airport to the center and to hotels within the historical center. Read more details on using taxis in Florence here. This set fee is displayed in the taxi - point to it if your taxi driver tries to run the meter on you and make you pay more if you're going to a place within the center.
Fly into Pisa Airport
The Pisa Airport is the second airport in Tuscany and from some destinations, it might make more sense to fly there and then get yourself over to Florence.
The new Pisa Mover shuttle connects Pisa Airport to the Pisa Centrale main train station throughout the day, and from there you can take the train to Florence's SMN train station and be in Florence in about an hour. Get more details on the Pisa Mover shuttle here.
There are also bus charter companies that offer service direct from the airport to SMN train station in Florence. Some of the buses continue on to the Florence Airport after that (in case you are interested in getting to the Florence airport).
