If you really want to get the most out of Tuscany, it’s good to do your organising well ahead of time. Once the tickets, transport, and timing are sorted, the region opens up in a much calmer way. This matters more than people admit when they are trying to enjoy Florence, Siena, Lucca, or an out of the way hilltop town. The Uffizi Galleries alone drew about 2.9 million visitors in 2024, so a little pre-planning saves a lot of standing around later.
10 Essential Things to Do Before Your Tuscany Trip
1. Lock in museum tickets before you plan the rest of the trip
If a visit to Florence is part of your Tuscany plan, museum organising should come first. The two very popular museums that need to be booked well in advance (to secure a space and avoid hours of queuing) are the Uffizi and the Accademia Gallery.
The Uffizi Gallery opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15 a.m. to 6:30 pm (the ticket office closes at 5:30pm). Mondays, 1st January, and 25th December are closed. The Uffizi’s combined ticketing and reservation system runs through official channels, and the gallery site publishes special opening periods and notices that can affect your visit.
You can book your entrance to the Accademia Gallery on their official site, choosing a preferred time for you visit. Opening hours are 8:15 a.m. to 6:50 p.m., with last admission at 6:20 p.m. There are travel companies that organise guided tours with combined tickets for Uffizi and Accademia, and if your time is limited, this could be the more convenient option.
2. Get your phone connection sorted before you fly
A Tuscany trip gets easier the moment you land and your phone works again. I like to have data ready before I leave home, because maps, tickets, train platforms, and table reservations all become less stressful when I am not hunting for Wi-Fi in an airport line. SIMOVO’s Italy eSIM is set up before travel and connects automatically on arrival, which makes it a practical option for that first hour on the ground when everything feels slightly chaotic.
3. Check driving distance before you decide where to stay
Tuscany looks compact on a map until you start linking places in real life. You can definitely roam at your own pace along scenic roads, and this can be the best way to slow down and discover unexpected places. But if you have a tight schedule, it’s best to check out driving distances, as some smaller country roads can make your journey longer.
* Check out more details on How to Plan a Road Trip to Tuscany.
4. Build your parking plan around Florence’s ZTL before you even pick up the car
If you are driving, Florence deserves respect. The historic centre sits inside the ZTL, a limited traffic zone monitored by electronic gates that automatically fine unauthorised vehicles. Parking on the road inside the ZTL is not allowed, and that the cheaper, more sensible choice is to park outside the zone or use park-and-ride lots connected by tram or bus.
The official ZTL map gives the weekday daytime ZTL hours as Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with extra night restrictions in summer on certain evenings.
5. Book the famous restaurants before your stomach starts doing the talking
Florence and the wider Tuscan food scene reward people who plan. The MICHELIN Guide’s Florence reservation page and TheFork both support online booking, which tells you something important about dining here. The best tables often disappear before you finish deciding what day to eat. Especially in the high season, the nicer the restaurant, the less I assume a walk-in will work out in my favour.
6. Double-check opening hours the week you travel
Museum schedules in Tuscany can shift, and official pages make that clear. For example the Uffizi Gallery website publishes notices, special openings, and the exact daily timetable on its website. That means a site you saw in an old blog post may already be outdated by the time you arrive. It’s always best to check opening, temporary exhibitions or special occasions that might affect timing or ticket availability.
7. Check visa rules early so your trip doesn’t stall before it starts
Visa rules are one of those things people leave too late. The foreign affairs department tells travelers to use the Visa for Italy database to see whether they need an entry visa, based on nationality, residence, length of stay, and reason for travel. It also says Schengen visa applications are generally submitted no more than six months before travel and, as a rule, no later than 15 calendar days before departure.
8. Use trains and buses where they save you from parking stress
Travelling by public transport can be more relaxed, and free you from the stress of parking and traffic. In Tuscany if you’re planning to visit the major cities and towns you can easily do so by train. Connections between Florence and all the main cities are good – from the slower ‘treno regionale’ (stopping at all smaller towns!), to the faster Intercity. With a combination of trains and buses you can go practically everywhere in Tuscany, even the most remote little town. But you’ll need to do a bit of planning, as bus services can be scarse in smaller towns and villages.
* Check out the best ways to travel around Tuscany, by bus or by train.
9. Download a few useful apps
I do not like a cluttered phone when I travel. In Tuscany, the apps I keep closest are the ones that help me move, book, and confirm. The at bus app lets you plan trips, check service status, and buy tickets from the same place, while Trenitalia handles regional rail planning and ticketing. The EasyPark app can make parking much simpler, while Wanderlog helps you planning your itinerary in all details.
10. Leave room for the day to change shape
The best Tuscany trips do not run on a fixed script. A museum may close earlier than you thought, you may decide to extend your aperitivo, or take a different bend in the road. So you always need to leave a bit of space for improvisation.
Author Bio:
Hafiz Rizwan is a travel writer passionate about sharing the beauty of different destinations with the world. Through his travel experiences, he explores local culture, food, and everyday life, capturing simple moments and turning them into engaging stories that feel natural, honest, and easy for readers to connect with.
