5 Things to Do in Florence with Kids

Florence gives families more than a choice between long museum visits and crowded squares. At Piazza della Repubblica, a carousel can reset a small child’s day, while at Palazzo Vecchio, enormous decorated rooms offer a story to follow. Pick one or two stops to suit your children’s energy, rather than treating these five very different activities as a single itinerary.

Which activity suits your children?

Criterion	Piazza della Repubblica carousel	Palazzo Vecchio Museum	Museo Galileo	Boboli Gardens	Brunelleschi’s Dome
Best fit	Small children; quick ride	Ages 4–7 for Marzocco activity	Curious school-age children	Families ready to walk	Older children happy with stairs
Full adult admission	—	€18 museum	€14	€10 same day; €13 advance	€30 pass
Time to allow	Brief stop	—	About 1–1½ hours	About 1½–2 hours	About 1–1½ hours
Recurring closures	—	No weekly closure	1 January; 25 December	First and last Monday; 25 December	Easter Sunday; 25 December; 1 January
Walk from Piazza della Signoria	about 300 metres	about 50 metres	about 250 metres	about 1.2 km	about 500 metres

Yes, Florence is worth visiting with children: you can choose a short ride, two quite different indoor museums, a garden walk or a demanding climb without building the day around a single attraction. The distances start at Piazza della Signoria and lead to each entrance, including Boboli’s Pitti Palace entrance. For a broader mix of sights alongside these family choices, see Florence first-visit highlights.

Piazza della Repubblica carousel for little ones

The Piazza della Repubblica carousel, Antica Giostra Toscana, gives small children a turn on the painted horses while the family takes a pause from looking at buildings. Treat it as a brief break, not the centrepiece of a day: it works particularly well between nearby sights when a younger child needs something to do rather than another room to inspect.

You can linger in the public square afterwards without committing to another ticketed attraction. This is the lightest option here for a child who has had enough of museums, and an easy way to keep a central sightseeing day flexible.

Palazzo Vecchio for palace stories

Palazzo Vecchio makes Florence’s civic history tangible in the vast Salone dei Cinquecento and the palace’s decorated rooms. A self-directed museum visit lets you follow what catches your child’s eye, while Marzocco, the Lion of Florence is a separate family activity for ages 4–7, offered in Italian and English. It suits children who enjoy stories about the building more than a long sequence of exhibits.

Full museum admission is €18 for adults, while visitors aged 0–17 enter free. A ticket-office pre-sale or reservation adds €1 per ticket, including a free reservation. The Torre di Arnolfo is separately ticketed at €20 full price, so ordinary museum admission is not a tower ticket. The museum has no regular weekly closed day, though institutional events can restrict access. Choose its indoor rooms over Boboli when rain changes your plans.

Museo Galileo for curious school-age children

Museo Galileo brings together historical instruments for looking at the sky, measuring time and investigating the physical world. Choose it for a school-age child who likes asking how things work, not for an expectation that the permanent collection is a hands-on science centre. An hour spent following a few questions can be more rewarding than trying to inspect every case.

Allow about 1–1½ hours with children. The full adult museum ticket costs €14, and online or telephone reservations add €1 per ticket. Ordinary admission and an educational activity are different choices: all educational activities require advance reservation by email to groups@museogalileo.it or by telephone on +39 055 265 3174, Monday to Friday, 09:00–13:00. The museum has no weekly closed day, but closes on 1 January and 25 December.

When wet weather makes a long garden walk unappealing, these instrument galleries offer a compact indoor alternative. If scientific objects are not your child’s interest, Florence museums worth your time can help you choose a different indoor visit.

Boboli Gardens for space to wander

Boboli Gardens spread uphill behind Pitti Palace, with paths linking sculptures, fountains and grottoes. Come for room to roam, not a flat playground: children can follow the main garden paths and spot details along the way, while families keen on a longer walk can carry on towards the Isolotto.

Allow about 1½–2 hours with children for a relaxed visit, with roughly 40 minutes more if you include the Isolotto. The slopes, gravel, uneven paving and some stepped routes make comfortable shoes useful, but paths offer alternatives to some steps. In hot weather, choose a cooler part of the day. A ticket bought on the day costs €10 for a full-price adult, against €13 bought in advance, and advance booking is not required. A combined Pitti Palace and Boboli ticket is also available if you want both sites.

The gardens open at 08:15. Closing is 16:30 in January, February, November and December, 17:30 in March and October on standard time, 18:30 in April, May, September and the daylight-saving portions of March and October, and 19:10 in June, July and August. Enter at least an hour before closing, because after that, admission has ended.

Brunelleschi’s Dome for older climbers

Brunelleschi’s Dome rewards the climb with a close view of the cathedral’s dome structure and a panorama over Florence. The 463 steps make this a choice for older children comfortable with sustained stairs, rather than a quick viewpoint stop. Allow about 1–1½ hours for the ascent, time at the top and descent. Take the climb at your child’s pace.

The required Brunelleschi Pass costs €30 for a full-price adult and also admits you to Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistery, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and Santa Reparata. Children aged 7–14 pay €12 and those aged 0–6 enter free. There is no dome-only ticket. If the climb is not right for your family, enjoy the cathedral’s exterior from Piazza del Duomo instead. For more unticketed ideas, see free first-visit stops in Florence.

On public holidays, dome entry follows the Sunday afternoon window, and the listed closing times are the final entry slots. The complex closes on Easter Sunday, 25 December and 1 January, so a Sunday climb is possible except on that annual closure.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: fares and charges, opening hours, closures, services, and key figures.

• Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore — fares and charges
• Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore — opening hours
• Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore — closures
• Gallerie degli Uffizi — fares and charges
• Uffizi Galleries — closures
• Museo Galileo — fares and charges
• Museo Galileo — service
• Comune di Firenze — Musei Civici Fiorentini — fares and charges
• Comune di Firenze – Musei Civici Fiorentini — opening hours
• Musei Civici Fiorentini and Fondazione MUS.E — key figures
• Fondazione MUS.E — key figures