London Toolkit 
Paris Toolkit Visitors' guide to travelling to and from Florence by train
Basics of stations and station transfers in Florence and getting the best value tickets
Florence Santa Maria Novella train station
The main train station for Florence is Santa Maria Novella Station, though it is worth noting that some intercity trains do not stop here, instead stopping at Rifredi or Campo di Marte Stations on the outskirts of Florence - so do check your ticket!
Santa Maria Novella Station is very central, right on the western edge of the historic centre of Florence.
Florence, at least the area people want to visit generally, is very compact. If you have accommodation close to the station you probably would not need any transport for Florence during your whole visit.
The station is an architecturally very stark, modernist building. Inside there are the normal facilities, including a left luggage office.
Most services like manned ticketing, toilets and the left luggage office open at 6am and close between 9pm and midnight.
As you would expect there is a wide range of places to eat, most of the grab and go or fast food variety, both inside the station, and in the immediate vicinity where places tend to be less crowded.
Florence Rifredi & Campo di Marte stations Trenitalia train fares Florence train map of travel times Florence intercity coach
Outside the station as you would expect Santa Maria Novella Train Station is a major transport hub.
Florence has no single central bus station, but a lot of them do pass the station at a variety of stops that can be confusing to the new visitor.
If you go to our dedicated Florence local transport page you will find a link to a bus map of the city.
There is a tram service that terminates down by the side of Florence, but is of little use to visitors going south-west over the river and out of the city centre from the station.
The Volainbus airport bus for Florence Airport picks up from in front of Santa Maria Novella Train Station.
The Terravision airport bus for Pisa Airport leaves from a bus stand immediately in front of Santa Maria Novella Train Station.
Florence Rifredi & Campo di Marte stations
If you are travelling to or from Florence study your ticket carefully.
Santa Maria Novella Train Station is the main station in the centre of the city, but many intercity trains do not visit here instead stopping at Rifredi Station to the north of the city or Campo di Marte Station to the east of the city. Many of the cheapest fares if you book on-line in advance will be from Rifredi or Campo di Marte Station.
It is no big deal as there are local commuter trains every 10 minutes or so between both Rifredi / Campo di Marte Stations and Santa Maria Novella taking just a few minutes - you can buy a local ticket from a machine.
It only really becomes a big issue on departure when you turn up at Santa Maria Novella station only to then realise your train actually departs from another station.
Trenitalia train fares & timetables in Italy
For the visitor to Italy who wants to tour independently, the Trenitalia website will become a second home. In Italy what scheduled coach network there is, is fragmented and piecemeal. The main alternative to rail on the longer distance journeys are the low cost budget airlines.
Note: When using online ticketing and travel planning systems they use the Italian name of Florence, which is Firenze.
The Trenitalia website has English language pages and timetables and online advance e-ticketing where you can also reserve seat numbers. On some shorter urban journeys it is not possible to buy tickets on-line.
Trenitalia Rome
• Cheapest advance purchase fares • Pay by credit card • Instant confirmations • Timetables
Florence train connections
Florence is a major Italian rail hub of both the high speed trains and the regional and standard train services. From Florence it is very easy to get to any major city or town in Italy.
Regional rail lines from Florence include direct services to Pisa, Luca, Siena and Bologna.
Outline map of high speed trains from Florence & indicative travel times
Getting the best fares
It really does pay to look at fares and timetables at the time you are planning your trip. Even on the high speed trains there are some fantastic fares to be had if you buy well in advance and are willing to be flexible on exact travel times.
Florence by intercity coach
Although rail is by far the most popular way of travelling between Italian cities, there is a scheduled coach alternative.
Megabus was taken over by Flixbus and now connects all the main cities that visitors want to travel between with a low cost, accessible bus network with easy on-line purchase of tickets.
Flixbus offer direct services from Florence to Rome, Naples, Venice, Bologna, Milan and Turin. Check schedules and buy your Flixbus tickets.
Services to Siena are operated by a local operator and this is covered on our Siena page.
Unlike many Italian cities the inter city coaches pick-up in the heart of Florence city centre around Santa Maria Novella train station.
Inter city coach travel between Italian cities - full details
