In our monthly newsletter, you'll find travel tips and updates to travel regulations that we have researched so you don’t have to. We also include restaurant and experience recommendations every time we travel; most of our content is on Europe and the UK.
Playing It Safe & Smart When You Travel, And New Recommendations For Florence
Published 8 months ago • 12 min read
March 2026
A different view of Florence, Italy
Playing It Safe & Smart When You Travel, And New Recommendations For Florence
Ciao Reader,
The Twin Spin: Florence, Italy
We’ve been to Florence so many times that we’ve lost track, but we uncover something new every time we go. Florence is always a great idea, no matter how many times you’ve been! In February, we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights in our favorite city, instead of our usual day trip.
While we were in Florence, we did a couple of things we hadn’t done before, tried some restaurants that were new to us, and went to some old favorites. We stayed in the Oltrarno neighborhood, which is on the other side of the river from the main attractions. We found simple, affordable accommodations that were directly across the street from Palazzo Pitti.
Ponte Santa Trinita, Florence, Italy
Copy/paste these experiences into your Florence Itinerary:
Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli Onlus - Franco Zeffirelli was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer, and politician. The foundation has over 300 works of his, from set designs (for operas) to drawings and costume sketches. The permanent exhibit includes clothes that were produced from his sketches for operas and movies. This was far more impressive than we expected it to be. No tour needed, purchase tickets when you arrive.
Costume from the opera Turandot
Palazzo Pitti (Pitti Palace) - Once home to the Medici family and later Napoleon, the palace is Florence’s largest museum complex. The palace houses several galleries, including the Palatine Gallery with 28 rooms/halls, a carriage museum, the royal apartments, and a costume gallery. The costume gallery should not be overlooked. You don’t need a tour here, but you will want to make sure that you get to see the Royal Apartments.
Here’s how to visit Palazzo Pitti:
You can buy tickets in person; in fact, they are a couple of euros less. We recommend getting your tickets in advance to ensure that you are able to enter the Royal apartments at a time that is convenient for you.
Make sure you select the ticket that includes the Royal Apartments.
You will not have a guided tour of the Royal Apartments; instead, you will have an escort who takes groups of up to 20 through the Royal Apartments every half hour.
Select your date, then select your time for entry. This is the time that you will enter the Royal Apartments, don’t be late!
If you would like an audio guide, you’ll want to purchase it at the ticket office before you enter the palace.
The White Room at the Royal Apartments, Palazzo Pitti
Fashion through the years at the Costume Museum, Palazzo Pitti
Wedding gown at the Costume Museum, Palazzo Pitti
Women's day dress and fan at the Costume Museum, Palazzo Pitti
Some of our (new) favorite restaurants in Florence
As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been to Florence a lot; this means that we have quite a few favorite places to go for food, wine, and espresso. These are just our new discoveries from our trip in February.
Pine&Apple: This is a Chinese food restaurant. We know that most people aren’t looking for this when they visit Florence. We never get tired of Italian food, but we do crave certain other foods from time to time. For the most part, our attempts at finding good Chinese food in Italy have been a disappointment, but not this place. Pine & Apple was amazing, and we can see ourselves going to Florence just to satisfy this craving from time to time.
Ristorante Borgo Antico: Classic Tuscan food in the lively Piazza Santo Spirito. When we arrived in the piazza, all of the restaurants were fairly full, but this one happened to have an open table outside. We both had the shrimp and prawn pasta, a simple pasta dish with perfectly cooked prawns and shrimps. It was delicious.
The starter, sorry we didn't get a photo of the pasta!
Trattoria Da Ginone 1949: We went here for lunch before leaving Florence. We were trying to go somewhere else, but they were full, so we took our chances when we came across this Trattoria. We’re happy we ended up discovering Trattoria Da Ginone 1949; we’ll go to the other place next time (and tell you about that too). We had the pappardelle al cinghiale, a traditional Tuscan dish. We thoroughly enjoyed the way that the trattoria prepares theirs. Cinghiale is a wild boar meat; sometimes the dish is served with ground wild boar, and other times it is with a slow-braised “stringy” wild boar; this was the latter. This is our favorite way to have it. A true Italian ragu is primarily a meat sauce; it isn’t a tomato-based sauce. The homemade pasta and slow-cooked ragu are perfection to the taste buds! We finished with the tirimisù which was equally delicious.
Pappardelle al cinghiale at Trattoria Da Ginone 1949
Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina: You might know by now that we love a good wine bar or enoteca. We sort of happened into this place for a glass of wine and found something amazing. We didn’t have a chance to eat here, but returning to this enoteca is at the top of our list. They serve lunch and dinner, you can order wine by the glass, enjoy a tasting menu of wines or food paired with wine, or purchase bottles to go. The menu and food look divine.
Ditta Artigianale Via dello Sprone Specialty Coffee: We went here for breakfast one morning. While we will say that the cappuccino wasn’t to die for, we were very happy to have a stack of pancakes with butter, syrup, and bacon! Why did we underline bacon? Because this is not really a thing you find in Italy, so when we get to have it, it’s a real treat. They offer various breakfast and brunch dishes along with your traditional cafe and pastry items. Missing avocado toast while in Italy? Go here.
Pancakes and Bacon at Ditta Artigianale Via Dello Sprone, Florence, Italy
This new post on our website isn’t just about all the best things to do in Florence; it’s all about how to do them, and the best tours to take (when a tour is recommended). Some experiences just require you to show up; they may have no charge, or you can buy tickets upon arrival. Often, when you plan a trip, though, you find that there are many ways to do the same thing. If the experience is best on a tour or with a guide, you may find hundreds of options, and that can be overwhelming. We’ve cut through all of this noise to suggest what you can DIY, and the exact best tours to take with a guide or exclusive access.
This post is the first of many. We have quite a few city guides on our website, and we’ve decided that we want to give you more value. Instead of just telling you what you can do in a city, we’re going to save you tons of time by telling you the best way to do it. If the best way includes a tour or special access, we’re going to tell you exactly which one to book. No more sifting through endless search results, just a clear, direct path to exactly what you need.
Tips to Play It Safe and Smart When Traveling in 2026
The World We Live In Can Be Crazy. Here Is How To Stay Safe When You Explore It
If you watch the news or even just your social media feeds, you’ve seen parts of the world with travel warnings recently. This isn’t new, but it’s always a moment of panic for those who have hopes of traveling. It’s important to get the facts to help you decide if you should still be traveling, and where it’s ok to travel.
Here are a few tips to help you stay safe while you explore the world.
Check travel.state.gov for any travel advisories to the area you plan to visit (or are currently in, because things can happen after you take off, not only before).If the region you are in is currently experiencing anything major, you will see alerts at the top of the website and a specific number to call if you are in that particular region and affected by the situation (for example, the Middle East right now).
Enroll in step.state.gov before you take a trip. This will set you up to receive travel alerts and ensure that your home country can locate you in case of an emergency (this could be a natural disaster, civil unrest, or a family emergency).
Make sure to save local U.S. consulate or embassy information for your destination in case you need it while you’re away. This could be for an emergency or simply doing something foolish like leaving your passport on a train in Germany and needing a rushed passport in order to continue your trip (hey, it could happen, you never know). Find a list of offices providing U.S. consular services here. If you don’t do this, at least save these phone numbers to call if you encounter an emergency and need to contact the United States Government for direction:
1-888-407-4747 if you are traveling in the U.S. or Canada
+1-202-501-4444 if you are traveling abroad
FYI, if you try calling the embassies or consulates abroad, you will most likely get an automated system that will help direct you to what you need. If your need is an immediate physical emergency, they will direct you to call local police or ambulance/emergency services. Look those numbers up in advance, hint; it’s not 911! If you are going to Italy, save these numbers;
112 for emergencies requiring a police officer
118 for emergencies requiring an ambulance
If you are stranded due to local conditions, contact your airline for help with finding a solution to get home. If the situation is desperate and you need to be extracted from abroad, contact Gray Bull Rescue (this is for extreme situations, like that of the Middle East at the moment)
Stuff Happens, Be Smart and Reduce Your Exposure
No one wants to cancel a trip, cut it short, or even postpone it. Most of the time, when this happens, it wasn’t planned and certainly is not welcome. Book smart so that you can reduce your exposure to loss.
Here are a few tips to reduce stress (and loss) when a trip goes sideways:
Book with good cancellation policies. The best are 24-hour cancellation policies. Not everything you plan in advance will have this, but the shorter the window, the better.
Get the insurance! Not everything you book will have a good cancellation policy; that’s where insurance becomes helpful. Insurance can cover more than your cancelled and non-refundable plans. It can help with damages, injuries, medical needs, and more. Some insurance even allows you to cancel for any reason. There is a ton we can say about this, so head to our blog and read about getting travel insurance (if you haven’t). If you don’t have time to read the 3 paragraphs on our blog, head over to Insure My Trip and Ekta to see what they offer.
Don’t cancel the moment something happens where you are going. Things can settle down pretty quickly, and it might not be necessary. If your destination suddenly experiences an event that is deterring travelers, check your cancellation policies and insurance to understand your options. If you have time on your policy, then think it over, and wait and see. You might be fine. If that window of time gets too close for you to wait, then see what you can do to rebook at a later dater date. Another option is to see if you can change the flight to a safer destination, and if you booked with a chain hotel, you might be able to move the booking to another destination. Don’t give up on your travel dreams too quickly!
Our Approach To Travel Planning In Uncertain Times
As travel planners, we recognize that our clients don’t plan travel every day, and that global events can evolve and escalate quickly. This often causes hesitation and fear for those planning to leave home. The majority of the travel we plan is in Europe, and our travel planning services are non-refundable. Europe is currently operating as usual, flights are taking off, trains are rolling on, and experiences continue. We believe in operating with integrity and transparency. If the current state of any region that our clients are planning trips to should change, we will work with them to rebook their same itinerary at a time they are more comfortable with traveling. Our mission will always be to help others see the world. Planning like us, so they can travel like them.
Double Take: Do you need to pay an entry fee to visit Venice?
Reminder that in April-July, you need to register any visit to Venice, and if you are day tripping, you will have to pay a fee. Quick details for 2026:
Price: €5 if paid at least 4 days in advance; €10 if paid at the last minute.
Dates: Applicable on 60 days (mostly weekends/holidays) in April, May, June, and July 2026.
The fee applies to visitors arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Exemptions: Overnight hotel guests, residents, and children under 14 are exempt but must register online to get a QR code.
The Grand Canal, Venice, Italy
We want to hear from you. If you have any travel questions, please send us an email or reply directly to this newsletter. We’re happy to help.
A guide on all of the best things to do in Florence and how to do them. The guide includes information on when and how to DIY, and when to take a tour, along with a link to the best tour that we recommend.
Our 5-step process to planning an international trip is linear. Our process will help save you the stress and the headache of figuring out where to start without missing important steps along the way.
A Few Of Our Favorite Travel Resources:
VoiceMap - Harness the power to explore on your own, at your pace, with a self-guided audio tour. No big tour group, no failing equipment, and straining to hear a guide. Select a tour, download it, grab your favorite earbuds and phone, start, pause, and stop at your leisure!
Get Your Guide - A marketplace for tours that is growing every day. Compare tours and reviews to find the best one for you. We typically find tours for larger historical sites and museums here.
Walks - This company curates some of the best and most exclusive VIP and small group tour opportunities. We use this company to find extra special experiences.
Devour - This tour company is obsessed with finding the most authentic and tasty food. We think that’s the best approach to a food tour! A food tour usually takes you to multiple locations to try the best foods in town, and they often include drinks. We highly recommend a food tour anytime you visit a new country or region.
Rail Europe - Rail Europe is a good place to start for a Eurail pass (travel in 1 European country or multiple countries).
DiscoverCars - These car rentals are not only competitively priced, but they are in just about every destination you might be headed to. A bonus: they have a high customer satisfaction rate, and we love that.
You can find more of our favorite travel websites, apps, and products on our website in the Resources section. These are all the resources that we frequently use to plan and enjoy a trip.
*No BS, we want to be transparent; some of the links included on this page may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, we earn a commission if you make a purchase. We only recommend products and companies that we have vetted. Thanks for your support, this helps us bring you travel tips!
In our monthly newsletter, you'll find travel tips and updates to travel regulations that we have researched so you don’t have to. We also include restaurant and experience recommendations every time we travel; most of our content is on Europe and the UK.
