City Sightseeing Florence review: prices, routes and who it actually suits

Florence’s red double-decker costs from €29 for twenty-four hours and has been running for over twenty years. What is new is the ownership: the operator has been acquired outright by Busitalia, part of the Ferrovie dello Stato group, under an agreement signed in January 2026.

The verdict in two sentences: it is an honest product with a structural limit, because the historic centre is a limited-traffic zone and coaches cannot enter it. The TripAdvisor score of 3.5 from 569 reviews is the lowest among the Florence operators we have checked.

It suits people who find walking difficult, anyone who wants to get up to Fiesole without planning, and anyone after a panoramic audio introduction to the city. It does not suit anyone expecting to use it between the Duomo, the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio: the bus does not go there.

We are not affiliated with City Sightseeing: we earn no commission on bookings made on their own site. The tickets compared on this page are sold by Tiqets and GetYourGuide, with whom our affiliate relationship is declared.

At a glance

Routes, stops and frequencies

There are two routes and they do different jobs.

Route A, the red one, is the city loop on both banks of the Arno: roughly sixty minutes, seventeen stops, with the climb to Piazzale Michelangelo as the stretch that carries the most value. Route B, the blue one, goes up to Fiesole and takes about two hours: it is the best reason to buy a 48-hour ticket.

The handiest stop for anyone arriving by train is number 6, in Largo Fratelli Alinari, a short walk from Santa Maria Novella station. The circuit states 44 stops across the two routes.

On frequencies it pays to be precise, because that is where almost every complaint starts. The operator states an interval of between 15 and 60 minutes depending on the season. The published winter timetable is less generous: route A every 40 minutes at weekends and every 75 minutes on weekdays, first departure 9:20 and last 16:40; route B every two hours, from 11:15 to 15:15. Between November and the end of March route B does not run on weekdays. Some resellers list it as “temporarily suspended”, but that is not the case: at the time of checking the operator sells it normally alongside route A on the same ticket and describes it as a route of about 120 minutes. The winter reduction is seasonal, not a withdrawal — which does not change the fact that anyone buying 48 hours in January to reach Fiesole midweek will find no bus.

Prices and comparison

The entry price on the operator’s site is €29 for the 24-hour ticket. On the platforms the same service starts at €29 on Tiqets and €19.55 on GetYourGuide at the time of checking, with a choice of 24, 48 or 72 hours. Official fares for the longer tickets are not shown openly on the site.

The real limit: the ZTL

This is why so many people feel let down by the product. The historic centre of Florence is a limited-traffic zone in sectors A, B and O and is largely pedestrian: tourist buses cannot enter, and the stops sit on the perimeter — station, Fortezza da Basso, Arno embankments, Piazza della Libertà, Piazzale Michelangelo.

It means the bus will not take you to the Duomo, the Uffizi, the Accademia, Piazza della Signoria or the Ponte Vecchio. Those five places, which are why most people come to Florence, are reached on foot and are five to ten minutes apart.

The real value of the ticket therefore lies in three things: the climb to Piazzale Michelangelo, the trip to Fiesole on route B, and the audio guide as an introduction to the city. If your plan looks like the one on our things to do in Florence page — museums in the centre — the bus is not for you.

What the reviews say

The headline number is 3.5 out of 5 from 569 reviews on TripAdvisor at the time of checking: 180 excellent ratings, but also 92 terrible ones, sixteen per cent of the total. It is the lowest score among the Florence operators we have checked. The individual product listing drops to 3.1 from 278 reviews.

On Trustpilot the Italian brand scores 4.5 out of 5, but from just 65 reviews covering every city it serves in Italy: it is not a verdict on Florence.

The complaints have one dominant theme, waiting. Reviewers report 45-minute waits against the 25–35 advertised, and hourly departures instead of the twenty minutes promoted; there are cases of passengers turned away on board with a refund refused. The operator’s own site warns that heavy traffic can cause delays and disruption, which is honest but no comfort to anyone waiting in the sun.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Free cancellation up to 24 hours before, an Italian contract with jurisdiction in Florence.
• App with live vehicle tracking, Wi-Fi on board, audio guide in eight languages.
• Route B to Fiesole has no convenient equivalent among tourist products.
• Two physical offices in town, in via Cavour and at the station.
• Now under Busitalia: a substantial group behind the operator.

Cons

• The ZTL keeps the buses out of the centre: the main sights stay on foot.
• 3.5 from 569 reviews, with 16% of ratings at the bottom.
• Real frequencies far from the advertised ones, especially on winter weekdays.
• 48- and 72-hour fares not published openly on the operator’s site.
• Route B cut back or suspended in winter — the very route that justifies a long ticket.

Verdict

City Sightseeing Florence is worth 2.5 out of 5. Not because of the service itself — the vehicles are in good order, the audio guide works, support exists and answers in Italian — but because the product fits the city it is sold in badly.

Florence is compact and closed to traffic: a format designed for large, spread-out cities loses most of its point here. The extra half point over a bare pass comes from the 24-hour cancellation, the Fiesole route and the new ownership.

Buy it if you walk little, if you want Fiesole without the planning, or if you have already done the museums and want a comfortable panoramic loop. Do not buy it to move between the Duomo and the Uffizi. And if the only goal is sunset from the viewpoint, take the 12 or the 13: €2.00 for ninety minutes and you arrive at the same spot, as the Piazzale Michelangelo page explains.

Alternatives

• Hop-on hop-off in Florence — the full comparison of 24-, 48- and 72-hour tickets and the two routes.
• Tiqets — where the ticket comes with cancellation and in-app support.
• Walkabout Florence — if the panoramic bus makes you want a real day trip out of town instead.
• Free walking tours in Florence — the alternative on foot, with the necessary caveats about tips and guide licensing.
• To build the day: Piazzale Michelangelo, walking tours and audio guides and Florence museum tickets.