Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens tickets

Prices, and why buying on the day is cheaper

The Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens are run by the Uffizi Galleries and use the same pricing logic: buy on the day of your visit and you pay less; buy ahead and it costs €3 more.

• Boboli Gardens: €10 on the day, €13 in advance.
• Pitti Palace: €16 on the day, €19 in advance.
• Pitti + Boboli combined: €22 on the day, €25 in advance.

Pitti and Boboli usually see far smaller crowds than the Uffizi, so the usual advice flips: just turn up and buy at the ticket office (on the square in front of the palace, or at the garden gates). The exception is the Royal Apartments, which can only be visited with a booking.

A ticket few visitors know about: Boboli plus the Bardini Garden for €15, sold only at the ticket office and only for the same day. The Bardini is a terraced garden a little further along the same hillside with one of the best views over Florence. On a clear morning it's worth the combination.

Discounts follow Italian state museum rules. Under-18s of any nationality go free with ID. The €2 ticket for ages 18–25 is for EU citizens and a few reciprocity countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Uruguay); everyone else pays full price.

What's inside the Pitti Palace

The palace ticket covers six collections under one roof: the Palatine Gallery, hung floor to ceiling with Raphaels and Titians like a private collection, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Museum of Fashion and Costume, the Treasury of the Grand Dukes, the Museum of Russian Icons and the Palatine Chapel. It's not a one-hour stop if you like painting.

Before you go, check the notices on the Uffizi website: rooms close for works or rehanging from time to time, and the Treasury of the Grand Dukes has had temporary closures. The ticket price stays the same.

Boboli's hours change with the seasons

The gardens open daily at 8:15 am. Closing time follows the daylight:

• 4:30 pm in January, February, November and December;
• 5:30 pm in March and October while Italy is on winter time;
• 6:30 pm in March and October under summer time, and in April, May and September;
• 7:10 pm in June, July and August.

Last entry is always one hour before closing, so in winter you need to be inside by 3:30 pm.

Mondays are the other trap. The palace is closed every Monday, but the gardens close only on the first and last Monday of the month (plus 25 December). On other Mondays Boboli is open, which makes it one of the few big sights you can do in Florence while the state museums are shut.

Entrances are through the palace's central doorway, the Annalena gate on Via Romana, Porta Romana and Forte di Belvedere. Paths are gravel and earth and almost always on a slope: wear proper shoes, and with a pushchair or wheelchair it's best to have someone with you.

Partners, the 5-day pass and pairing with the Uffizi

Tiqets, GetYourGuide and Headout sell Pitti and Boboli entries bundled with audio guides or guided tours at more than the official price. For plain entry they make little sense, since tickets are easy to buy on site. The audio and guided versions are a different story: the Palatine Gallery without context is an endless wall of paintings, and Boboli without a plan means missing the best fountains and viewpoints.

If you're also seeing the Uffizi, look at the PassePartout 5 Days at €40: one entry each to the Uffizi, Pitti and Boboli within five consecutive days. You book a time only for the Uffizi, which must come first; Pitti and Boboli you visit whenever you like afterwards, no slot needed. Even at same-day prices, separate tickets cost more.

A good day plan: Uffizi in the morning, across the Ponte Vecchio for lunch in the Oltrarno, Boboli in the afternoon, keeping an eye on that season's closing time. Entry is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, with no bookings.