Museum Reservations in Florence and rail tickets or passes?

We toured Florence in the second half of October and made reservations for Uffizi and Academia 48 hours in advance.

I don't do rail reservations (other than buying tickets a day in advance) when on vacation because I prefer to leave flexibility in my schedule.

Some prefer to have all the details nailed down and stick to the plan others, like me, have an idea what we're doing but don't plan every detail before leaving home.

We just returned from Florence, we were there Dec. 26th thru Jan. 1. The lines for both museums were very long. We made reservations the day before from our hotel and just walked by everyone standing in line. Hope you enjoy your trip, we loved it.

RAIL TICKETS OR RAIL PASS
Travel expert Mark Kahler says about train travel:

In many places, train travel is an afterthought. The rise of budget airlines within Europe led many away from train-heavy itineraries.

In the U.S., the financial ills of Amtrak caused many to write it off as dead.

This fact remains -- the rail networks of the world are often superb for budget travel, and ground connections are easily made.

You must weigh whether passes or simple point-to-point tickets are cheaper for your itinerary. Cheap train travel has saved many a budget itinerary in Europe, North America, Asia.

Here are 10 chances for affordable train travel. Get some rail passes or tickets and climb aboard!

Read the rest of his report at: budgettravel.about.com/od/cheapgroundtransportation/tp/discount_train.

Train travel within Italy is relatively inexpensive so a railpass for that country alone is rarely cost effective. At this time of the year you will have no trouble getting tickets "on the spot" right up until shortly before departure. Seat reservations are required on fast trains like EuroStar Italia and IC trains and the cost of the reservation is included in the price of the ticket. Amica fares (20% discount) are sold for many of the fast train routes. If any of the allotted seats are available, you can get Amica fares up to midnight of the day before departure. No reservations are possible on regional trains, but the fares are cheaper. You can buy all your tickets when you get to Rome. Or for more flexibility in your schedule, buy tickets one or two days in advance of each trip.

For Florence, you can probably make reservations the day of or the day before, which still gives you a lot of flexibility. I made reservations for Uffizi the day before for the time slot I wanted (in August). But, I changed my mind about times at the last minute and ended up just going right when they opened without a reservation & there was no line at all. I walked right in. However, later in the day, the lines were very long. Accademia was similar.

In Rome, buy the Arch. pass from Palatine Hill/The Forum & then you can bypass the lengthy line at the Colosseum. None of the other attractions seemed to have lines (in August, at least).

I was in Florence last March and i was so glad that i had reserved my museum tickets ahead of time. I was able to walk in at my scheduled time and those that didn't have reservations had a long line to wait in. I wish i had done that for the Vatican, i ended up standing in line for 1 1/2 hrs. If you like sculpture try the Borghese museum in Rome. It is absolutely stunning! You have to make resevations ahead of time though because they only allow a certain number of people in every hour. I never reserved my train tickets though, they were easy enough to get and lots of trains leaving throughout the day so i never had to worry.

Sorrento is a charming beautiful city. It's so relaxing after the hustle and noise of Rome. Have a wonderful trip. I loved Italy and plan on going back some day.

We visited Italy for 4 weeks in Sept/Oct 2008. I don't know what the museums lines would be like in mid winter but I believe most hotels in Florence will make the Acc and Uff reservs for you, at no charge. Our little inexpensive hotel did (I emailed from home before departure) and it worked great. And, the lines were very long everywhere we went at that time of year. The railpass did not seem to offer us value. We traveled by train (and bus) and bought point to point the entire month with no problems. Buying the ticket a day or so in advance of departure was our tactic; you might get the Amica fare, have better luck with times, and certainly won't have to hassle in the station buying tix when you can walk to your binario and take off. I hope you are planning on Pompeii from Sorrento---it's easy to do and clearly among the most amazing places we have ever been. Have fun!

Hi Judy,
My family and I visited Italy this past October. The line at the Uffizi was very long, so we made reservations for the next day (very easy). We visited the Accademia early in the day and walked right in.
We had rail passes, but I would not do that again. Train travel (except for the fast trains) is very cheap. You WILL want to make sure that you have seat reservations, though, as some trains will fill fast. On a couple of trips, a lot of people had to stand for the entire trip.
Have fun!

Hi Judy, My family and I just returned from three great weeks. Bologna, Florence and Rome. We had reservations for the Accademia and Uffizi but didn't really need them because when we got there we just walked in without paying reservation charges. Since I didn't prepay for these museums it worked out fine. Consider Borghese and Vaticum museums while in Rome, these were terrific. For Rome museums you do need reservations and you prepay. But it is all so worth it. In the end reservations keep you from worrying. Now for the train. I found the passess to be way to expensive. We had no problem picking up the rides we needed. Even did some last minute day trips on regional trains without a hassle or great expense. Amica savings never seemed to be available. If you wanted to travel high speed, which we did once,you pay more. Travel greater than six hours I took a plane - Ryan air. The flight was a bit of a disaster in that they were very late. I was told they often are. Also the airstrip was far out of the town. With that knowledge I'd reconsider the flights in favor for trains any day. Good luck

My personal experience travelling in off season is that you do NOT need resvs for museums. Last time I was in Florence (2005) in early Dec, my travelling companions insisted on making them for the Accademia...the system is dead easy..English speaking receptionist.

When we got there...zero lineup...so we walked right in. Same with the Uffizi.

Same with the train..walk up to the ticket counter. Btw..if you're travelling only in Italy..point to point tixs are almost certainly cheaper than passes

I usually travel to Italy in February or March (I'm a teacher and it lines up with spring breaks) and I've never had a problem with train availability but have been glad on several occasions to have museum reservations. There have always been long lines at the Uffizi every time I've walked through the piazza. That being said, you could probably reserve them once you get there. It all depends on your schedule. If you are only in Florence a day or so I might make museum reservations; if you have longer you could probably wing it!

what about travelling italy in july?
can you get train tickets (within italy) on a day's notice as well?
for example, florence to rome.

Judy,

In you chase, traveling for only 2 weeks, rail tickets would cost you less money than passes.
Your friends were right when they didn't buy rail tickets in advance, unless you really know when exactly you are going to travel.Buy them from the train stations before you leave. Sometimes you might need to wait in line at the ticket machine, but it wouldn't take long. Make sure you stamp your ticket before bording the train.
The official train web site in Italy is Trenitalia.com