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Reminder: Check Opening Times for Sights!

Posted by (Washington DC) on

This is a friendly reminder of the critical importance of checking the opening times of all attractions important to you if you are planning to travel soon. If you're a pack-everything-into-the-minimum-number-of-days traveler, you should probably make a preliminary check before deciding how many nights you'll need in sight-heavy cities.

I know many if not all the Smithsonian Museums here in Washington DC are open more limited hours than usual--both fewer days of the week and fewer hours of the day.

I haven't yet actively sought out that sort of information for my own trip (still not sure where I'm going), but I just took a look at the website of the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, arguably the most important museum in the city. My old notes show an operating schedule of 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM Tuesday - Sunday from some time in the past. The current hours are:

Tuesday 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM (closed in the afternoon)
Wednesday and Thursday 12:30 - 5:30 PM (closed in the morning)
Friday - Sunday 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM (not bad, but 3 hours shorter than 8:30 - 7:30)

Per the common procedure in European museums, they stop allowing entry a full hour before closing time.

I can imagine someone arriving in Milan on Wednesday afternoon with a ticket in hand to see The Last Supper and planning to go to the Brera the next morning before moving on to Florence, Venice, etc. on a 1 PM train. Oopsie.

Posted by
3958 posts

Or another frustration at this time around here. We check restaurants and sites diligently to see if they are open before we venture out, now that we are venturing out. What we are seeing is that a website might list certain days and opening hours but if I check the Facebook page for the restaurant or site it often says something else. Very frustrating but I hope it will get better.

Posted by
2625 posts

And another thought, now that @acraven brings this up. Many many places are by pre-purchased reservation only this summer/fall. So check your sites and buy in advance if you need to.

Posted by
10201 posts

Absolutely correct, Anne. A rainy Tuesday today in DC, but the Smithsonian museums and botanical gardens were closed until Wednesday. The National Geographic museum is closed, period. The National Gallery is open reduced hours AND everyone must have a reservation to enter. So always check before venturing out. It's a little more complicated now.

Posted by
954 posts

Speaking of the National Gallery, we were there the day it reopened and had the place to ourselves. We were able to stare at Leonardo da Vinci’s Ginevra de' Benci for as long as we wanted. I had no idea she is the only painting by da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere.

Thank you acraven for the reminder. I’m still a bit nervous to buy tickets for October. So much could change.

Posted by
2768 posts

Great reminder!

I think fast-paced travel along the lines of 2 days per city is not a good idea for the time being. With more limited hours, reservations, and closed days you will need more time in a given destination to see the sights. I don’t mind, I like a slower pace. But it’s not “normal” yet and travelers need to adapt.

Posted by
11294 posts

Valerie beat me to it. The Smithsonian Museums are just one example of places that didn't require advance timed tickets in the past, but which now do. On the other hand, Hillwood (a fabulous estate in DC) required timed tickets through June 11, but I visited June 13 and so didn't need a timed ticket (I bought in advance online, the morning of my visit, to save a bit of money, but tickets are being sold at the door).

When Gone With The Wind had postponed the start of filming multiple times, and announced a new "definite start of filming" date, a reporter commented "write it in ice and set it in the sun." That's how everything is going now. If you're going to travel, you have to accept that everything is subject to change at any time, and that yesterday's research may not apply for today's visits.

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