I looked at pre-booking these two museums at am SHOCKED at the extra fees... I know RS stays to just pay them--after all, that's why you're there... to see stuff!--but OMG the fees.
I watched is travel advice DVD and he said to go later in the day to avoid the queues.
Has that worked successfully with anyone? Do the lines decrease throughout the day?
Depends on what time of year you are traveling. November-early December, that might work. June or July, not so much.
But like the other poster, I didn't think the fees were more than a few euro. Are you sure you were looking at the official booking companies and not third party booking sites that are likely to charge additional fees?
What kind of fees are you talking about? Has something changed drastically since I went 2 years ago? It was 3 extra euros, and when you reserve directly with the museum by phone (or if your hotel does it for you), you don't even have to pay anything until you show up at the museum to buy your ticket.
Some of the third party does charge a hefty fee for booking plus ticket. Check around. I emailed our hotel and they did it for free. you simplr pay for the ticket with your reservation# at the entrance.
The fee for booking each is 4 euro per person. Personally my travel time is worth WAY more than 4 euro for an hour or more of standing in line in the hot July sun.
I called 2 weeks ago and reserved our tickets to both the Accademia and Uffizi for a visit in Mid-July. As a previous poster stated, there is a 4 Euro/tkt. booking fee for each of these museums. The Accademia also has a special exhibit at this time so these tickets, which I believe are normally 6.50 Euros, go up to 10 Euros, plus the booking fee of 4 Euros for a total of 14 Euros/tkt. You have no choice re. the special exhibit fee. The Uffizi tkts. were 10 euros plus the 4 euro bkg. fee for a total of 14 euros/tkt.
You can go to the official museum website and check the number of slots available for the day you would like to visit. Then if you call shortly after you check this you can give the operator the exact time you would like. My entire call lasted about 10 minutes including the time I was on hold. I have int'l calling on my cell phone and the per min. charge isn't that bad.
In Rick's Florence guidebook update he mentions trying to book through the third party website, www.weekendafirenze.com. This website, does charge an additional 5 Euros/tkt IN ADDITION to the ticket price and the 4 Euro booking fee. I guess I would try to avoid booking through this website if at all possible.
If people are still having trouble booking though the official museum website, I would recommend just calling.
Did you try here?
B Ticket
And to answer your original question, I was able to get into both Accademia (no wait) and Uffizi (10 minute wait) at 5:30PM. Not sure if I was lucky or if it was just the time of year (early May).
Our hotel, the Dali, called and got us the reservations. Even though the website showed only afternoon slots, Marco got us morning reservations. I believe there are special shows at both the Ufizzi and the Academia right now so the base price of the tickets has been raised. You'll pay that fee regardless of reservations.
You CAN NOT book online, right, through the museum's website? (firenzemusei.it)... I see no link or web form. You have to call Italy? I don't even know how to call internationally ;)
I've submitted a contact form to our hotel (Hotel Berchielli) and they haven't replied yet.
I found a third one and it's expensive:
Ticket full Euro 10,00 x 2
Online service Euro 4,90 x 2
Booking Euro 5,80 x 2
Total Euro 41,40
Or TicketItaly.com... 40 Euros.
Or Viator (the tour company)--for an unmanned tour for US$60.
Pete
Maplethorpe is the photograher that died 20 years ago on exhibit while we were there mid June. I was disappointed as I do not care for his work and he is an American Artist/photographer. We were traveling with our two kids. Oh well, we paid and the museum was worth it. Why go and not see The David? Have a great trip. Remember, due to the exchange it will just be more, so forget the euro and have fun!
I've been trying to book our tickets online and it doesn't seem to be working. You get through the page where you enter your credit card info and then the page goes blank and says "done". There is no confirmation or any action after that.
I emailed the contact email they give for help but it comes back as undeliverable. I called the museum to see if they could tell me whether or not the transaction went through and they gave me the email that I had sent the previous email to that went no where.
I'm going to check with my credit card company and if it hasn't gone through, I'm going to phone back tomorrow and purchase the tickets over the phone.
http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/Uffizi/venue.aspx is the English page for ordering tickets online. both the Ufizzi and Academia (and the Bargello for that matter) have special exhibits at the present time which increases the base price of the tickets by 3.5 euro.
The "shocking" extra fees are because you are going through agencies that take an extra fee over and above the Base price plus 4 euro reservation fee. It's a convenience fee for not calling and ordering the tickets yourself. It's not really shocking--- the people getting the tickets for you are just making a living. About just throwing the dice and seeing if you can get in on your own--- anything is possible, but I'm guessing that in the heat of the afternoon many more people would be booking tickets to inside airconditioned attractions. If the lines are long, are you willing to wait in the heat or are you ok with just passing on either or both museums?
http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/Uffizi/venue.aspx
is the site I'm using. I would advise people to call for the tickets instead as the site doesn't seem very reliable.
I called Italy for first time! I gave her our last name and she gave me six digit code... She required NO PAYMENT now--is that right??? Only arrive ten minutes early to pay in cash then.. 28 Euros for two adults. Not bad. This will avoid the normal / longer queues?
I talked to a real Italian for the first time... Scary! Heart beating fast! but it wasn't so bad in the end.
I assumed I couldn't call Italy using Vonage(VOIP) but you can! I just had to look up 011 to dial first. I think it's free with Vonage.com.
Pete
Way to go Peter! Have a great trip and buon viaggio!
Good job!
Correct, as I recall (it's been awhile), you get there 10-15 minutes before your reservation time, let the door guards know, they'll send you in to pay for your tickets then and there. Then you pass through the metal detectors, they scan your ticket, and away you go.
I was just there at the end of June. I paid for the reservation at 9 am on Saturday and Sunday for the two museums.
The lines for entrance with no reservation were not too bad at these times.
