Borghese Gallery... any way to get around reserving in advance?

You can always try, or even try calling them that morning if you have an idea what time that day you may want to go. Your odds are better in November than in June-October. Remember that they are closed on Monday.

You can always try but the borghese gallery is not in the city center so unless you are wandering around the park it might be better to make a reservation than to walk all the way out there only to find out they have no slots open. You can call when you get to Rome or even every day to see if and when they might have an opening. Donna

If you have a burning desire to visit the Borghese Gallery, don't take a chance of missing out on this fabulous collection. Make the reservation in advance.

If you're going to be there for 4 days, I can't imagine a reservation interfering with anything else. However, you're probably safe with being able to get a time while you're in Rome during the off season. It depends upon how important the Borghese is to you whether you have a reservation before you arrive.

I generally don't like reserving things in advance because it hinders flexibility, but the Borghese is one place I'm willing to make a reservation for (the Vatican Museums are another). What we did on our last trip to Rome, last September, was to wait as long as possible to make a reservation. I monitored the ticket availability (via the internet) after we arrived in Italy (our time in Rome was at the end of a two-week trip). When I saw the entry times filling up; in fact, my preferred time was already fully booked, I went ahead and booked online.

When I made my plans to go to Rome, I didn't know about museums being closed on Monday's. I've been trying to make my itinerary as logical as possible so I'm not crossing town. I'm starting to think I will have to sacrifice the National Museum or the Capitoline Museum to fit the Borghese into my schedule. My plans for Friday include checking in and the Vatican Museum/St Peter's between lunch and dinner. Saturday for the Ruins in the morning & the churches southwest of Termini (S. Maria Maggiore/San Giovanni/St Peter in Chains/San Clemente) in the afternoon and somehow fit Baths of Caracalla. So Sunday is the only other day. So should I skip the National or the Capitoline Museum? My plans were moving me north from Termini towards the gardens and then S. Maria del Popolo heading south down via Del Corso towards Capital Hill. If I sacrifice National than I can go to Borghese 9 or 11 am but if I sacrifice Capitoline I can do Borghese either 1 or 3 pm slot. Monday is obviously out and I'm filling that in with a lot of different sites but with a relaxed itinerary because I figure I will be tired out and I just want to savour my last day in Rome before I have to leave the next morning. Thanks for all the advise, I've been enjoying reading to forum (no pun intended) here.

Yes, Mondays are not a good day to go to museums. But the Vatican Museum is open, as are most of the "ancient sights."

When I went to the Borghese a few weeks ago I had a reservation at 11:00 on a Tuesday. I watched someone (famous...that's why I was watching him :-)) without a reservation try to get in at the 11:00 time. They told him to come back at 1:00. I think I remember reading somewhere that 1:00 and 3:00 are the easiest times to get in last minute.

We haven't been to the National Museum yet, but we really enjoyed the Capitoline. If you want to see all three museums, I would look at rearranging days, make Saturday and Sunday museum days and Monday your ancient Rome day.

You can certainly show up and get a reservation for the same day. It will likely be later in the day, several hours later. The only problem is that there is little (other than the park) in the immediate area and it is somewhat time consuming to get there, so likely it will turn into alot of waiting and chew up most of a day to do it this way.

You can TRY to get a reservation that day - but as Paul says it will most likely be for later that day. And weekends are most likely to fill up completely so the chance of not getting in at all is also very good. I'd pre-book it and plan your trip around that if it's important to you. Or have your hotel do so when you arrive. But the longer you wait the more it can negatively affect your plans for the rest of your stay. As for getting unclaimed tickets - I've heard that is possible but my experience trying it was being turned away as if they didn't do that anymore.

For me, a choice between the Borghese, National and Capitoline would be in that order. I love the sculptures and paintings in the Borghese, so that's high on my list. The National Museum I like for the mosaics, which I also love. And I've never even been to the Capitoline.

I forgot to mention that you can reserve ahead, but not pay ahead. If you end up not going, you won't be out any money.

I've decided to drop something else I had wanted to visit (Jewish Museum and Ghetto area) in order to move the Forum/Coliseum/etc to Monday and visit Capitaline Saturday evening, Borghese Sunday morning, and National Sunday evening. I'm using most of the big sites or museums as anchors in my itinerary because I have a feeling I might find myself at sites naturally. Thanks again for all the help and "talking" me out of cancelling Borghese Gallery.

We got a reservation at Galleria Borghese on the same day, in early September. I had our hotel call (because our room phone wasn't working) and make the reservation. We wanted 3Pm, but only 5PM was available. That worked just fine. We toured the palace for 90 mins and then walked through Villa Borghese to get to Piazza del Popolo to join in the evening Dolce Vita Stroll. Loved the sculptures! National Gallery warranted about 90 minutes for us - maybe 2 hours if we hadn't had a train to catch (they will hold large bags, as FYI). All relative to how long you like to spend taking in each piece of art.

Sherry, thanks for the information but I read somewhere that its only until the end of October. Unfortunately I'm in Rome the second "weekend" in November :(

Hi Andrea, I don't know if you can make this work for your schedule but I read on this RS website under "European Headlinea" a few days ago that you can go to the Baths of Carcalla in the evening. Hope that this info helps. Sherry