We will be in Florence in mid-October for only 2 days. We will arrive early in the morning via train from CT. At that time of year, is it possible to buy tickets from the ticket office for later in the day (or the next day) without waiting long? Or should I just commit to a time and buy them online. (Having to create an account on the website is also annoying and a deterrence, but I'll do it if I need to.) What happens if, by chance, we miss our time? Are our tickets void?
Thanks in advance!
To but tickets for a later time, you would need to go to the ticket office across the street from the Accademia when you arrive. They may not have any available tickets for a later time. You might consider getting your hotelier in the CT to call a day or two ahead for you and make a reservation. The reservation fee is cheap and you can likely get a suitable time slot. The last time I went, I stood in line for 30 minutes before they opened (I was second in line) and walked right in. That was in May, so I would expect to see a similar crowd in October.
The ticket office across the street usually has tickets for entry within a half hour or so (my experience several times), and it has a gift shop attached if you want to pass some waiting time there.
If there is a long line and you are late for your appointment, your ticket may not be honored.
I just bought tickets online today for Oct. 4th, and I was shocked to see how few times were available. I had been pretty cavalier about making a reservation. Do they release additional "day of" tickets? I agree the website to purchase tickets is a pain.
Cynthia
I advise you to buy your tickets in advance. There's along line even for people with reservations. But David is worth it!
I was there in August and the lines are ridiculous . Yes buy them ahead of time
We did it on the day of in early March. Went to that little office across the street, bought a ticket for an hour later, then went to stand in line, which was about 50 people long. Got in in 15 minutes, toured for an hour--it's not very big--browsed the gift shop, and left.
I remember chuckling at how upset some women was because she had already waited two hours in line. As I was at the ticket window with my printout she came up and got very indignant with the attendant about waiting so long. I was very pleased with myself for having read a guidebook. I will make a reservation for my return visit next May. If I can sit on my keister at home and do something to avoid standing in line on my vacation you better believe I'm gonna do it.
I do not understand the ratio of getting indignant over a wait. The statue is there, they cannot obviously have two of them, they cannot have too many persons in at the same time, if the demand is larger than the supply queues develop (*). If you do not want to wait in queue just go one of the many other museums that have shorter queues....
(*) at the Japanese exhibition at the Milan Expo 2015, the average queueing time was around 12 hours.
