Am I taking too big a risk to wait until I get to Italy to make resevations (at a Tourist Info center) or should I do it now? Specifically, we are staying in Lucca April 19-25 and want to take trains to Florence and Pisa and Sienna. It sounds easy enough just to walk into the station and get a ticket to get on. In Florence we (5 of us) want to take 'The Original Florence Walk' and can make reservations online, but I would rather figure out what day we want to do it once we get to Lucca and settle in. Also, what about reserving tickets for The David and Ufizzi? Can I just wait till I get there? Thanks
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
You should be fine in April. Train reservations are never a problem.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
All of the journeys that you listed above will be on Regionale (R) trains. These are the locals. No Eurostars or ICPlus trains on these runs. No reservations are permitted on the R trains. You buy your ticket, validate the ticket at one of the yellow validation boxes, get on and find a seat. First come, first served like your local bus system. If no seats, you can stand. However, the trains are rarely full.
Reservations for the Accademia and the Uffizi are a different story. You should make those reservations right away or as soon as you firmly know when you will be there.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
251 posts
As Larry suggested, getting train tickets won't be a problem. I think for all of these you can just get them the day of, right before you get on the train. And as for the museum reservations, that should be taken care of as soon as possible, especially for the Uffizi. The Accademia (for the David) usually isn't as much of a problem to get into as the Uffizi, but I would still try to reserve in advance. Again, just be sure to reserve for the Uffizi.
Posted by
Half Moon Bay, CA, USA
7 posts
Hi, I tried to post a reply, but hit a button wrong and it disappeared. If it actually posted and this is a duplicate, I apologize.
You need to know that April 18-28, 2009 in Florence, the museums are free and open to the public, no reservatons available. It is a Florentine week of culture festival.
The online museum reservation system gave no explanation when I tried to get reservations a few weeks ago. My sister inquired by email and heard back the next day that that's why there are no spots available for that period of time.