Firenze Pass and Paris Museum Pass

I will let others answer your question about the Firenze Pass since I've not been to Florence recently & we didn't buy the pass when we were there.

The Paris Museum Pass is a great deal and you can go to any of the museums & monuments covered by the pass without making advance reservations. If your children are under 18 years of age, they do not need a pass as they can enter for free to most of the museums & monuments covered by the pass.

FYI, the Eiffel Tower is not included in the Paris Museum Pass.

If you plan to go up the Eiffel Tower, I don't know if there are still tickets availablefor your dates

Enjoy your trip!

Firenze pass is a little harder to make worth it -- 72 hours for €72. You get to be in the very short line of pass holders at Uffizi and Accademia; not much line at Medeci Chapel or San Marco. Run the numbers to see if it will pay off for the things you expect to be able to see during the time you have. But if you do buy the pass, make sure you take a look at the LONG lines you missed at the Uffizi and Accademia.

do you still need to make reservations anywhere if you have the
Firenze pass in Florence (Accademia, Uffizi, Duomo, etc.)

The dome (cupola) of the Duomo requires a reservation even with the pass. From the website's FAQ's:

http://www.firenzecard.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=119&lang=en

"You don't need to make any reservations with Firenzecard, except for the Dome (Cupola). For the Dome (Cupola)the booking is required - you have to make it at the ticket office in piazza San Giovanni 7/r after the collection of the free ticket."

The Paris Museum Pass is great as long as you can fit in enough of what it covers to break even or better. There were a couple of places which did not have separate lines for pass-holders: there was no priority access at the towers of Notre Dame (which you're unlikely to do with very small children) and the initial security line at Sainte-Chapelle. You skip the ticket line AFTER security checks there.

Thank you, Priscilla! We did end up booking a reservation a while back for the Eiffel Tower, so I'm glad I'm not doubling up on that with the Museum Pass.

Laura -- I was thinking the same thing about the Firenze Pass originally, but I am now leaning toward paying a little more for the flexibility of not having reservations. Our hope is that we can break away as the opportunity arises and see some of the museums without the kids (we are traveling with other adults and the kids' grandparents), but my concern was whether or not we'd actually be able to breeze right in without prior reservations, even though we had passes. It might make it possible to see the same museum twice in smaller time increments if the kids are with us and they aren't doing well inside!

Thank you for the info about the Duomo, Kathy! That is very helpful! I will also keep in mind the info about the security line at Sainte-Chapelle and the access to the top of Notre Dame.

Do you think that spending more for the passes in order to have peace of mind that we might actually get to see a museum or two on this trip is worth the steep price tag? Or should we skip most of the museums and just do family activities? (Is it blasphemes to say that?)

Thank you for your responses so far!

The Paris Museum Pass allows multiple entries to museums -- but I believe the Firenze Pass only allows one entry per site. Check this before you make your buying decisions if you want to see rhe Uffizi more than once.

the Firenze card is an overpriced piece of junk. I'd just make reservations where I wanted to go.

The Paris Museum Pass is a great product which allows multiple entrances and covers most museums in Paris. The kids are free at those museums (17 and under) and generally just walk in with you. Most museums have separate lines for those with passes/tickets and these security lines are much shorter e.g. at the Orsay we usually just walk right in having a ticket ahead; at most there is a 10 or so minute wait compared to hours in the main line.

I got the Firenze pass. I was travelling alone and had several days in Florence. It was my first trip to Europe and I had already been travelling for two weeks. I didn't want to make firm plans such as booking times or planning on when to visit what.... the flexibility to see how I felt or what I was in the mood for made it worth it for me. I enjoyed using the wifi around town. It was spotty but I was able to live video periscope with family while in the piazza by the Uffizi. I also found that I visited more museums than I would have if I needed to pay per visit. It didn't save me money but made my trip much more enjoyable. As for paris and London I decided against their city passes.

The Paris Museum Pass allows multiple entries to museums -- but I
believe the Firenze Pass only allows one entry per site.

That's correct, and one of the reasons the Paris Museum Pass was an especially good deal for us. The Louvre is enormous, and we went 3 different times, including one later-evening opening, to cover ground.

Wow, LauraB and Kathy, I hadn't even considered not being able to go in and out of the museums multiple times with the Firenze Pass. I am so glad you brought this up (and confirmed it)! Thank you!

Thank you to all for the ongoing information -- it is so helpful! We know we may not break even on the Firenze Pass, but I think our plan will be to check online for reservations when we get there, as we have enough days there that we will have some flexibility. Once we are there for a day or 2, I can either buy the FP or just book reservations online in advance. For whatever reason, there seem to be a lot of openings left for our dates (2 weeks out), though I'm sure that will change. I won't regret buying the Firenze Pass if it saves us time in line with the kiddos! And, I won't regret not getting advanced reservations if they don't work out, as it is very hard to imagine in advance what our daily schedule will look like with 2 kids under the age of 4! (Thank goodness for Grandparents!) :)

I understand! Big people can manage a schedule but little people have agendas all their own! :O)

Just in case you haven't taken a look yet, here's the website for the Firenze Card. The FAQs can contain answers to quite a number of questions:

http://www.firenzecard.it/?lang=en

As stated on the main page, "... it allows you to enter only once into all the museums of the Circuit."

We didn't use the Firenze Card as there was a different pass - significantly and sadly altered since we were last there - that was a better deal for us at the time: it covered unlimited visits to most of what we wanted to see, and for the longer time we were staying in Florence. That one and the Paris Museum Pass have been the only two we've felt were worthwhile enough, so far, to fork over for.

Art and culture aside, a museum pass can equal more options for clean, convenient restrooms all over a city. Since the Paris Museum Pass allows multiple visits to attractions, it could come in handy for this purpose. You might even use the Firenze Pass at a lesser known attraction (with easy access to restrooms) that you would not otherwise have visited, since it only allows one entry for each place. You would need to know the rules for each pass and how it works with regard to children, but in traveling with little ones, access to restrooms while in an unfamiliar city can become rather . . . urgent, so I thought I would mention it. :)

Goodness! Bestauntinworld, you are living up to your user name...

Thank you for the $0.02 about bathrooms. We have a somewhat-recently potty trained 3 year old, so the access to restrooms might be the deciding factor! Oh, the things you never think about when traveling with adults only! :)

This trip has been a challenge to plan, but a wonderful one! I know our kids may not remember the trip, but I hope it helps shape who they are and how they see the world. I don't think you're ever too young to learn that there are other cultures and languages and ways of doing things.

You are absolutely right about the children traveling. I am so glad you are taking them and and hope you have a wonderful trip!

Great advice from Bestaunt about restrooms, and that applies to big people as well as little ones! We take the opportunity to use them whenever those opportunities present themselves, whether we think we need to or not. Some of them may require a small payment so keep a stash of coins on you at all times.

In both Paris and Italian cities, the bars and cafes are good sources if willing to make a small purchase...which we do as businesses often have signs on the restroom doors stating that their facilities are only for patrons. The facilities in Italian cafes/bars/restaurants are often down a steep flight of stairs, in the basement, so can be interesting to track down!

But the good news is that children are rockstars in Italy. Wee folks are welcome almost anywhere and can attract lots of kindly attention! Where we'll order a coffee or whatnot in a bar/cafe before hitting the loo, a frantic mom with a tot who needs to go NOW need not waste time and won't be expected to. I would expect the same to be true in Paris.

Oh, and don't avoid bars in Italy. They're as much coffeeshops as places to consume alcohol, and are very family friendly. Most carry Italian sodas, ice cream and other treats for the younger set. :O)

Thank you, bestauntinworld! We are excited!!

Thank you for your insight, Kathy! Great tip about bars! It would be fun to go to a bar with an aperitivo spread some nights with the kids to get them to try some new foods.

This has been a very helpful discussion. I will report back with anything helpful we discovered/learned/wish we had known afterward!