Firenzie card

Marsha, Lots of people will tell you, no, you don't, that with the Firenze card you can walk right in. Here's what happened to me and my travelling companion on June 24, a Friday, this year, at 10:00 am. We approached the Accademia entrance, and showed our Firenze cards to the guard at the door. He pointed us to a line of at least 100 people - a line that wasn't moving. Yes, he said, that is the line for Firenze card holders. And the line next to and beyond it (that stretched way down the block and around the corner), he said, was for people without Firenze cards. As we stood there taking this in, a woman walked up with her 3 family members, flashed her printed, timed entry tickets, the rope was lifted and she was let right in. Next, as we watched, he let in several tour groups of 12 - 40 or so people each! But the Firenze card line still wasn't moving. So.... we returned late in the afternoon the following day and were able to walk in after about 5 minutes. It seems that timed entry tickets - or membership in a tour group - was definitely the way to go, at the Accademia. On the other hand, at the Uffizi, we were able to go first to the "reservations" ticket office (across from the actual entrance), show our Firenze cards and get immediate entry tickets. ... RS's books tell you the logistics of how this work at the Uffizi. But don't believe everything they tell you about the Firenze card giving you automatic entry without needing timed entry tickets at the Accademia. It just didn't work that way for us. This was the first and last time that I'm buying a Firenze card. I thought that the extra euros spent on the cards would save us the hassle of making reservations, and entry would be easy. Next time I'm making our own timed entry reservations, so I don't have guess when and if the Firenze card will actually grant us entrance to key museums.

Marsha, it might be more helpful if you could provide a little more info which may determine if the Firenze Card is even economical for you.

Last I knew, you had 2 nights in Rome and 4 in Florence. Is that still the plan? Do you have any day trips planned out of Florence and if so, to where? What is on your must-see list for the city?

We are going to be in Florence for 3 1/2 days mid week. Accademia, Uffizi, the Duomo are the three essentials. We have one 1/2 day wine tasting trip into the countryside, but no other excursions planned. We like the convenience of the Firenzie Card so if we see something and we want to enter, we won't have to wait in a long line to get tickets. It would seem to me that Accademia would be the most popular of the museums because of the David, so that would explain to me the long lines. And you said at a later time of day there was no line, so my plan is to go there, if there's a line, we do something else and come back.

The Firenze Card was a great deal for me and my husband because we are art/history/museum freaks. But if you only want to see the Accademia, Uffizi and Duomo, I don't think the Firenze Card would be a good deal for you.

The line of the Uffizi was the longest when we were there but yes, it can be very long for the Accademia too. Someone else must have suggested doing that one later in the day? If you plan to do the parts of the duomo with the card that usually requite a paid ticket (the church itself is free; no pass or ticket) then you'll get additional good out of it. Otherwise, you can order timed-entry tickets for the above that allow you to line-skip.

Just know that you won't need the pass for line-skipping anywhere else as lines won't be long - if there's a line at all - anywhere else. You may not break even on the card but maybe that's not necessarily important to you either.

I was i Firenze for an entire week and visited many museums so the Firenze card definitely paid off for me. But it depends on the time of year and on how much you want to see. I was there in late August and the lines were there, but not as bad as in July or early August. We got in quite swiftly while there were people without cards standing in line forever, especially the case re the Uffici. For David in the evening there were no lines at all, so did not make much of a difference that we booked priority entry in addition to the card. I would have hated to stand in line, however, and the only place where we had to do that was in the Uffici, despite the card. Also, we went to so many places so even if we visited at a time when the lines were not at their worst it was definitely worth the money.

On a different note, Uffici and David were wonderful, but what touched me the most were the Fra Angelicos at the Convent of San Marco: http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_san_marco.html