My main question is - Am I understanding correctly that if I get the Firenze Card, I do NOT need any reservations except the duomo climb?
If you have a few more minutes I'd welcome advice on our plan. We are traveling next month (Oct) by train/bus and plan to sightsee in Pisa on the way from Cinque Terre to Florence, arriving in Florence Wed. evening. Depending on how late it is we will do things like the RS walk, Ponte Vecchio, and Oltrarno. Thursday and Friday we will do the big sights - at least Uffizi, Academia, Bargello, and the Duomo. Friday evening we will go to Sienna just for the night. Saturday we go on the Venice, but it looks like all trains and buses go through Florence. We are very much budget minded travelers, but it seems like the Firenze card is worth the extra cost for the flexibility it provides. Depending on special exhibits I think we could save $20-40 buying individual tickets, but the required reservations seem like they would really limit making the most of our time. There are also several other sites covered by the card that we would enjoy if we can fit them in, and I'm even wondering if we might want to see something on the way back through Saturday since our card would still be good. Does the card seem like a good value for our trip? Also, there's no benefit to buying it ahead, right? Last thing, I'd have thought we'd want to do Uffizi first thing before the tour crowds come, but Rick itinerary's all put it at 3:30-4:30. Any idea why or what's best? Thanks!