Florence Tickets to Uffizi and Academia

If the Uffizi is important to you, reservations make sense, unless you're willing to maybe spend a few hours in line. The way to avoid reservations at Uffizi (and Academia) is to either buy a Firenze card (50E) or join Amigli degli Uffizi (50 or 60 E). I did the latter, and it worked great. Free entrance to all the museums, no need for reservations, and you can skip the lines. You can pay for the membership before you leave and pick to card up when you arrive in Florence.

Thanks for great info sherry. Rick

We were just there (Friday) and hadn't booked tickets for the Uffizi. The line was a 45-60 minute wait. I left my partner in the queue and went to the reservations desk (it's the next door to the entrance) and was able to book tickets for later the same day. So we went away and had lunch, returned at 2.30 and walked right in. Ticket cost 15 euros each (11 Euros entry and 4euros booking fee).
Hope you enjoy your visit to Florence!

Check with your hotel. Mine made reservations for me for free some might have a small charge. They emailed me back with the times and reservation numbers.

Agree with Laura. Just have you hotel make your reservations for you. It's quick, simple and costs nothing. You pay for the tickets when you pick them up.

You definitely want to book ahead. There are a few web sites out there that give you the impression of being the correct site but in fact are not. Here is the official site for buying tickets to the various museums: http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/ The booking charge is around €4 per ticket so it is not a huge amount extra. Right now, for example, if you were to book a ticket to the Uffizi gallery, your total charge per person would be €15 (€11 admission and €4 booking fee). This ticket amount includes entrance to the special tapestry exhibit that they have on display currently. The Accademia will cost you another €15 per person doing it this way. The Florence Card, which costs €50 per person, gives you no-waiting access to a number of museums and also free use of public transport, all within a 72 hour window. So that might be a better deal for you, depending upon what you hope to see.
http://www.firenzecard.it/?lang=en I visited the Uffizi Gallery recently using the first option about (online booking in advance). I decided to try to get in early, so I went to the ticket office ("Door 3") with the printout of my reservation, and the woman went ahead and printed out my ticket (and the ticket had my original reservation time on it, so it was obvious she had made note of it). I then went over to Door 1 and presented my ticket to get in. They scanned it and let me through without looking at it or anything. So the point is, if you find that you have some free time beforehand and want to try the museum early, they might let you in. On the other hand, in June there will certainly be more people there, and perhaps they will enforce the rules more then. Good luck.

Thank you all for such great info.
Rick

We called the places up and got reservations before went to Italy. They took our name and gave us a number and the time we wanted. When we got there everything was set and and we got in No Problem

I've been trying to access the b-ticket site to purchase advance tickets, but with no luck - is this site still active or experiencing problems?

I just returned from my stay in Florence. If you are planning to visit several museums, I would reccommend the Florence Card. You can go online to see what it covers. For me, it saved money and time. You do not need reservations with the Florence Card, you just walk right in. Avoiding all lines. It also covers the extra costs of "special" exhibitions at the museums as well as all busses. It was so helpful - there was no waiting anywhere we went. It is valid for 72 hours and I purchased mine at the TI in Florence. They were very helpful. FYI - the temp was about 94 degrees last week and the misquitoes are huge in Florence. The temp in the Uffizi was also hot and stuffy.

As a follow up. I just got back from Italy. I ended up pre-purchasing and reserving the tickets via the B Ticket web site. I got a confirmation email and it worked fine. The most difficult thing was anticipating the time ahead of time that we would want to visit. Secondly I believe at Uffizi we had to go across the street and convert the email ticket vouchers to actual tickets. Not a problem at all. Didn't have to wait in line which was especially nice because it was pretty hot! Rick