My fiance and I are going on our Italy honeymoon in October. Is it too early to reserve tickets for the more popular museums and atractions in Florence and Rome (Uffizi, Accademia, Colosseum, etc.)? If so, when would be the ideal time to book?
Also, we are thinking of booking through www.selectitaly.com. Is this a good website? Are there any other sites worth looking at?
You can ask your Florence hotel to book your museum tickets. It was really easy. I would say the normal guideline for booking is 3 months in advance.
As noted book the Florence musuem reservations (only needed at the Uffizi and Accademia) can be had for free using your hotel. There is no benefit to a Colosseum reservation. You can acheive the same thing by purchasing a Roma pass when in Rome, or (as we did) buying your ticket at the Forum or Palatine hill where there is virtually no line up. Everyone (even if you have a reservation) must line up for security. Once through if you have a pass or ticket you head straight to the automatic turnstyle (there is never a line up) bypassing all the folks waiting to buy tickets at the Colossuem, and you're in. We did all this in peak season in May with no difficulty. Have fun...
Here's the official website recommended by Rick for reserving the Florence museums: other websites will cost more: click
We are going to Italy in a few weeks, and we made our reservations as far in advance as we were allowed. To book the Uffizi and Accademia, try this site. To book the Colosseum (and print your tickets at home, try this site. This is what it includes: TICKET > 3 SITES, VALIDITY: 2 DAYS CONSECUTIVE, Colosseum + Palatinum Museum + Roman Foro, so it's very flexible. For us, the Roma Pass didn't make sense.
Leslie, the ticket you're describing is now the standard ticket for the 3 sites, available for purchase at any of the 3 sites (no lineups at the Forum). €11 or €13, can't remember. Assuming your printed ticket is cardboard stock and has a magnetic bar code it will allow you to go straight to the auto turnstyles after clearing security with everyone else. The Roma pass, more expensive, includes this same access for 2 days to the 3 sites, plus a free entrance to a second site, and discounts and many others, plus the free metro pass for 3 consecutive days. It costs less than €20.
Tim - The reason we aren't getting the Roma Passes is that our 3 kids (me, too, but I don't get discounts) are have EU passports (dual U.S./German citizens), so they're all free. And, we're not planning to go to the Borghese. From what I have observed (from this board), most people use the Colosseum (and the other 2 that are included) and the Borghese as their 2 freebies.
As for your comment about our tickets being printed on cardboard stock ... no, they're printed on regular printer paper (they look much like Ticketmaster print-at-home tickets look in the States). I can't imagine that this will be a problem, but please let me know if I'm missing something. Thanks!
Re the ticket. I'm sure the ticket is valid but when we were there there were no actual people at the turnstyles. It's all an automated system where you put the ticket in on one side and it pops out on the other (like a subway). I suspect (though not sure) that you will need to exchange the paper for an actual ticket, or perhaps there is a place where you can enter by simply showing the printed ticket. We just didn't see any staff at the gates. Free entrance for the kids is wonderful and certainly will save a bundle. Enjoy....
