Hello! I've read and been told that I should reserve tickets for the following:
Vatican
Uffizi
Accademia
Since all the remarks I've read on different sites seem to have been posted in the summer months, I'm wondering if it really is necessary to pre-order tickets if we are traveling mid-October? If we don't pre-reserve, do you think we'd still have to get up really early to stand in line for tickets? (we're not super-early morning people =)
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!
Not sure about October, but if it was me, I'd reserve, they're all busy places all year round. I personally don't like waiting in line if I can avoid it so I can spend more time looking at the fantastic art instead of chilling in line. It's worth it to me to know ahead of time I'm in for sure. Then I can focus on having a good time instead of fretting about tickets.
Definitely reserve for the Uffizi. My experience at the Vatican Museum and the Accademia is to go later in the day and avoid the crowds. October is peak season in Rome and Florence, it is warm but not hot.
There are still many tourists in Florence in October and the Uffizi and the Accademia are very popular and rather small. Reserve for both.
Last year I went to the Uffizi on Oct 11, waited over 1/2 hour WITH a 9.00 am reservation (only so many visitors allowed in at a time). I think the wait was about 2 hours minimum without a reservation. Lines for the Accademia were really long then too.
We were in Florence mid October last year. Definitely get a reservation for the Uffizzi. We had a fairly early (about 10 am) morning reservation and there was already a huge line waiting to get in of people without reservations. We had also made a reservation for later in the day at the Accademia, but the line there at that time only had a few people in it.
Several days later at the Vatican, we had maybe a 5 minute wait to get tickets and to go in. That was for around 11 am.
When I was in Florence April 2007, I showed up at the Uffizi about an hour before closing time. I just walked up to the window and bought my ticket. For museums that use a reservation system, later works better than earlier (in my experience). I think the same system would work at the Accademia (David).
I had the same experience at Buckingham Palace last year. I showed up in the early afternoon of the last day the palace was open and was able to reserve and buy my ticket on the spot. I make as few reservations as necessary, since I like to decide what I want to do when I wake up in the morning. Also, the weather can influence what I want to do.
We made reservations for our late October visit to Florence and were glad we did. We visited the Academia in the morning and the Uffizi in the afternoon. When we showed up at the Uffizi, there was a very long line (at least an hour and probably two hours). We made our reservations about 48 hours in advance by phone and were glad we did.
Yes, do reserve in advance. I wouldn't bother with online reservation systems where you have to pay a fee to use it. Ask your hotel/bed and breakfast to do it for you. Write them (or call) and tell them you would like reservations for (whatever museum) and what time you would like to be at the museum. Give a couple of different times in case your first choice isn't available. they will send you a confirmation code that you will need to bring to the museum. Usually you need to get to the museumm 30 minutes ahead of your scheduled time to allow time to get to the ticket booth (that's when you show your confirmation number and actually buy the tickets).
Also read "Rick Steve's Italy 2009" book (I assume there's a 2009 version; I went in '08) for tips on the specific museums you want to go to on how to get shorter lines, avoid the lines sometimes, and all the insider info on all that stuff. You'll be glad you did!
