Italy Museums

Hi Jim -
The website you've included for tickets to the Vatican Museum is the official one: use it with complete confidence. And yes, the prices you've quoted are correct. The basilica - as with just about about any church in Rome - is free. Some people like to book one of the tours of the museums and basilica offered on that site as tours are allowed to use a back stairway into the church which is closed to the independent visitor. This can save a long walk to the exit from the Sistine - which is at the very end of the museums - and another long walk plus a possible long wait in a queue to enter the church from the front. The prices you've quoted are correct.

Either way, to get your preferred time slot I'd book your tickets and/or tour before you go to Rome.

For the Accademia and Uffizi, here is the official site you should use to order tickets (click the tab for English at the bottom of the page):

http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uffizi/default.aspx

For the Uffizi: 16.50 euro ticket plus 6 euro for personal audioguide /10 euro for a two-person audioguide rented at the museum. These tickets are showing as more expensive than the Accademia as there appears to be a special exhibition at the museum in Sept.

For the Accademia: 12 euro ticket plus 6 euro for personal audioguide /10 euro for a two-person audioguide rented at the museum.

I've personally never heard of anyone getting into these museums for 2 euro!

Entrance to working churches is free, but if you want to see something that's not part of the space used for general worship (such as a treasury, climbing a dome or bell tower, or excavations under the church), there will be a charge.

Good point, Zoe. I neglected to mention those occasional fees for seeing a crypt or climbing up to the dome.

Some churches also have coinboxes to illuminate artwork.

Some churches have modest entry fees -- they are 'museum' like churches e.g. Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella in Florence are examples. Those are about 2 Euro.

Some churches have modest entry fees -- they are 'museum' like churches e.g. Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella in Florence are examples. Those are about 2 Euro.

Also consider going to the Borghese Gallery in Rome. If you're planning to use the Roma Pass to enter, then you can't book online, but you can make a reservation by phone (or by asking your hotel to do it.

The worst day to visit the Vatican Museums is Monday; since it's closed on Sunday, there's a natural backlog and then there's the overflow because most of the other museums in Rome are closed on Monday. Wednesday afternoons are crowded after the papal audience in the morning. The least crowded days are usually Thursday and Friday.

We booked our tickets through the Vatican site and it worked out just fine-- just be sure that you're in the right line to skip over the folks that didn't book in advance (even the advance line was decent). We actually sort of cheated and did use that back way out of the Sistine Chapel (per the RS guide) and just blended in with a tour group walking out and acted like we belonged. It worked out fabulously since the line for St. Peter's was already wrapped around the perimeter (though the RS guide acknowledges that back door may not be open or always work). One thing we noticed is that when we walked by St. Peter's around 8:30 a.m. on our way to the Vatican, it was dead -- no lines, so I might recommend you try that first thing and then go to the Vatican with your reservation. There were no lines/issues with going up to the dome, though (but it was a small cost).

In Florence, we got the Firenze Card, which helped with lines everywhere, though it probably wont' pay out if you're really only going to Uffizi and the Academia. We went first thing in the morning for both, and the Uffizi wasn't backed up at all (even for the regular line) but the Academia already had a long line.

I appreciate all of the great information you shared. You have reassured me that a solo trip I have been planning for years is workable, one that in the past I have started and backed out many times, even though my wife encourages me to go. I solved the delay problem a few days ago by buying a NON-refundable business class airline ticket into Rome and out of Paris, three weeks in September/October. Now all I have to do is fill in the blanks. Many thanks for all of your comments.

You're very welcome, Jim, and I'm delighted to hear that you've decided to make the leap! Solo travel is absolutely possible: millions of travelers do that every year all over the world. We've had no problems getting around by ourselves in Paris or any of the locations we've visited in Italy so far so not to worry: you'll be fine.

Just keep posting questions as you think of them? The key to getting comfortable with the first dive into independent travel abroad is to read, read, read, and ASK when you are baffled. You'll get to return the favor when you come home! :O)

PS: my comment about free churches was, as noted, specifically for Rome. We've never paid for entry to any of them so far, although a few have crypts or special sections which may involve a fee. The Roman excavations under San Clemente, for example, requires a ticket. Florence was a different situation with a number of them which had fees.