Me and my wife are travelling to Italy in Oct...We'll be in Rome from 8th (sun) evening till 13th (Fri) morning.
Florence (13th midday) to 17th (morning).
It is advisable to buy the Roma pass and the Firenze card at Rome and Florence respectively ?
P.S. : In Rome, we're booked at a hotel close to Termini Station. In Florence we're staying in a hotel on Via del Bianchi (near the Duomo) .
romianeesh, here are some recent threads and an article by Mr. Steves on this subject that you might find helpful.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/roma-pass-and-colosseum-lines
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/making-museum-reservations-in-florence
For the romapass, it really depends on what you plan to see. Generally, if you plan on visiting at least 3 sites covered by the pass and use public transportation a few times a day the pass will be of benefit. If not, just buy entry tickets online before leaving home in order to bypass the lines.
Donna
Here is a list of the reduced price tickets and their full price.
http://www.romapass.it/doc/sitiAderentiCostoBiglietti_eng.pdf
If you buy the 3 day, you can do the Colosseum etc, the Borghese, and however many others you can fit in on the 3rd day. The key is they need to be done on consecutive days.
If you do the first two on the same day, then you have two days to see as many as you can fit in at reduced price.
My husband and I bought the Firenze Card on our trip last November. Skipping the lines wasn't really the plus for us (they were unusually short) but getting in to as many places as we could was. I was a museum curator and to say I love museums of all types is an understatement. It also afforded me the opportunity to go into smaller sites that I wouldn't otherwise bother to pay for. It was good for 72 hours, so we used it over 4 days (starting afternoon on our first day and finishing the morning of our fourth). I didn't regret purchasing it one bit since this was our first trip to Florence.
We bought the pass across the square from the train station. You can also buy them at many of the sites themselves. I didn't bother pre-ordering - it was easy enough to do it when we go there. I felt like there was no sense in letting go of 150E earlier than I had to.
I didn't buy the RomaPass since we spent several weeks in Rome on a previous trip and wanted to do very specific things on this one. You could get some mileage out of that since it affords discounts after your first two places. Make a list of the stuff you want to see and see if it makes financial sense. You can also buy it in Rome at a place with less lines (like the Forum instead of the Colosseum). Choose your freebies wisely.
With the romapass there is no rule that states you must use the free entries on the colosseum and/or Borghese gallery. Use them on what ever sites you wish to visit.
It's always best to make a list of what you plan to see then see if a pass will be of benefit to you instead of visiting sites just to make a pass pay off.
Donna
They work very differently and neither one is an obvious solution for everybody. The Firenze Card is expensive at €72 per person for 72 hours, but covers admission to most museums. The Roma Pass only fully covers the first two or three sites you visit, depending on the version you buy, not including the Vatican Museum.
I believe Laurel meant to say the romapass covers either the first or the first two sites you visit. The 48 hour pass covers the first site you visit plus gives discounts to all others and the 72 hour pass gives you entry to the first two sites you visit plus discounts to all others. The Vatican area is excluded from this pass.
Donna
I can only speak to the FirenzeCard, not having used the Roma Card. I have to agree with everything erodgreg says in the comments above, and in fact we were also in Florence last November, probably skipping the same short lines :). No need to purchase ahead of time, the pass is sold at some of the museums; we purchased ours at the first stop, The Bargello. We've been to the Bargello several times at different times of the year, and never a line, so there's an idea. I would suggest looking at the FirenzeCard website and coming up with some sort of a game plan, (because you can't see it all) and noting the hours for the days you'll be there. Using the Bargello as an example again, we love it, but it does have some wacky hours. Lastly, I highly suggest the Museo degli Innocenti and if you time it just right you can watch the sun set from the roof top café afterward. Bon Voyage!
Thanks a lot for the responses. Wanted to now if the Roma Pass allows you to skip queues after one has finished the 2 free entrances.
No, after the two free entries you go through the regular line to get the discounted price. There are really only two sites in Rome with long lines, the colosseum and the Vatican museums. You shouldn't have any issues at other sites.
Donna
To add: neither card allows you to skip security queues: only ticket lines where applicable. Security queues move along fairly quickly, though.
