Uffizi ticket confusion/ Florence Card --- UGH! -- Have you stood in line lately?

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Italy. I can answer one part of your question. If you have a Florence card there is absolutely no reason for reservations, not even sure that is possible. The only wait at Gate 1 is because the Uffizi has a limit on the number of people that can be inside at any one time (fire/weight load/safety limit?). If you have a reservation and it is at the limit you have to wait. It will be the same wait as those with the Florence Card. We went early and there was no wait, i.e., there was not enough time yet to let in the limited number of people. So plan the Uffizi for your first stop on one of your days.

We were in Florence last month for 2.5 days also. We planned to see a lot and the Firenze Card made sense for us. The card saved us from having to wait in most lines. At the Uffizi, there was an extremely long line of people waiting to buy tickets. We bypassed that and encountered a very short line, maybe 5 or so people. This was due to going through security, like the airport (if my memory is correct). There is not a separate line at the Duomo for Firenze card holders but there is for the Duomo cupola climb. That saved us a lot of time waiting also. The Accademia line for non Firenze card holders was extremely long. Card holder line was short (10 people). The wait in line for both the Uffizi and Accademia was less than 5 minutes. With the Firenze card, there's no need to make reservations as the card serves the same purpose and gets you the same thing. I hope that helps. It truly isn't as confusing as it may seem. We purchased our cards at the Via Cavour location which was not crowded at all. As far as the tiramisu and cannoli, get one at Caffe Gilli. The best I've ever had in my life.

Amy and Bob,
Thank you for your quick replies.
As far as the pastries go, Amy, I wanted to treat all my advice givers to a virtual one since I can't be there personally to say thank you:)

I'm leaning toward the Florence card (?)
I've travelled all over the place and even in Rome with the Roma card, it didn't sound as complicated.

Thanks again!

We went to Florence as sort of a last minute trip with no reservations or pre-paid tics. Showed up a few minutes before opening at Accademia and waited a few minutes to get in. Showed up later in the afternoon at the Uffizi and paid a skip the line charge (10 euro I think) along with the tic price and walked right in.
As to the youth question: Unless things have changed in the last two years this is not true. It's true of Greece but not Italy. My kids did usually get a student discount if offered but we were made to pay the full admission price for them in Agrigento because we didn't have our Permesso di Sigiorno with us. A few times my daughter was let in free to places because she was 9/10 years old.

Check museum schedules, lots of places are closed on Tuesdays.

For our trip this past May, we purchased tickets using this website: www.b-ticket.com, to the Accademia and Uffizi. Take the printed confirmation to the line for ticket holders. We stopped at the Accademia first, and the ticket agent printed tickets for both museums since the confirmation sheet listed both. There was may be a minute wait at the Accademia and about 5 minutes at the Uffizi. And, the non ticket lines at each of these museums were extraordinarily long, making me very thankful I took Rick's advice to book in advance.

During our 5 day day, we experienced no waits at any other sight, although it is best to visit the Duomo early in the day or in late afternoon when the crowds are smallest.

I would add up the cost of the sights you expect to see and compare it to the cost of the Firenze card. As long as you book the Accademia and Uffizi in advance, you may find the Firenze card not worth the cost.
You will love Florence!

Youth Tickets.
A new law/regulation was issued on May 31, 2014 that changed the ticket rules. I know it eliminated the senior discounts and did make some changes to the youth ticket prices/rules. Sorry, youth tickets were not my concern so I did not pay attention to what the changes were. Web sites have NOT been updated (at least the ones I checked). Any experience prior to May 31 does not apply.

I visited Florence in March and my daughter who is 16 was admitted to the Uffizi for free. The museum website confirms that under 18 gets in free, over 18 but under 25 is a reduced price. We just walked right up to the entrance--but then again it was March.

Cynthia

Everyone with a ticket and reservation in hand, or with a Firenze Card (no reservation needed), or who is under 18 - these all skip the ticket-buying line and go straight to Gate 1 to wait to be let in.

We were in Florence 2 weeks ago and bought the Firenze cards for myself and my husband. We were with our 15 year old daughter. Florence was PACKED with tourists. At Accademia, we were told that we had to pay a 4 Euro reservation fee for our 15year old daughter. It did not make a lot of sense, but after that we walked right in, bypassing the very long line. At Uffizi, with cards, the 3 of us walked right in. At Duomo, we had to visit a separate ticket office, show our Firenze cards, and then were issued 3 tickets to wait on a very short line to walk up to the top of the dome. The line for others without card was very long.

I booked tickets for the Uffizi and Accademia by phone after reading Trip Advisor. This is a great option if you are willing to stay up late to make the phone call to Italy. I used Skype using a wifi zone so the call was really inexpensive even though I was put on hold for about 8 minutes. Once connected to the Operator, who spoke fluent English, I was asked which sites I wished to book as well as date, time and number of tickets. I was then provided with "Reservation Numbers" for each site. You need write these down and take with you to the sites. He also answered my questions and explained what gate and/or desk I would need to go to (with the reservation numbers) to pay for and receive the tickets in the shorter pre-booked reservations queue. I can make changes to the dates and times by phone. If you book on-line (and therefore pay in advance with a credit card) you can't change the date and time without paying for new tickets. They appear to also book tickets for other state run galleries and museums in Florence. The phone number is 39055294883. I first went to the B-ticket.com website and mocked up purchasing tickets to determine the available entry times before phoning although likely they would provide you with the available options by phone.