Booking museum tickets in advance

[Lee73]

Hello all.

Just joined this forum. I'm visiting Florence between Christmas and new year for the first time. Really looking forward to it too!

Just a little question. What is the most reliable site to pre book museum tickets? Or is it better to phone the museums directly to book? There seems to be many, many sites offering tickets. I read that if you don't pre book, you'll be waiting in lines for hours?

Apologies if this has been covered on here before (I guess it has), I had a quick look but couldn't find anything.

Thanks in advance for any replies..

Lee😊

[Chiara]

Dear Lee,
welcome to the forum :-) You don't need to apologise, anyone has questions when visiting a new place and...there's no harm in asking!!
There are many museums to visit in Florence, so I suggest you first have a look at this page:
http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/
there you'll find a list of articles about Florence museum, including a complete list of all state and city museum of the city:
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...y-museums.html
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...-florence.html

Then read this article about the Florence Museum Card, a pass that allows you to enter in the major museums of the city and jump all normal lines with no need of reservation. Read the article to understand if it's the right solution for you, since it's a bit expensive (about 72 euro) and is valid 72 hours. So it's up to you, to what you want to see in Florence.
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...-worth-it.html

You may decide to book on internet, each museum has its own website where you may purchase your tickets in advance (yes, it's definitely better booking tickets in advance to skip the long lines you'll surely find. Museum official webisites are reliable and safe; for example if you read the first article of the list about Uffizi, you'll find the direct link to the official website for buying tickets
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...i-gallery.html
Reading these articles, you'll also find useful information and suggestions about the MUST SEE, targets and tours to prefer if you don't have much time at your disposal.

You may decide to book your visits once you get there, choosing which museum you prefer and then reserving your tickets. Florence is so beautiful and surprising that you need to remain a bit flexible to last minute changes!

Have a nice stay in Florence

Chiara

[Lee73]

Dear Lee,
welcome to the forum :-) You don't need to apologise, anyone has questions when visiting a new place and...there's no harm in asking!!
There are many museums to visit in Florence, so I suggest you first have a look at this page:
http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/
there you'll find a list of articles about Florence museum, including a complete list of all state and city museum of the city:
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...y-museums.html
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...-florence.html

Then read this article about the Florence Museum Card, a pass that allows you to enter in the major museums of the city and jump all normal lines with no need of reservation. Read the article to understand if it's the right solution for you, since it's a bit expensive (about 72 euro) and is valid 72 hours. So it's up to you, to what you want to see in Florence.
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...-worth-it.html

You may decide to book on internet, each museum has its own website where you may purchase your tickets in advance (yes, it's definitely better booking tickets in advance to skip the long lines you'll surely find. Museum official webisites are reliable and safe; for example if you read the first article of the list about Uffizi, you'll find the direct link to the official website for buying tickets
http://www.visitflorence.com/florenc...i-gallery.html
Reading these articles, you'll also find useful information and suggestions about the MUST SEE, targets and tours to prefer if you don't have much time at your disposal.

You may decide to book your visits once you get there, choosing which museum you prefer and then reserving your tickets. Florence is so beautiful and surprising that you need to remain a bit flexible to last minute changes!

Have a nice stay in Florence

Chiara

Hi Chiara.

Thank you for such a detailed reply. I'll get reading the links right away!
I have an idea of museums I want to visit, but will have to miss some as I'm only there for three full days(four nights) Looks like it would be much better to book in advance for what I've read so far. Plus I don't want to spend all my time in museums. I'm looking forward to wandering the streets just taking it all in. And the food of course!

Thanks once again for taking the time to reply Chiara, much appreciated 👍

[Lourdes]

You can book tickets online for the Uffizi or Accademia on http://www.uffizi.org (disclaimer: it is a partner site).
While tickets might not be the cheapest, they do allow for cancellations and changes whereas others don't at all.
keep in mind at the end of the year that the city is busy, even if it's winter.... and that Mondays both those museums are closed, plus December 25 and January 1. So check the calendar to see what day or days work best.

[Lee73]

You can book tickets online for the Uffizi or Accademia on http://www.uffizi.org (disclaimerartner site).
While tickets might not be the cheapest, they do allow for cancellations and changes whereas others don't at all.
keep in mind at the end of the year that the city is busy, even if it's winter.... and that Mondays both those museums are closed, plus December 25 and January 1. So check the calendar to see what day or days work best.

Thanks very much for the info Lourdes, much appreciated 👍

[Magdy]

Hi Lourdes and Chiara,
Thank you for the very helpful information you both have provided on this forum. I was hoping you could clarify some things about museum ticket prices, specifically for the Uffizi and the Accademia. For the Uffizi, it says a full ticket price is €6,50. But if there is a temporary exhibit, the price seems higher. My main question is, do you have to buy admission to the temporary exhibit and the general admission, or can you buy just the general admission? When I look at prices online, they add a booking fee, an online fee, a temporary exhibit fee and the general ticket fee. The prices I've seen on 2 different websites (for the Uffizi) are €25 and €28. That's seems a lot higher than €6,50. How does one get the €6,50 price? Thanks again for your help
Magdy

[Chiara]

Dear Magdy,
for the moment, when the museum hosts a temporary exhibit, you CAN'T buy just the general admission ticket, you need to buy both, as explained there:
http://www.uffizi.org/museum/admission-tickets/

You'll see that you can't avoid temporary exhibitions once you visit the museum, at least for the moment: it seems things are going to change in the future, so that visitors won't be forced to buy both tickets, but we need to wait...
Moreover, the advanced booking services fees are requires by the museum, while the online commissions are due for the advanced ticket reservation service, so both are fees you need to pay for reserving your museum tickets.
Have a look at this page for more information:
http://www.uffizi.org/museum/frequen...ked-questions/

I know the ticket is a bit high, but it's actually worth a visit, believe me.

I hope it helps clarifying your doubts :-)

Chiara

[Magdy]

Chiara,
Thank you so much for your very helpful answer and also for the links to the websites. Your message really helped me a lot. Thank you
Magdy

Dear Magdy,
for the moment, when the museum hosts a temporary exhibit, you CAN'T buy just the general admission ticket, you need to buy both, as explained there:
http://www.uffizi.org/museum/admission-tickets/

You'll see that you can't avoid temporary exhibitions once you visit the museum, at least for the moment: it seems things are going to change in the future, so that visitors won't be forced to buy both tickets, but we need to wait...
Moreover, the advanced booking services fees are requires by the museum, while the online commissions are due for the advanced ticket reservation service, so both are fees you need to pay for reserving your museum tickets.
Have a look at this page for more information:
http://www.uffizi.org/museum/frequen...ked-questions/

I know the ticket is a bit high, but it's actually worth a visit, believe me.

I hope it helps clarifying your doubts :-)

Chiara

[Lourdes]

Magdy - in all honesty, I see there is a temporary exhibit twice a year with only about a month or a month a half between the two... so the period when the base ticket is really just 6.50 euro is very limited (and in November of this year, base cost is going up to 8 euro). In that way, you pretty much always have to pay the higher cost with exhibition included. There are renovation works going on at the Uffizi to update the space (it is a building from the Renaissance, after all), so maybe they'll manage to organize the temporary exhibitions in a separate space... but considering how they add on to the ticket as they do now, I really imagine it won't be a priority.

[Joao]

Ciao Lourdes,

Is necessary to buy the tickets online for the Cappelle Medicee in december?


Grazie


João