We are only spending two nights in Florence at the Hotel Casci in June. I am going to have the hotel make reservations for us at both museums. Would you recommend we do one each day or could reservations be far enough apart to do in a day? Can you request certain times or do you get what times that they select for you? How much are the tickets? Thanks for your help.

You are smart to have th hotel make your reservations. You can request times and if they're full they will give you the closest time. I've been to both many times, but I can't remember the price....I'm thinking 6-qo Euro.

You can easily do both museums in one day. The Uffizi is not large and the Accademia is even smaller.

Thanks so much. I did find some info. when I did a search, but I was not sure about reservation times - are they scheduled for every hour or ....? What I understand is that reservation just gives you a time not a tour, is this correct? How much time did you give yourself to walk between the two? Thanks again.

I found if you get a guide its way more interesting .Our hotel asked us if we prefered morning or afternoon .There was added charge of a couple of euros ,but it beat a three hour line.Over the ponte Vecchio and a short walk the Pitti palace is wonderful.You can also request a reservation if that is of interest.BEWARE near the P.V. gellato stands rip you off if you don't ask how much .I bought two cones small 18 euros ,once you have them in your hand I felt I owned them. Quando Costa became part of my vocabulary.Have a wonderful trip.

Thanks for the "Quando Costa?" I will need to add that to my limited vocabulary! Did you get your guide through your hotel or ....?

Actually it is "quanta costa."
You could actually see the Accademia and Uffizzi easily in one day. the Accademia is small and really the most amazing thing to see there is "David." Make reservations for morning and then do the Uffizzi afterwards. The Uffizzi needs more time - because it is packed with magnificient masterpieces and you will just need to sit for a while in the Boticelli Room to take in the beauty.

If time, be sure to visit San Marco, where Fra Angelico painted frescoes in most of the monk's cells. One of my favorite places in Florence.

You can easily do the Accademia in two hours but make sure you make the reservation in advance or you will spend at least that same amount of time waiting in line to get in. David is awesome and I could sit for hours just staring at him but no real need to do so. The Uffizi can be done in about three to four hours but longer if you are prone to spending long amounts of time at each exhibit. I think it would be very easy to do both in one day as long as you don't get into "museum overload" from too much great art. Enjoy.

The walk between the Uffizi and the Accademia is no more than 15 minutes.

I know this is old post, but I have related question.

I'm confused about the ticket/reservation thing. I understand I can have my hotel make the "reservation" for a time slot for both museums.

Does this mean then that I don't buy the tickets until I actually get to the musuems? I found some place on line that is selling them and there are specific time slots on the tickets. I tried the Official Uffizzi site, but it appears to only mention the 3euro reservation fee.

Do you still get to bypass the line if you don't have tickets yet, but only a reservation? If I buy the tickets on line, is that the same deal?

thanks!

hi, in 2006 I made the reservation in advance for the Uffizi,and payed at the entrance(w/a fee) without lines.Phonecall, not on line reservation.

Yes, you by-pass the long line and go inside to get the ticket. I wouldn't do it online because you will have to pay the fee for the company selling them.

I have found that hotels are able to get you in before the times posted.

<i>I understand I can have my hotel make the &quot;reservation&quot; for a time slot for both museums.</i>

You COULD, but it is much simpler to just telephone them yourself. Don't do it online - not worth the cost. You then simply go pick up your tickets and avoid the lines.

Thanks, all!

One more stupid question. These time slots seemed to be on the quarter hour. Is there a leeway? If so, how much time are you allowed to use the ticket on either side of your slot?

Say I made a reservation for 3. Can I get there as early as 2:30? What happens if I get delayed and show up at 3:15?

Thanks!

sarge,

I did both on the same day on my first trip to Florence in 2005. I had my hotel make the reservations.

When I got to the Uffizi I was so glad that I did. The end of the line was nowhere to be seen.

I arrived 15 minutes early later that afternoon at the Academia and since there was no line, I just bought a regular ticket and saved the 3 euro reservation fee.

Tom

hi, sarge,

you can book for both museums on line through agents, but you pay through the nose for this.

the way to do it that attracts only the 3E reservation fee is to phone the number you'll find on the official web-site, select the english version, and go through the all the options [curiously given in italian as well as english, even though you've already selected english!] and then get through to the ticket seller, who will again address you in italian, but speaks english!

Make sure that you phone during italain office hours - so if phoning from the US, you need to phone in your am.


you say what dates &amp; time slots you want for each museum, make a note of the booking ref. she gives you, and there you are.

you need to turn up about 15 minutes before the time you have, and at least when we were there, the advance ticket office for the uffizi was the other side of the little piazza in the middle of the museum [it goes round 3 sides of an oblong].

you then queue with your tickets at the advance ticket queue until you are let in. they seemed pretty relaxed about times when we were there - there were people in the queue with us who were early and others who were late. HOW relaexed they are, I don't know.

At the accademia, you just go inside to collect your tickets. if you go late in the day, you'll probably get in without trouble. we had an apartment just round the corner and there were no queues late in the afternoon. there is a very interesting exhibition of musical instruments as well as a number of interesting pictures, plus the David of course.

just across the road is a very useful supermarket, and if you go up to the square just to the north of the accademia, you can catch the bus up to fiesole. Walk to the next corner, [as if going round the block] and there is a very up market cafe on the corner, with waitresses with the smartest uniforms you've ever seen.

the main road, via cavour, takes you back in to the town, down past the main information office and then to the medici palace and st. lorenzo.

we had an early morning reservation for the uffizi, and one at 2.30 pm for the accademia on the same day. I wish it had either been later, so we didn't feel rushed at the uffizi and then lunch, or on a different day.

early morning would allow you to do the accademia first, then san marco [which only opens in the mornings] then get the bus up to Fiesole.

regards, ann

I did both in one day and found I had plenty of time. When I was there last month they were pretty strict on only letting people in when it was their time. I got there 1/2 hour early to wait in a very short line to get my ticket that I had reserved in advance, and people were getting kicked out of line for even picking up their ticket too early. I say if you get there 20 minutes early, that's perfect, but don't expect to get into the actual museums early.

When making our reservations, we followed Ira's advice below. It couldn't have easier:

Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations

&gt;&gt;&gt;The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 1016868 (dial around number), 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. There is a long listing of press 1 for this and 2 for that--press 4 for bookings. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.

You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.&lt;&lt;&lt;

When we were at the museums in the reservation line, they would call out the next time batch to come in. No one could enter the museums before their reservation time, and though I don't know for sure I would guess they don't cut stragglars much slack. The crowds are enormous and without a strict system it would be chaos.

ann, we are staying on Via Cavour at the Hotel Casci, just a hop from everything!

Thanks all for the input!

Paula

hi sarge,

When you go past our apartment on the via dei alfani [opposite a very nice little cafe/bakery where we got our morning coffee and hot chocolate,] say ciao for us.

regards, ann