Accademia & Uffizi without advance ticket/reservation in December
 

My husband and I are going to be in Florence December 1st and we'd like to just show up for the Accademia and Uffizi Gallery without buying the advance tickets, do you think it's possible to get in? Thanks so much!

Possible? Likely. But why wouldn't you take the unknown out of you equation?

thanks so much for your reply. I would do it because of the € 56 that the site wants me to pay for 2 tickets for each museum...it's only letting me to buy the full price in conjunction with the exhibit “Robert Mapplethorpe " full ticket price € 10.00 + 4 reservation fee: 14 x2: 28 (that's for the Accademia) and same thing for the Uffizi gallery, so total is €56. We would pay the €6,50 + the reservation fee, but I can't see an option for that...

No one can predict but for such a nominal fee, I personally would book ahead and have a confirmed entry time. It is not worth wasting my time on the chance that there is a line.

Why don't you see if your hotel can arrange for the admission reservation for a better price? I missed the Uffizi on my first trip to Florence because the line was too long for me to even get in before the doors closed! Second trip -- with advance reservations -- worked like a charm.

I spent one week in Florence last December, there was no line at uffizi or Accademia, unlike many other tiems I have visited.

How badly do you want to go? Many people actually don't want to go all that badly. There is a chance that on Dec 1st you won't have a problem. There is also a chance you will. If you'll feel like an idiot leaving Florence having spent a fortune to get there and missed getting inside these museums, then of course you should nail it down. If you really don't enjoy museums and art gawking, and would rather be doing something else spontaneously than being chained to an expensive appointment to see the original of a Michaelangelo you can see for free in a very good reproduction in a public piazza, then go your own way.

hi tasiburo,

we stayed in an apartment around the corner from the accademia in October, and i reckon that you can probably wing it there - just turn up about an hour before closing. then catch a bus up to Fiesole from the square and have supper watching the twinkling lights of florence below.

or buy a frozen octopus from the supermarket opposite!

as for the uffizi, you might or might not get lucky. chances are you'll get stuck behind a japanese tour group!

have a great trip,

regards, ann

The only thing you will save is the 4€ reservation fee. If there is a special exhibit, you have to pay for it whether you want to see it or not. You can not choose to eliminate the exhibit fee even if you don't reserve in advance.

Annhig's reply made me chuckle. I wnet to Florence in September, albeit a couple of year ago. My hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Accademia and I was able to walk over late in the afternoon and got in after waiting only a few minutes in a short line. (You won't miss much if you skip it.)

My hotel made reservations at the Uffizi for the following afternoon without any problems. Besides visual, auditory, mental and physical overload after several hours at the Uffizi, the thing I remember best was going to the men's room and finding it full of Japanese young ladies, apparently, the overflow from the ladies' room of a large college-age tour group.

Are you staying at a hotel? Have them make the reservation for you and they will send a reservation number to you. You won't need to pay the tickets in advance. Then when you get to the museums, you can check out the line and decide to hop in the regular line so you won't have to pay the 'skip the line' fee or if the line is too long, then you can use your reservation number.

I just came back home and I'm so happy to see that many people responded to my post (my first one!). Yes, I would die if I can't get to those 2 sites. We are staying at the Westin Excelsior Hotel, using starwood points (my husband travels for work all the time, at least we can get something good from it!)We arrive in Florence (by train from Rome)on Sunday, November 29 and we leave Florence to Venice on Wednesday, December 2. I figured that the best day to go was that Tuesday, December 1 (since both museums are closed on Monday)Ok, here is my question, if I do the reservation through the Hotel, do I do it by phone? I'm sorry, but I'm so new on this...BTW, so you can have a sense of whom you are "talking" to, I'm 35, my husband is 38 and we have 2 boys (1 and 2 years old, who are going to stay with their grandparents while we're in Italy. We live in Chicago

You can just email your hotel with your request for reservations for each museum. State the specific dates you need for each one. They will send you a confirmation.

Yes, what ellenem said. Send an email to the hotel with your preferred time and day. They will provide you with a reservation number for both places. Then if you find you do want to skip the line because the regular line is too long, take the number to the ticket booth and they will pull up your reservation number to confirm the time and day. Otherwise, just hop in the line and save a few euros.

The concierges at the Westin are excellent and will handle everything for you.

As for the comment: "You won't miss much if you skip it", I very much disagree. I have been to say the David at least ten times so for me, I would very much miss the David as well as the wonderful sculptures in this small museum.

As for booking and then not using the reservation if there is no line, we have always paid the hotel for the reservation and are given a receipt. I also think it is tacky to book and then decide not to use it to save a few euro.

I think it is abusive to use up free services organized for your convenience, deprive others of what might be their ideal ticket time, and then "hop in the line and save a few euros" at the expense of the Uffizi Gallery. The gallery is perpetually underfunded, and all arts institutions compete for what little money they can scrounge from patrons and taxpayers to preserve an extremely important heritage. If you ask your hotel to get the Uffizi to commit to letting you in when you are in Florence, the least you can do is pay for the guarantee and for using up their time.

You can also make a reservation in the early morning (at the res. office in the museum) for the same day at the Uffizi - a friend was just here visiting and did this.

You can also phone directly to the museum booking line: +39 055 294 4883. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday and from 8:15am to 5:50pm (Italy time). Follow the prompts & an English-speaking agent will come on the line. You will be given a confirmation number. You will be charged for the tickets plus the small reservation fee when you pick them up.

It's a simple process. Before we left for Italy, I called and reserved entry times for both the Uffizi & Accademia.

Good luck!

2010

Thanks to everybody again and hear (or read..) what happened...:

I emailed our hotel in Florence (Westin Excelsior) as some fodorites suggested I asked them to make the reservation for us and please read below the horrible prices we are going to have to pay now..(my husband doesn't want to cancel the reservation (it's made already..) because the fee for cancellation is 4 euro per person per gallery) ok,here it's a copy of the response.

"Further to your kind e-mail, we are glad to confirm:

Dec. 1st reservation at ACADEMY for two people at 09:30.

Cost € 18,°° p.p.


Dec. 1st reservation at UFFIZI for two people at 14:30.

Cost € 18,°° p.p.


The reservation vouchers have to be picked up at our concierge desk and please paid in cash directly to us at the price of € 18.00 per person per Museum (penalty fee of € 04.00 per person per Museum applied by the main Museum reservation office for any change or cancellation).

We would like to inform you that we are able to organize a walking tour with a professional English speaking Art/Professor (always to give the best to our guests), who will meet you in the hotel and be at your entire disposal. The Art/Professor has a huge knowledge of art and history of this unique town, and we do guarantee you an unforgettable service.

Cost € 80,°° per hour, not per person, minimum service three hours.


For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Looking forward to welcoming you at the Westin Excelsior, we will remain at your entire disposal"

In other words, instead of paying the initial total of €56 (for both galleries) we're now paying €72, "very nice deal" I made...:)

Anyway, I'm just updating you with this so you know that happened, I should have first asked them about prices, instead of just telling them that I wanted a reservation, I just never thought it was going to be more than booking it myself online...

I'm mad at the hotel but it's done and DH says not to complain about it and just enjoy the museums...

BTW, I did complain and ask them to clarify the charges and they responded this:

"We are in receipt of your kind request and would like to clarify about the cost of museums’ tickets.

The entrance to the Uffizi and/or Accademia Gallery is of € 10.00 per person per museum; this is the cost for the regular entrance with no advance reservation (in case of long lines outside the entrance, which are of course difficult to predict, you would need to stand on line).

Advance reservation with specific date and time in order to avoid lines has an extra fee of € 4.00 per person per museum.

In order to get these reservations through the main museums booking office, we need to make a pre-payment on your favor (that is the only way they accept bookings from us); the additional fee of € 4.00 is for this service of pre sale of the tickets.

As per our last correspondence of yesterday, tickets are confirmed and already purchased for you. If we cancel those, the museum’ booking office will charge us a € 4.00 penalty fee as we mentioned.

Please advise whether we keep the tickets for you or not"

After that was that my husband said to just keep the reservation..

It appears your hotel has tacked on a fee of 4€ per reservation for their profit. I think many hotels make these reservations at no charge (except the museum charges)as a service to their clients.

I'm not sure what advantage you hoped to gain by having the hotel book versus you booking it on the museum website. Perhaps you don't understand the cost of these tickets.
For the time you are going, entrance is 10€ per ticket because there is a special exhibit. You can not get out of paying 10€ to get in even if you just walk up and stand in line. 6.50€ tickets do not exist if there is a special exhibit. For the convenience of booking online through the museum website and thereby avoiding standing in perhaps a long line, a 4€ fee is tacked on to each ticket (10€+4€=14€). If there were no special exhibit, you would pay 6.50€+4€=10.50€ on the museum website.

IMHO - The Westin has not made your reservations and have not paid for them because according to the museum website, there is no 4€ cancellation fee. I think the Westin is just trying to make 4€ per ticket off of you or 8€ per ticket if you cancel. I think the Westin has the tickets on hold, but hasn't paid for them because there is no refund at all for canceled tickets. That tells me the Westin has not paid for them.

>>REFUNDS
No refunds of the price of the ticket shall be given should you decide that the purchase was done in error or that you are no longer able to attend the event. Nor are refunds given for tickets that were purchased but never retrieved. <<

http://www.b-ticket.com/b-ticket/uff...golamento.aspx

oh dear, talisburo - I do sympathise.

sometimes whatever you do turns out wrong.

look at it this way - if you'd booked it on line, you'd have paid €56. now you're paying €72 or an extra €16 - which is about the cost of 4 beers.

a lesson learnt but not tooo expensively.

AND you have the convenience of just walking up and walking in. I'm with your DH - forget about it and enjoy the trip - it's not worth worrying about.

as your reservations at the accademia are for 9.30, afterwards you could cross the piazza san marco and visit the Fra Angelico museum, which is only open in the mornings - [not mondays].

after that, the cafe on the corner of the piazza where it meets via cavour is well worth visiting for a light lunch - lovely sandwiches and cakes, and the most elaborate hats on the waitresses that I've ever seen.

You also provided some valuable information for people asking their hotels to book reservations for them to beware hidden extra charges.

FYI: During the week in the afternoons (this week) there was no line at the Uffizi - today - Sunday - at around 2 PM on a cold rainy day there was a short line.

Oh, I hope, at least, that some people can benefit from my disappointing experience...yes, DO ask for asking any hotel to make a reservation for you.

Thanks annhig for your simpathy (I kind of need it!) we'll do what my husband said to (keep the reservation) but I can't avoid hating the Hotel people already...

kybourbon, I am obviously not gaining anything from booking with the hotel (in fact you saw that I'm loosing!) but some people suggested to ask my hotel to make the reservation for us (with no cost) it wasn't the case with our Hotel, so I told them to make the reservation without asking them first how much the charges were going to be (because I was already aware of the regular fees to enter the Galleries with the exhibitions), so I figured it was going to be just that cost.

You read the respond from the Hotel, so yes, they are trying to profit no matter how from my reservation.

I have always had my hotel book my reservation and have never been charged a fee.

But honestly, is enough to make you "hate the hotel already"? Perhaps they have had too many clients stick them with the reservation fee after they have paid it so they implemented a fee.

I very much enjoyed my stay at the Westin and hope you do as well.

"You also provided some valuable information for people asking their hotels to book reservations for them to beware hidden extra charges."

That's why we stay at cheap hotels and get much better service than the more expensive ones. We always have our hotels (ones without consierges) make reservations for whatever we need and I have never been charged a penny by the hotel. If I remember correctly, they charge a couple of euro more when you arrive at the museum for the ticket. You wait in a different line for the Accademia and the Uffizi we walked in ahead of the line. Definitely not what the Westin is talking about.

My in-laws insist on staying at the expensive hotels and everyone always has their hands out. We never have that at the little cheap hotels.

ttt

>>>That's why we stay at cheap hotels and get much better service than the more expensive ones. <<<

Many times people choose hotels such as the Westin to use their points, not because they are trying to book a more expensive hotel.

Hi tasiburo, you need to put the irritation out of your mind, so that it doesn't spoil either gallery for you.

It happens to us all at some point. I'll tell you what I did in Rome last year...... we arrived in Rome late in the afternoon, very jetlagged after a more or less direct flight from Sydney.

I knew from Fodors to go to a tabac and buy our bus/train tickets for the week. I did buy them, but so that I wouldn't waste most a day's travel, I also bought us each a 1 euro pass for that day. Off we went, all was good. Then at about 11pm, very jetlagged on our way back to the convent where we were staying I accidentally pulled the weekly passes out of my wallet and activated them on the bus, instead of the one day pass. I was so cross with myself, I wouldn't believe I had done something so stupid and wasted an entire day of our passes.

Anyway, it's just an example of the irritating things that happen, but really in the scheme of the cost of a trip to Europe, it's a trivial cost. Don't let it worry you any more.

I hope you have a great trip and look forward to hearing about it when you return.

I think it is ludicrous to claim that cheap hotels give better service than more expensive properties or they do not add extra charges. Gross generalizations are rarely valid.

We have stayed at all types of inns, B&Bs and hotels around the world. I can not remember being disappointed with fees or service levels at any of luxury hotels nor have I ever been charged a supplemental fee.

kfusto: We stay at expensive hotels when we travel for business. We go to expensive hotels with points. In Europe there is a big difference of being well cared for in a small cheap hotel than an expensive hotel. In expensive hotels you are given the choice of what the Westin did. They will recommend whatever they get a commission or kick back from first. Small cheap hotels give you more of the "the way the locals do" information. That's a fact. We have been traveling for many many years on business and personal. I have experienced it.

As an example. We were in Frankfurt and I asked about a special trolley that tours around on weekends. The consierge had no idea what we were talking about but tried to sell us on another tour. We went out walking and it passed right in front of us. I then found out that everyone knows about it. It was (and possibly is) a big deal in Frankfurt. Things like that have happened many times in Europe and the US to us.

We go to a specific hotel in Rome every year. 9 years ago we had to cancel because my husband was sick. To this day when we go they ask how he is feeling. Sorry, you don't get that in a big expensive hotel.

Not all expensive hotels are big. And I disagree about the level of service. We have traveled to Europe 25x or so and stayed in our share of expensive hotels. We leave in 2 weeks for another trip and are doing so again.

I do not share your opinion nor have had your experiences. And the Starwood properties in Europe are among our favorites. The Westin in Florence was a great experience for us.

And when a concierge is trying to make a buck, it is easy to figure that out if one does their research up front.

Horses for courses.

Yes, we're staying at the Westin because of the points we're using. It was a bad experience (the booking) but you're right, maybe I shouldn't hate them...I'll try to be open mind when we're there and of course enjoy the (very expensive :) galleries!

tasiburo: What a previous poster said before about going to the Accademia a little before closing is correct. You can walk right in. The Uffizi I'm not sure about. Everytime I have passed there is a line. At least you can save with the Accademia.

kfusto: What I said about the level of service is that you can get it with a hand out. In family run hotels, you get it without having to pay for everything and they're more open to caring about you as a person and not a euro bill.

Our family owns a hotel in Ischia. They treat people like family. In the morning everyone eats together, etc. Whatever you want, you get without tipping. They give advice and call taxis or set up tours without a tip or kickback. You don't get that in an expensive hotel.

It's like here. Hiltons you have to pay for wifi. Hampton Inn you get it free. Why is that? They're both Hilton family. The more expensive hotels charge for everything.

The only truly negative experience I have had in Italy was at a small family owned B&B in Florence. I had jewelry stolen out of a locked safe while I was out for a run.

The owners were not helpful at all (though they were gracious before the incident), denied it could have happened in their inn and the police would not give me a police report as they believe the family, not me, so my insurance would not pay. It was the one and only time I have had items stolen from a safe.

I run an Alastair Sawday-listed B&B in Lincolnshire and totally agree with Ann1 about service and charges in small versus large places to stay. We advise guests on things to see in the area, book dinner reservations, look up timetables etc, even give lifts on occasion, not to mention the odd glass of wine or tea and cake in front of the fire. Not many large hotels offer these services at no extra charge.

absolutely Tarquin.

we stayed at a B&B in Surrey in the summer in order to atend a party being held nearby, and completely unprompted, the owner offered us a lift to the venue, so that we wouldn't need to take our car. I've never heard of the concierge of a big hotel chain doing that.

OTOH another B&B nearby "forgot" that our friends had paid a very large deposit in advance for some other guests, tried to charge them twice, then got shirty when the mistake was pointed out.

not all small establishments are perfect. think Fawlty Towers.

kfusto: Just as a friendly suggestion. When traveling, leave the jewelry home. I go stripped of all gold or any good jewelry. We were at a beautiful ocean front hotel in Hawaii in the late 70's. I heard a ruckas in the hall. I opened the door and it was the police going into the room. The woman had been wearing beautiful jewelry and someone decided to break into her room and steal it. From then on I never packed anything good.

Ann1, I agree with you completely. I leave my precious pieces at home and just take inexpensive things I wouldn't be too upset about losing. And it's losing them or leaving a hotel and forgetting them that worries me the most, rather than having them stolen. I wear my wedding ring and my watch, but the rest, including my engagement ring, stay at home. Good advice.