Best way to buy advance museum tickets
 

Has anyone recently made Uffizi or Accademia reservations by phone? Will they take credit cards or do you pay upon arrival? Tickets cost 8.50 euros but the websites recommended by Hotel Casci and this board all add fees: www.weekendafirenze.com = 13.29 euros, www.florenceart.it = 16.60 euros, and www.selectitaly.com = $23. Thanks. I have planned our entire 2-week trip to Italy based on the recommendations of this board and appreciate the advice SO MUCH!

The extra "fee" for the ticket is worth it not to have to wait in long lines. The Uffizi ticket is quite a lovely souvenir! Enjoy!!

Hi Lina,

As has been osted several times before:

The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 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. 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 1.60 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.

mosby: I understand that reservations are important to avoid the lines, but paying someone else a fee for something I can do myself doesn't make sense! I'd rather spend my euros on wine and ceramics!

ira: thanks for re-posting the info. I'm still wondering when/how I pay for the tickets because another post said that the Uffizi phone line does not accept credit cards. Perhaps that person was wrong?? I will try.

Thanks again.

I have always booked the Uffizi and Accademia by emailing the hotel concierge prior to arrival. My tickets are waiting for me, there is no extra charge and the tip is appreciated.

Also, the wait can be 2 hours in season. Surely that's not worth the price of a glass of wine?

I made reservations through Italywithus.com, Helen Donegan. She does charge a service fee, but you pay for the tickets themselves at the museum, so that if your plans change, you will only be out her fee. We had tickets to the Uffizi and the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. We used our reservations for the Uffizi, but not the ones at the Accademia(because our plans did change). What we did do, though, is to get in line on a Sunday at 8:10 am, the doors opened at 8:30, and we got right in to see the David with less crowds.

If you care to do your reservations through the internet, look at www.goporta.com

When you reserve tickets by phone you give your name and are given a confirmation number. You pay the reservation fee when you pick up your tickets at the museum. Another advantage by calling the museum yourself is that if there is no line when you arrive you can simply forget your reservation and buy a normal ticket to the museum and not have to pay the reservation fee at all (a doorman told us to do this at the Uffizi when we were there early a few weeks ago). Have a great time in Florence.