trippster

i have seen various posts saying reservations for Ufizzi are booked out for the month of May ! does that mean we will not be allowed to enter Ufizzi or we can still brave through the queue and get in and see some of it?

and if we are allowed to go in without reservations how quickly should we get in the queue (to minimise wait time) i dont have the heart to completely skip Ufizzi since this is our first trip to Florence.

we will be in florence from 23rd may (monday afternoon) to 26th may(thursday evening) any specific days / timings when the queue would be smaller?

thanks!

greg

You wait in a long queue without a reservation, I mean several hours.

When I got to the reserved ticket booth at 8:00am, the queue for the walkin on the other side was already about 50meters and quickly growing. People were running to get in the queue.

By the time I entered the museum around 8:30am, the walkin queue was already reaching Arno river end of the building. By the time we got out around 10am, the queue went to the end of the building, bent around the court and then half way down the oposite building.

I overheard later someone saying that she had to wait 4 hours to enter Uffizi.

Uffizi is closed on Monday. One quide book says Tuesday is crowded because of this.

Statia

Since the reservations for both the Accademia and the Uffizi don't cost anything extra until you show up for them, I would definitely get them. If you arrive and there is no line, then you can just go thru the regular entrance and not use the reservation.

sandi_travelnut

but if you do use them, they add a 3 euro charge to the entry fee.

trippster

thanks for the replies guys.

greg, your description sounds scary!!!

and statia and sandi_travelnut, my ONLY problem in getting a reservation is that the ufizzi website is telling me the reservations are "closed" for the month of may .... the first available date is for 4th of june!!! it is when i saw that msg that i panicked and wrote in here ... what do i do? someone pls come up with a life-saving tip since we are quite keen to see the ufizzi .. it is our first trip to florence ...

sandi_travelnut

Why don't you email your hotel and ask them if they could go ahead and get a reservation for you. They usually have no problems doing that.

bostonshopper

Hi- I was in Florence at the end of April and was also unable to book any advance tickets to the Ufizzi (sold out for weeks). I went in the morning- they open at 8:15, I showed up about an hour before, had a coffee and pastry while waiting and wrote out all my postcards. Got in at 8:30. I'd recommend waiting in the morning, less people, less hot and if you get there early enough, there are benches outside you can sit on while you wait. If you go midday, the wait can be 3-4 hours which isn't worth it.
I've also heard that if you go late in the afternoon, 5pm-ish, the line isn't bad. I had a reservation for the Academia but didn't end up needing it. It seems to be less crowded in the afternoon. Good luck! FYI- they are closed Mondays.

Statia

trippster, have you tried calling instead? That's what I did. You can find the dialing info on the Helpful Information Italy thread. Just do a text search for it. Maybe you'll have better luck going that route.

Otherwise, I would have my hotel make the reservations, as sandi suggested, but I would request confirmation from them.

andy

you can also try the pendini hotel chain....http://www.florenceitaly.net/uffizitk.html

they will order advance reservations for both the Uffizi and the Accademia..

Follow their instructions and if available, they will be able to get them....

MerryTravel

I just returned from Italy last weekend, including Florence. My husband and I got in line for the Uffizi at around 3 p.m. on Sunday, and had to wait about an hour and 20 minutes. We also had friends who went just prior to us who did what bostonshopper did--they went an hour before it opended, had breakfast in line, and only had to wait about 20 minutes once the museum opened.

Also, and I might get crap for this, it's not the end of the world if you don't see it. There are some beautiful pieces, but they all started to blur together to me after a while. I was more "wowed" by the works in the Accademia.

amyb

I was traveling with a bike tour for part of last week and while we had no luck getting people reservations for the Uffizi through the phone, all of our hotels had ample supplies themselves and got reservations for everyone who wanted to go. Definitely ask your hotel.

trippster

thanks again for all the replies.

bostonshopper, i think it is a good idea. looks like i will also try and be there in the line before 7:30 am and see how it goes.

sandi,statia - i did check with my hotel and while they were able to get me reservations for accademia they also had no luck with uffizi ... looks like i just started searching a bit too late ...

and merrytravel thanks for ur words ... am beginning to feel better already !

T