Skip the line passes for Venice, Florence, Rome
 

Hello everyone,
My husband and I are traveling to Italy the last two weeks of September. I have booked a Viator tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica and also a day trip visiting four towns in Tuscany leaving from Florence through Viator as well.

I constantly see skip the line tours for all of the main sites in Venice, Florence and Rome. Can anyone please advise me as to which sites are worth paying extra for one of these tours this time of year? We would like to see in Venice - St. Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace. In Florence: Uffizi Gallery and Accademia Gallery, and el Duomo. In Rome: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Roman Catacombs, and the Pantheon. If we don't need to pay extra for these tours, is there another way to bypass the lines?

Also, any restaurant recommendations you might have for any of these cities would be much appreciated. It's our 30th anniversary and I would love advice on a really nice restaurant possibly on the canal in Venice.

Thanks so much for your help!

You don't have to take a tour to skip the lines for the Uffizi and the Accademia in Florence. Just buy your tickets online ahead of time and bring them with you. There's an entrance for people who already have tickets.

The same goes for Rome - buy your tickets online ahead of time and there is a separate line for ticket holders which moves much faster than the other.

The Pantheon is free; when I visited last year, there wasn't a line to enter.

For restaurant recommendations, you could take a look at my trip report. I don't know your budget, so you might want to spend more money than we did. :-)
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...y-may-2015.cfm

Lee Ann

Hi Lee Ann,
Thanks so much for your help! ! did read your trip report and am going to steal some restaurant ideas from it. It sounds like you had a wonderful time! I don't know anyone that doesn't like visiting Italy so I am really looking forward to seeing it for myself. Best of luck with your future travels!

You want to eat on the Grand Canal for your anniversary? Consider Bancogiro -

http://www.osteriabancogiro.it/

I don't believe Viator operates any tours. They are just an online travel agency (much like Expedia, Travelocity, etc.) based in the US. Your tour would be with some other company that actually runs tours.

>>>In Rome: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Roman Catacombs, and the Pantheon.<<<

The Pantheon is free. The Colosseum/Forum/Palatine are all on one ticket 14€ (good for 2 consecutive days). You can book those on CoopCulture. You only get one entrance to each site and the Forum/Palatine count as one. You can also book a tour of the Colosseum on Coop, but they don't have one of the Forum. Most sites have audio guides you can rent.

http://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

The Catacombs are a bit out so you might want a tour for those just for the transport.