STILLcan't get reservations for Borgese Rome
 

We have been trying for ages to get reservations to the Borgese gallery in Rome - realise that they are not available until one month before but we contacted then a few weeks ago and they replied that we could reserve on the 15th of this month for later in October but we still cannot do this. Getting a bit worried as this is the main reason we are going to Rome this time and we will only be there two days.

You could call Secretary Rice and have her threaten war . . . or you could wait until tomorrow and try again.

Keep trying anne. Sometimes their system is not working properly. I visited the Borgese in April and wasn't able to make a reservation until right before I left. The Borgese is absolutely wonderful.

Thanks Pausania - we will obviously keep trying, think the museum is closed Mondays, as we are Australians time difference does have some effect. Don;t need to call Secretary Rice to threaten war - our little George Bush-loving Prime Minister could do that himself!

my rome contact indicates it will be closed Oct 8 thru 12th to set up a new exhibit.... I am very disappointed....

Have you asked your hotel to make reservations for you? I'm sure they would be happy to do so.

I love how politics creep into these messages.

I also wanted to suggest you ask your hotel to make reservations. Ours did it and mailed us the Reservation number.

Do we really need reservations for the Borghese Gallery? We thought we might spend a whole morning or afternoon (or entire day!) in the gardens and we'd just catch the tour that had a spot. Is this unrealisitic?

thegilbeys: Unrealistic. You need a reservation.

Anne: have you tried phoning the Borghese reservations line? It is answered in Italian (of course) but if you press 2, you'll get the English-speaking operator ("uno per Italiano, due per Inglese"). Italy daytime hours only, so you'd need to do it at an odd time for Aussies, but I think you get better service than through the website.

I had the same problem but after trying so many times, I took someone's suggestion here and emailed my hotel to do it. They emailed back within the hour and gave me the reservation number and instructions/directions. Too bad everything isn't that easy.

I have always booked through my hotel as I do for all museums. It is easy, fast and I have never been disappointed.

The Borghese was the only museum we could not get into last Sept, eve with our hotel helping. Good luck!

I finally secured a reservation by emailing Ticketeria with my time and date request. They responded promptly with a reservation number for our visit. I gave up waiting on their websight to post October dates as we're leaving for Europe tomorrow.

I booked our reservations through Context Rome. They confirmed within 24 hours. GL

Thanks to all who have tried to help with this problem - latest update - we tried emailing our hotel to ask if they could reserve tickets but they replied that they were unable to do so, my husband tried Ticketaria again with a copy of their previous email which stated we would be able to get reservations on 15th Sept, they have now replied that no tickets may be booked through their site until Sept 25th. Hopeless - what is the point of them having a ticket selling site when they do not do any updates? My husband has now tried to buy tickets through another site but we have not yet had any reply so it looks like we will probably not be going to the Borghese museum.

Anne, try ContextRome.com. I booked a Borghese tour with them for one of the days I am in Rome in November. If you really can't wait for the Ticketeria site to update, this is a reasonable way to go about it, and I have heard wonderful things about the tour itself.

Do not consider it hopeless.
Again, I recommend you try the telephone (if you have not already done so), using the number from the official Borghese website.
http://www.ticketeria.it/contact_us-down-eng.html

I wouldn't give up hope -- remember everyone else is having the same problem. Try again on the 25th and the 26th. You could try the hotel concierge on those dates too. Lastly, you can just show up early and try stand-by. People are always cancelling or simply not showing up, or large groups become smaller. You ask the seller if there is anyting available. He says no and takes your name. With luck, a few minutes later he calls you over and sells you a ticket. Happened to me in February, an embarrassing story.

<what is the point of them having a ticket selling site when they do not do any updates>

Welcome to Italy.

My husband and I just returned from Italy(Rome, Venice, Florence)last week. Our hotel booked for 10:45 am but We went to Borgese in the morning 9 am, purchase the tickets right there (without our reservation #)and got in with no problem.

Think we may be successful! My husband tried Italy Museum-Rome Museum and at a cost of 29 Euros we appear to have a numbered voucher. I realise that this is only a booking fee and we will have to pay at the museum but hopefully we will be OK now. Thanks so much to all your responses. We will be there on the 21st October - my birthday!

Anne, I'm glad you got your reservation for the day you wanted, but I must ask if you tried the telephone and what results you got from that? Would you kindly tell us of the problems you encontered with your phone call, because until now I'd not heard of failures with that method (and the cost of a phone call would be at most a few dollars, nothing close to 29 euros). Thanks for any info that may help with my next Borghese visit.

We went to the Borghese in June. I phoned and got a reservation just a week before for three people with no trouble. Yes, you can get lucky and just walk in but not always - the day we went it was quite crowded outside and reservations only.

We were able to join an english-speaking tour that was suggested to us at the cashier when we picked up our tickets. I think it was either complimentary or just a few Euros. (You only have 2 hours to see the museum so some tour or audio can help focus things.) I think we were there on a Thursday. You may want to ask about this.

I loved this museum - one of my favorite few hours in Rome, but for me the tour was really helpful to my enjoyment. Have fun!

29 Euro and the ticket still to buy? Talk about a waste of money! October reservations for the Galleria Borghese are now open - I believe as of today.

Why, why, why do people get so panicked about nailing everything down weeks and months in advance? If October reservations are not open on September 23, there is no way that you will not get a reservation for your chosen date on September 24!

There may be a few exceptions - maybe the Last Supper in Milan, the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua - that accept reservations a longer time in advance,
but for the rest, just chill, people!

I've got to agree with Zerlina
the 29 Eu fee is a rip-off.
For 20Eu you can get a Roma pass and see the Borghese plus another site for free(with other sites at half price).
Plus,you get 3 free days of bus/metro use.
Oct.25 should be no problem. After all, if you weren't able to book it,no one else could.

I booked a tour with context rome for the 10th of oct
i will post our experience when I return on the 13th

And to continue on Zerlina's theme... Why do people keep making expensive international phone calls or paying internet booking fees? Unless you're staying in an apartment, your Rome hotel would be happy to make reservations for you. Just give them a couple of options of days and times.

P.S. Just to throw more panic into the mix, I've seen that the Domus Aurea (Nero's Golden House) is open until the end of December 2007 with no re-opening date announced as yet. A rare chance to see an interesting excavation.

Perhaps the problem is you are trying to reserve dates for a week they are going to be closed. It was reported on another thread so you can search for the dates.

Many things can be booked with Pierrici or ticketclic.it for a very small fee (a few Euro). The ticket prices are not marked up.
http://www.pierreci.it/

A phone call from the US to europe to make a museum (or hotel or restaurant) reservation can be made for under one dollar by using a 1010- or 1016- dialaround number from your home landline. A typical charge is about 50 cents for the connection plus 10 cents or less per minute -- I usually complete my call for 70-80 cents. But even if it takes 15 minutes, that is still only $2, considerably less than many internet booking fees (which sometimes apply per ticket, not per call).

Thanks to all those who helped us with this - as I posted earlier we emailed our hotel but they replied that they would not be able to help with bookings - perhaps only top class hotels will do this? In reply to the poster who said as the bookings were not yet open then no-one else would be able to book either - then how was it that the agency we went through was able to get us our reservations? I was under the impression that there are only a limited number of people allowed through so we could easily have been unable to reserve when the official site was updated. Anyway, we leave for Paris on the 13th October then on to Italy, really looking forward to the Borghese.

anne5: I would be curious to know which hotel refused to make a booking call to someplace as popular as the Borghese. Would you share?

Hello - yes, it was the Hotel Fiorini, their reply was exactly as as follows and the capital letters are theirs. "I AM SORRY IS NOT POSSIBLE THANKS HTLSERENA".

Thanks for the answer, Anne. I'm really glad you get to go to the Borghese on your birthday. You will utterly love it. Happy birthday in advance!

Here is the thread saying the gallery is closed Oct. 11-17.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35070701

we did this reservation by phone - as I recall it took a bit to get through but once we did it was easy.
good luck!

Also, I don't think the OP is phoning from the US, but from OZ. I'm not sure what costs would then be.

I have a new calling plan that allows me to make international calls and send international faxes for only an extra 5 USD a month, by the way. Tbhis is a good deal for me.