We are planning to visit Florence on Sept. 14 and see Accademia at the opening hours(8:15) and Uffizi at 4pm (to closing time)

Is there still going to be the long lines at the ticket office? Select Italy charges $22 per booking (minus postage)per person for 4 of us. Is that really worth it?
If I ask the hotel to book for us, how much should I pay them?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Should we also reserve for Bargello Museum and other attractions?

I'm confused... why don't you just call and book yourself. It takes 5 minutes, and it's in English. I got the phone number off this web site. There is still a booking fee when you pay for the tickets - but its more like 3 or 4$s per person per museum.

I don't have a landline phone and my cellphone doesn't have international service. My work phone doesn't allow international calls.

Can you pay a neighbor for the use of their landline? It is 3 euros, instead of 22 dollars, per person. Seems like it would be worth it. OR, if your hotel makes the call for you, that would be even simpler. You don't pay for the reservation until you pick up the tickets.

There is a website that you can make reservations online (I think it was the Uffizi website) but when I went to do it, they were fully sold out of reservations past the dates I would be in Florence so I emailed my hotel to see if they could get me reservations for one of the days I would be there. They were able to get it for me and gave me a voucher to present to the ticket booth and just paid Uffizi directly. I believe the admission was 6 euros and the reservation fee was 3 euros.

So check with your hotel first....$22 per booking is a little steep!

If no one has a land line that you can use, ask your hotel to make the reservation for you. I have had great luck walking into the Accademia without reservations, late in day, on several occasions, but I wouldn't try it on Sept. 14. I would not try to see the Uffizi without reservations in Sept.

You do not need reservations for the Bargello, and I'm really glad you are going there. It is a wonderful museum, and somewhat undervisited, considering the number of tourists that Firenze attracts.

A little off topic but we did a side trip to Florence for the day and got into the Academia to see the david without a reservation despite reading this wasn't possible. We just had to stand in line for 45-60 minutes.

You can buy a phone card. Then if you phone from work, it will be just like any other local call, not an international call.

Hi T,

Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
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 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.
You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.

A calling card is probably your best bet. If you use your neighbor's phone, ask what rate plan they have for internaltion calls. Since I don't call outside of the US-I was charged $3/min, however, it was still much cheaper than the fees select Italy charges for each reservation.