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Pre-book Museum Tickets in Florence

If you've ever visited the fabulous Uffizi museum in Florence, you probably know that your first hour (or two) there can often be spent waiting in a long, slow ticket line. And, that's if you're lucky. After all, the museum puts a daily cap on total entrants, so if you arrive on really busy days or after lunch, you can find yourself without a ticket at all!

Enter the sleek new Web site of the "Polo Museale Fiorentino," the city's governing board for 20 museums, including the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Pitti Palace, the Museum of San Marco and more. On the site, you can take virtual tours of each museum, read about upcoming exhibits, verify opening hours and map out locations.

But our favorite feature: The site now offers online ticket booking for all museums, allowing users to bypass the long queue and restricted entrance schedule.

How it works

The process is simple: You head directly to the site’s booking portal choose the museum you wish to book and your preferred date and then select an available entrance time. (At the Uffizi, for example, you may choose entrances in 15-minute intervals.) Proceed to the checkout, pay with a credit card (a €4 processing fee is added) and a confirmation will be emailed to you. Take this email with you to the museum (arriving, of course, during the scheduled time slot) and hand it over at the "pre-booked tickets" counter to pick up your tickets.

Yes, the site adds a €4 booking fee. But we'll happily fork that over in exchange for a speedy (and guaranteed!) welcome.

Other museum ticket booking sites are out there, and we've recommended them in the past, but they tack on far more than €4 to your ticket. One of the most popular sites adds €11.50 to each ticket! Save it for post-museum Chianti, folks!

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Updated and edited: June 2011