Florence/Firenze card?

[KKD]

If you've used it, is it worth it to avoid lines? Rick Steves says there might still be delays at some sights; was that your experience?

We would get it primarily to avoid the lines and not be tied to a reservation time at the most crowded sites, so I want to be sure it's worth the extra expense. Or are we better off making reservations for the Accademia and Uffizi and trying to climb the Duomo first thing in the morning?

[clseale]

I was just there at the beginning of September, and we didn't use one. The only insane line we encountered was for the Duomo. We actually chose not to climb it. We went to the Uffizi in the middle of the afternoon with no reservations and had no issue getting right in. I made reservations at the Accademia, but the line for those without reservations wasn't very long. I think getting to the Duomo first thing, would avoid what we experienced. We started (since it opened earlier) at Santa Croce, so we didn't get to the Duomo until an hour after it opened.

[v]

We did this Artviva tour:

www.italy.artviva.com/package/1/original_florence_in_one_day

(Also recommended by Rick). It included skip-the-line admission to the Accademia and the Uffizi, plus we learned a lot from our guides and it included a good walking tour of the city, so if you like tours it may be worth the extra euros. It doesn't cost much more than the Firenze card.

There's some sort of Rick Steves discount for it: www.italy.artviva.com/pages/287/Rick_Steves_Discount_-_Important_Information_-_Discount_tours_italy

[Susie]

We had reservations at the Accademia and Uffizi, and that worked out fine. We did climb the Duomo, and I don't remember a line. I just checked, and the time stamp on my photos from the top is around 11am, which if I didn't adjust it from EDT when I got to Europe (I'm sure I didn't) would probably be what, 5pm in Florence?  I would believe that from the sun angle in the pics.  It was a weekday, which may have helped, and early October is not high season.

[sparty04]

We didn't, but we were there at the end of Oct. We didn't even run into any lines in Rome, but I think it's largely because of the time if year we were there

[cheezer]

We were there last summer and didn't use it. I also don't remember any excessive lines. I think we definitely had a reservation at the Ufizi and we declined to climb the Duomo because it was July in Italy and it was hot.