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Things to Do in Italy
Tours and Skip-the-Line Tickets
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Must-Book Tickets for Sightseeing in Italy
These are the must-book tickets I recommend purchasing in advance of your visit to Italy.
The links below go directly to the official ticketing sites. Third-party sites that sell skip-the-line tickets and specialized guided tours are listed in brackets after the official link.
- Rome: Colosseum and Forum [VIP Colosseum Underground Tour with Roman Forum & Palatine Hill]
- Rome: Galleria Borghese [Galleria Borghese Guided Tours]
- Rome: Vatican Museums [Skip-the-line tickets from Tiqets]
- Florence: Accademia [Skip-the-line tickets from Tiqets]
- Florence: Duomo and Campanile [Florence Duomo Tiqets]
- Florence: Uffizi Gallery [Florence: Uffizi Priority Entrance]
- Pisa: Leaning Tower [The Leaning Tower of Pisa + Baptistry, Sinopie & Duomo]
- Milan: Duomo [Milan: Fast-Track Milan Cathedral and Terraces Guided Tour]
- Milan: Leonardo’s Last Supper [Da Vinci’s Last Supper and Sforza Castle Semi-Private Tour with Guide]
- Venice: St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace [Doge’s Palace & St. Mark’s Basilica with Terrace Access Tour]
Advanced purchase: Most ticketing sites only allow bookings for 2-3 months out (e.g., tickets for a June visit won’t go on sale until April). While this is frustrating, it has its purpose. For one, it allows ticket purchasing access to a wider variety of people. Two, it allows the museum a bit of flexibility. And, releasing tickets only a few months out discourages rogue actors from buying up tickets many months in advance.
Additional fees: There are many tour companies that are able to sell skip-the-line tickets and guided tours. Expect to pay more (at the very least a service fee) for the convenience.
Where to Buy Tickets for Guided Tours, Skip-the-Line Tickets, and Passes for Other Travel Activities
The first place you will want to look for tickets is on the official site of whatever place you are going to—for example, the Vatican website for Vatican Museum tours.
But, there are many other third-party sites where you can confidently purchase fast-track tickets and guided tours from officially licensed tour companies. I cover a number of tour companies in my list of travel booking resources:
Find multi-day tours
You can find full, multi-day packages on many of the conventional travel booking sites like Expedia. There are also travel search sites that specialize in package deals. I recommend TourRadar, Bookmundi, and Travelzoo. But there are also others like Great Value Vacations and eDreams that have a track record of good reviews.
Meanwhile, there are several well-respected tour companies that you can try for Italy package deals and all-inclusive tours. I recommend G Adventures, which specializes in active tours (e.g., biking, hiking); Insight Vacations, which focuses on cultural experiences; and Trafalgar, a trusted name in the UK. Another traveler favorite is Perillo Tours, which has been hosting escorted tours of Italy for a mostly North American clientele since 1945.
Area-specific tour operators
It’s never a bad idea to find a tour operator that specializes in a specific area. One well-regarded example is Sicily Activities, which runs small-group tours of top spots on the island.
