Planning Excursions/Attractions

Buy tickets in advance

If you don’t want to wait in lines to check on “available” tickets then plan ahead and get your tickets in advance.  This also helps you plan (not a bad thing to do especially if you have limited time) your days, but make sure to include times for meals, shopping and travel time between destinations.  The Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and many other key sights offer scheduled tour times.   Bypass the line and spend more time enjoying the sights!

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Guided Tours

I like these tours if you are not as familiar with the location or event or if there is a significant language barrier if asking questions.   For example, we recently purchased the best of the Louvre on a recent trip to Paris.   The Louvre is huge, the lines are long and if you don’t know the quickest way to see the “Top Attractions” you can spend a ton of time wondering the hallways with the map in front of you.   This way we saw all the big attractions (eg: Mona Lisa, Winged Nike, Venus di Milo, Delacroix, etc.) during the first 3 hours and after the tour ends you can then spend more time, if desired, looking till your hearts content at the other 380,000 items they have on display.  All of this information was provided by a super nice English speaking guide.   These tours cost a bit more but the content in the Louvre tour really helped me appreciate the time the art was created, what was socially was going on during its creation and the history of how it ended up at the Louvre.    Guided tours also make it easy on the inexperienced traveler to meet at one location and be escorted (walking, bus or van) to the tour location and then return without a worry to the original meeting spot. 

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The “Best of” tours help you make the most of, what are typically, limited vacation days.   Using these tours may allow you to relax a bit more or see things again on scheduled free days.   Prices vary by time of tour, private or group, and any travel or meal associated with the tour.  I usually look on TripAdvisor or other similar websites under the “things to do” link to see what are the most popular or highly rated activities are and then decide whether it necessitates a guided tour or not.  

Self-guided Tours

Some locations may not actually need a full tour package.   For example, if you wanted to spend time at the Eiffel Tower you may not actually need a full tour.  It only has three levels and much of the history is online so you may find it just as easy to purchase tickets in advance from the Eiffel Tower website and simply show up with camera at the ready.   What you need to plan is if you are going up to the top level?  Do you want to eat at the restaurant?  And, what is the weather going to be like that day?

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Some locations like the Tower of London also have employees (here Beefeaters) who are more than happy to share with you their knowledge of the room, articles in the room and what it was like during the medieval times.   Others may include or for a small fee have audio equipment to help provide information about the location. Having onsite information makes it easier not to need a guide.  Again, planning ahead, asking questions and a bit of research makes for a better holiday.

Be flexible for surprise activities

Some museums or sights can book out well in advance.   Recently, my daughter and I were in Rome and wanted to visit the Borghese Gallery but it was fully booked 30 days in advance.   However, we decided we wanted to see the grounds of the Villa Borghese anyway and relax a bit from 20,000 + step days previously.   We enjoyed the grounds and came upon the Gallery.  We happened to be there when they were open later in the afternoon.   By chance we asked if any tickets had been turned in and the answer was “yes, two had been released back”.   We purchased the tickets and the Borghese Gallery was one of our best surprise tours. 

Similarly, I was at the Globe theatre in London for a tour and found out that a live show of “Macbeth” was being performed in the Sam Wanamaker theatre 30 minutes after my Globe tour ended.   I again asked if any tickets had been turned in but the quiet answer was “no…but wait 15 minutes as you never know.”   Sure enough, a nice lady had an extra ticket as her friend was sick couldn’t make it.   It was an $80 ticket but she was happy to sell it to me for $40.   So, for the next 2.5 hours I was able to see an intimate performance of Macbeth by candlelight with only 200 others in the room.   It was a wonderful unplanned surprise.  

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Take advantage of surprises and be flexible to make the most of your travel time!