How to Get the Best from Your Short Breaks ~ Book Your Shenanigans Before You Go!

Let’s be honest when you go on a City break you really want to cram in as much as possible, especially if you’re only there for a weekend. There are a few things you should try to book before you go saving you money and more importantly precious time queuing. As always with City breaks I recommend doing a Hop on Hop off bus tour, I find Viator.com is brilliant for these tours world over. I’ve booked with them many times and never had an issue. Here are my top tips for other things to book before you go:

1.   Rome

Usually top of the list when visiting Rome is the Colosseum, queues can be huge but if you book your tickets before you go from HERE you can visit the Colosseum, The Roman Forum & the Palatine. These are skip the line tickets valid for two days starting at just €16pp.

2.   Amsterdam

Even during winter there’s always a large queue for Anne Frank’s house & museum, book your tickets before you go on http://www.annefrank.org/en/Museum/Practical-information/Online-ticket-sales/ You will need to select a time for your entrance, when you get there don’t join the large queue simply go around to the side door & enter there. Tickets are priced at €9 for adults, €4.50 10-17 yrs & free for under 10’s, all tickets are subject to a 50 cent handling fee. Tickets can be printed before you go or just show them on your smartphone when you get there.

3.   Paris

The only way to save yourself some serious queuing time for the Eiffel Tower is to pre-book your tickets online HERE Be careful as there are two options for tickets, one will only get you to the 2^nd floor but the other is all the way up to the summit. These are times tickets so you must be at the elevator within 30 minutes of your stated time. 

You can print your tickets or show your barcode on your smartphone. Tickets are €17 for adults, €14.50 12-24yrs, €10 4-11yrs & free for under 4’s. I’d highly recommend having lunch at Le 58 tour Eiffel, the restaurant on the 1^st floor. It’s surprisingly inexpensive; we paid €25pp for lunch & €27 for a bottle of wine, well worth it for the experience & the stunning views of Paris. 

    

4.   London

Visiting the Coca Cola London Eye can be very expensive but if you book online at least 24 hours before you can save up to 20% off ticket prices.BOOK HERE. It’s also slightly cheaper to go later in the day. Tickets are priced at £19.35 (€26.66) for adults & £13.95 (€19.22) for children.

5.   NYC

You can’t go to New York and not see the views from the Empire State building. The queues can be ridiculously long and massively priced for Skip the Line tickets. My top tip is to wait till later a night to visit as the observation deck is open till 2am(!). There are lots of ticket options including a ticket that allows access to the top deck on the 102^nd floor. 

To be honest this ticket is not worth $20 extra as the main deck is on the 86^th floor, this is the one you’ll recognise from the movies. Main Deck Only tickets can be bought HERE priced at Adults $32 (€28.43), Children 6-12yrs $26 (€23.10) and free for under 6’s.

Tell us, have you any trips in the pipeline? 

What would be your top attraction to book before you go?