Rick Steves' Smart Approach To European Museums Is Sure To Enhance Your Experience

Europe's museums offer some of the most fascinating experiences on the continent. The Louvre, the British Museum, and even Portugal's unique Bank of Materials provide tangible links to the past through physical artifacts and artwork. However, because of the treasures they hold, museum ticket lines are often so long that you could easily spend more time stuck in line than exploring the actual museum. Thankfully, travel expert and television host Rick Steves has a smart approach to museums that is sure to enhance your experience.

Rick Steves has a number of crucial travel tips that everyone should know when visiting museums in Europe. One of his best tips will help you skip past those endless lines and actually enjoy your day at the museum: "Visitors who buy tickets online in advance ... can skip the ticket-buying line and waltz right in," he writes.

Making reservations online is beneficial in two ways. The first is that the only line you'll have to deal with is a short one at security. The other benefit is that you will be helping museums with crowd control, as they will know when you will be arriving well in advance. This too will improve your experience, as you won't have to be competing with crowds to see your favorite exhibits once you are inside.

Museums across Europe house some of the most famous and treasured art pieces in the world. The Louvre in Paris has the "Mona Lisa." The Uffizi Galleries and Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze in Florence house some of Rick Steves' all-time favorite artworks, including Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and Michelangelo's "David" respectively. The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan has da Vinci's "The Last Supper." All of these famous works are nearly impossible to see if you don't reserve tickets in advance.

Here's how Steves recommends pre-purchasing tickets. "To book your timed-entry tickets in advance for both of these museums, simply go to the city museums' official ticket site and follow the prompts," Steves writes about the museums in Florence. "If there's no availability via that site, you can try for-profit vendors such as Florence.net or Tickitaly.com," Steves says, though he warns that those services will cost more.

This advice is applicable across virtually all major European museums that have websites. Steves also suggests purchasing your tickets up to two months ahead of your visit in order to guarantee yourself a spot. Overall, if you take the time to grab your tickets in advance, you will have a far better time exploring Europe's great museums instead of spending hours upon hours in queues.