Photo: Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Most famous sights open bookings between a week and two months ahead: the Forbidden City 7 days ahead at 20:00, the Colosseum and the Washington Monument 30 days, the Anne Frank House six weeks, the Sagrada Família about two months. Permits run longer, with Grand Canyon backcountry applications four months out. Missed it? 10 of them, Haleakalā and Rocky Mountain among them, release more close to the date.
None of the sights below can be counted on with a ticket bought on the day. They are listed by how far ahead booking opens, from months to a week, then the ones that open early and simply sell out. If you have missed the main release, the last section lists the ones that release more tickets close to the date. Times are local to the sight.
Last checked 14 Oct 2026 · 41 places, each from its official site.
Book two months or more ahead
4 months before
Grand Canyon backcountry — Grand Canyon Village, USA
A backcountry permit is required to camp anywhere below the rim outside developed campgrounds. Applications open on the 16th and close on the 1st, four months before the start month (for May: 16 Dec–1 Jan), through an early-access lottery on Recreation.gov. $10 per application, plus $15 per person per night.
Seasonal lottery windows
Angels Landing — Springdale, USA
Seasonal lotteries open and close months ahead: spring hikes (Mar–May) apply Feb 13–25; summer (Jun–Aug) Apr 1–20; fall (Sep–Nov) Jul 1–20; winter (Dec–Feb) Oct 1–20.
First Tuesday in July, 9:00 AEST
Overland Track — Tasmania, Australia
Departures between 1 October and 31 May are booked. Bookings for each season open at 9:00 AEST on the first Tuesday in July; demand means queueing, and phone bookings are not taken on opening day.
90 days and 2 days ahead, 10 AM ET
Acadia — Cadillac Summit Road — Bar Harbor, USA
Thirty percent of sunrise and daytime vehicle reservations are released 90 days ahead at 10 AM ET; the other seventy percent are released two days before the reservation date.
60 days and 2 days ahead
Haleakalā National Park — Kula, Maui, USA
Sunrise reservations are available up to 60 days in advance, and again two days before the date.
5th of the month
Chichu Art Museum — Naoshima, Japan
Entry needs an online reservation for a date and a 15-minute time slot. Tickets for the month after next go on sale at 10 am on the 5th of each month. The museum opens 10 am to 5 pm (last admission 4 pm) and is closed on Mondays, opening on a holiday Monday and closing the next day instead.
About 2 months ahead
Sagrada Família — Barcelona, Spain
Tickets can be bought roughly two months before the visit, for a set entry time. On the day, tickets are sold through the QR codes around the basilica only as occupancy allows.
Book about a month ahead
30 days before, 10:00 AM
Washington Monument — Washington, DC, USA
Advance tickets are released 30 days before the tour date, at 10:00 AM.
Tuesdays 10:00, 6 weeks ahead
Anne Frank House — Amsterdam, Netherlands
Every Tuesday at 10:00 Amsterdam time, all tickets go on sale for a visit six weeks later. Tickets are sold only online, never at the door, each for a set date and time, and children under 10 need a booked ticket too. They cannot be exchanged, refunded or transferred.
30 days ahead
Colosseum — Rome, Italy
Colosseum ticket sales open 30 days before the date of the visit, with a compulsory time slot for entry to the Colosseum. There is one entrance to the Colosseum, at the booked time; the Roman Forum and Palatine can be entered within 24 hours before or after it. The Full Experience Arena ticket goes on sale online only 7 days before the visit.
30 days ahead
Colosseum — Rome, Italy
The underground levels are sold as the Full Experience Underground and Arena ticket, which goes on sale online 30 days before the visit. It covers one Colosseum entry at the booked time and one entry to the Roman Forum and Palatine on the day before, the same day or the day after.
The 10th, 10:00 JST
Ghibli Museum — Tokyo, Japan
Tickets for the following month go on sale at 10:00 Japan time on the 10th of each month: February's on 10 January. They are sold through Lawson Ticket (or a JTB Sunrise Tours bus tour), never at the museum, and each is valid only for its date and entry time.
30 days before
National Museum of African American History and Culture — Washington, DC, USA
Free timed-entry passes are required for every visitor, whatever their age. Advance passes are released 30 days ahead on a rolling basis, and same-day passes go online by 8:15 a.m. ET. Up to nine passes per person.
28 days before, midnight
Kilmainham Gaol — Dublin, Ireland
Kilmainham Gaol is visited by guided tour only and tickets must be booked in advance. A select number of tours are released 28 days ahead, from midnight Irish time; returns and extra tickets for the day appear online from 9:15 am.
Previous month
Hallasan — Jeju, South Korea
The Seongpanak and Gwaneumsa trails to the summit crater need a reservation for the sections to the top, and places are limited. Bookings open at 9 am on the first business day of the previous month, for up to four people, one booking a week.
1st of the month, 8 AM MDT
Rocky Mountain National Park — Estes Park, USA
Releases on May 1, June 1, July 1, August 1 and September 1 each open the following month of inventory at 8 AM MDT.
Book two weeks ahead or less
Up to 15 days before
Great Wall at Mutianyu — Beijing, China
Mutianyu sells real-name tickets that can be booked up to 15 days in advance, one per passport per day. Foreign visitors enter by showing the original passport the ticket was booked with.
15 days before
Leaning Tower of Pisa — Pisa, Italy
For safety, children who will not have turned 8 by the end of the year cannot climb the Tower (in 2026, anyone born in 2019 or later). Tickets are for a set time, limited in number, and on sale from 15 days ahead; if you are late you are not let in and not refunded.
7 days before, 20:00
Palace Museum (Forbidden City) — Beijing, China
The museum's Chinese site says tickets can be booked from 20:00, seven days before the visit date.
7 days before, 17:00
National Museum of China — Beijing, China
Admission is free but by real-name reservation only, made up to 7 days ahead on the museum's official website. Tickets are released daily at 17:00, in three time slots.
2–7 days before
Arches — Fiery Furnace — Moab, USA
Self-guided permits must be reserved online at least two days before the trip date, and no more than seven days in advance. They cannot be reserved in person.
Book as soon as your dates are fixed
Reserve in advance
Statue of Liberty — New York City, USA
Crown tickets are extremely limited and must be reserved in advance. They are not sold at the Liberty Island ticket office, and a maximum of four can be booked per order.
Reserve in advance
Mammoth Cave National Park — Mammoth Cave, USA
NPS says tours often sell out and reservations are strongly recommended; booking is the only way to guarantee a preferred tour.
Before visit; summer
Edinburgh Castle — Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Edinburgh Castle sells timed tickets online, and once they are sold out no further tickets are available at the castle. They often sell out far in advance, especially in summer. The castle is closed on 25 and 26 December.
Reserve in advance
Stonehenge — Salisbury, United Kingdom
Admission to Stonehenge is by timed ticket, and booking in advance is strongly recommended to get your preferred time; walk-up tickets on the day are limited. It opens 9:30 am to 5 pm with last entry at 3 pm, and is closed from 24 to 26 December.
Reserve in advance
Book of Kells Experience — Dublin, Ireland
Entry to the Book of Kells Experience is timed and booking online is strongly recommended; there is no guarantee of a slot if you arrive without one. Summer weekends are the busiest.
Reserve in advance
Sainte-Chapelle — Paris, France
The monument strongly recommends booking ahead: without it you risk a very long wait, or not getting in at busy times. Entry is guaranteed within 30 minutes of the booked time, and security checks are strict. Free first Sundays (November–March) take no reservations.
Reserve in advance
Miniatur Wunderland — Hamburg, Germany
Tickets are for an entry time window. Between 9 am and 3 pm, at weekends and in holidays, demand can be four to five times the capacity and many slots sell out quickly. Walking in without a ticket can mean considerable waits.
Reserve in advance
Terracotta Army — Xi'an, China
The museum runs real-name online reservation: all visitors, foreign visitors included, must reserve and pre-purchase through its official website or its official WeChat accounts. An adult ticket is 120 yuan all year.
Well ahead
Vatican Necropolis (Scavi) — Rome, Italy
Visits to the Vatican Necropolis must be booked in advance through the request form on basilicasanpietro.va. Daily places are limited, groups are of at most 12, and children under 10 are not admitted. It is separate from the Vatican Museums.
Reserve in advance
Monticello — Charlottesville, USA
Monticello's Highlights Tour, its most popular, can sell out quickly; booking online guarantees a time. Arrive at the visitor center 30 minutes before the tour for security screening and the trip up the mountain.
Summer & school holidays
Penguin Parade — Phillip Island, Australia
Phillip Island Nature Parks says bookings are essential; summer nights sell out (a record 47 between December 2024 and February 2025). Viewing ranges from General Viewing ($34) to the Ultimate Adventure Tour ($129).
Summer, weekends, school holidays
Rottnest Island — Rottnest Island, Australia
Bikes are the main way around the island and can be fully booked in peak season; the island recommends pre-booking the ferry and bike hire in summer, at weekends and in school holidays.
Reserve in advance
Machu Picchu — Machu Picchu, Peru
Since 1 June 2024 the citadel is visited on three circuits grouping ten routes: Circuit 1 (Panorámico), Circuit 2 (Machupicchu Clásico) and Circuit 3 (Machupicchu Realeza). Four routes, Intipunku and the Inka Bridge among them, run in high season only.
Reserve in advance
Huayna Picchu — Machu Picchu, Peru
Huayna Picchu is Route 3-A, "Ruta Montaña Waynapicchu", of Circuit 3 (Machupicchu Realeza), whose three other routes do not climb it. Machupicchu Mountain is a different climb, Route 1-A of Circuit 1.
Reserve in advance
Borghese Gallery — Rome, Italy
Every ticket must be reserved, free ones included, with a €2 reservation fee. Visits start on the hour and last two hours (the 5:45 pm visit is shorter), and entry is allowed only at the start of the hour. Tickets left on the day at the ticket office are limited.
Reserve in advance
Van Gogh Museum — Amsterdam, Netherlands
All visitors need a ticket with a start time, bought online from the museum or an official reseller, and it is valid only on that day and time. Each start time has a limited number of tickets. Museumkaart holders enter free but still reserve a start time.
Reserve in advance
Park Güell — Barcelona, Spain
The ticket covers the part of the park with most of Gaudí's best-known works, for a set entry time. Tickets are sold online only. Entry is not allowed outside the time on the ticket: there is a 30-minute grace period, after which the right to enter is lost. Once inside you can stay as long as you like, but you cannot re-enter.
Reserve in advance
Acropolis — Athens, Greece
Acropolis tickets are sold for a time slot, and entry is valid from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after it; arrive about 30 minutes early. The only official online ticket site is hhticket.gr, and "skip the line" offers for the Acropolis are not real. A slot can be changed up to 14 days before the visit.
Reserve in advance
Aiguille du Midi — Chamonix, France
Booking is compulsory: you choose a date and a departure time. The first five slots cannot be booked online and are kept for mountaineers. New tickets are often released the day before, and the box office sells what is left on the day.
Missed it? Releases close to the date
90 days and 2 days ahead, 10 AM ET
Acadia — Cadillac Summit Road — Bar Harbor, USA
Thirty percent of sunrise and daytime vehicle reservations are released 90 days ahead at 10 AM ET; the other seventy percent are released two days before the reservation date.
60 days and 2 days ahead
Haleakalā National Park — Kula, Maui, USA
Sunrise reservations are available up to 60 days in advance, and again two days before the date.
30 days before
National Museum of African American History and Culture — Washington, DC, USA
Free timed-entry passes are required for every visitor, whatever their age. Advance passes are released 30 days ahead on a rolling basis, and same-day passes go online by 8:15 a.m. ET. Up to nine passes per person.
28 days before, midnight
Kilmainham Gaol — Dublin, Ireland
Kilmainham Gaol is visited by guided tour only and tickets must be booked in advance. A select number of tours are released 28 days ahead, from midnight Irish time; returns and extra tickets for the day appear online from 9:15 am.
Reserve in advance
Aiguille du Midi — Chamonix, France
Booking is compulsory: you choose a date and a departure time. The first five slots cannot be booked online and are kept for mountaineers. New tickets are often released the day before, and the box office sells what is left on the day.
The day before
Machu Picchu — Machu Picchu, Peru
The DDC Cusco ticket office in Machupicchu Pueblo sells 1,000 tickets a day in person, and a ticket bought there gives entry the day after the purchase. Stock is limited.
Day before visit
Washington Monument — Washington, DC, USA
Additional tickets are released one day before the tour date.
7 PM MDT, night before
Rocky Mountain National Park — Estes Park, USA
Additional reservations are released at 7 PM MDT the night before the arrival date, and NPS warns they sell out quickly.
2 days before, 8 AM MDT
Lake Louise & Moraine Lake shuttle — Banff, Canada
Parks Canada releases 40% of shuttle seats on launch day (15 April 2026) and the other 60% at 8 a.m. MDT two days before each departure. The Lake Louise lakeshore car park often fills before sunrise and turns cars away.
Same day: 7 a.m. ET
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum — Washington, DC, USA
Free timed-entry tickets are required for the Permanent Exhibition. Tickets reserved online in advance carry a $1 transaction fee; a limited number of same-day tickets go online each day at 7 a.m. ET.
Plan the days around them
RTour plans the route, the nights in each place and a day-by-day schedule, and works out every leg by train, car and plane.
Plan a tripRules like these change, sometimes at short notice. Confirm with the source before you book — RTour plans trips and does not sell tickets.