Sights, not sore eyes

Last year, I was lucky enough to spend two weeks in Venice. I knew the city well already but this amount of time enabled me to explore it in a way I hadn't been able to before.

Venice is unusual among tourist destinations in that the whole city — not just the individual buildings, galleries and attractions — is really one big sightseeing experience.

So it is a good place to study the habits of tourists and the problems they create for those who don't want to see the sights as part of the general scrum that seems to get worse and more intrusive every year.

I came away more convinced than ever of just how debilitating the downside of sightseeing can be: having too many people trying to cram into museums, churches, squares and — in Venice's case — water buses, destroys what makes these places special.

But I also had time to work out how to plan visits that avoided the general mêlée.

Here are some thoughts on how to enjoy the great museums, galleries and public spaces at their best.

1 Visit towards the end of the day. There is an argument for queuing at the ticket office before opening time — I did it the first time I visited the Sistine Chapel about 30 years ago and once in, almost ran down the corridors of the Vatican Museums to get a few minutes of peace before the crowds caught up.

But you never have much time before those quiet moments are over for the day. Start your visit within a couple of hours of closing time, on the other hand, and many tour groups are ebbing out of galleries and museums and you are more likely to have more space to yourself. Also keep an eye out for evening openings, which are generally quieter and free from tour groups.

For example, the Louvre opens until 10pm on Wednesdays and Fridays (www.louvre.fr); the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (www.metmuseum.org) until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays; the British Museum (www.britishmuseum.org) until 8.30pm on Thursdays and Fridays; and the National Gallery in London until 9pm on Fridays (www.nationalgallery.org.uk).

2 Endure the heat rather than the crowds. In very hot countries, the middle part of the day can be the quietest time. Most tour groups avoid the Valley of the Kings during noontime heat. But when I visited three or four years ago, our guide took us there between noon and 3pm. It was almost deserted and, since we spent a lot of the time in the tombs, we didn't suffer too much from the sun.

3 Don't penny-pinch for free entrance. Some museums on the continent waive entry fees on certain days; the Louvre, for example, does so on the first Sunday of every month. But in saving yourself a few euros, you condemn yourself to visiting on the busiest day of the month.

4 Book your entry ticket. Some museums — such as the Uffizi in Florence — sell timed tickets so that you can avoid the queues at the entrance (which can mean a two-hour wait).

5 Look for side or rear-entrance doors. This will help you avoid the crush or queue in the main foyer and may also mean that you follow a different route around the gallery or museum from those who have come in via the main entrance.

6 Join a cathedral service. You have to respect other churchgoers and commit yourself to watching the service, but you will enjoy more of the special atmosphere of, say, Notre Dame in Paris, the San Marco Basilica in Venice or Westminster Abbey during Holy Communion than you will traipsing around the aisles with other tourists in the middle of the day.

7 Avoid weekends. At least on weekdays you will have to compete for space only with other tourists. At weekends, there will be more locals visiting. Beware, though — on the continent, many state museums close on Mondays.

8 Make the most of the one-star sights. Most of us like to tick off the five-star sights. Who wants to visit the Louvre without seeing the Mona Lisa or go to Rome and miss out on the Sistine Chapel? But if you have visited these before or prefer to enjoy great art in peace, slightly minor galleries can be better propositions.

For example, if you like Monet, you will find a better selection of his paintings in the little-visited Musee Marmottan Monet (www.museums-of-paris.com) than in Musee d'Orsay. And in Venice, the paintings and sculpture in the often-empty Museo Correr (www.museiciviciveneziani.it) are just as interesting as those in the Accademia Galleries.

9 Book a guide. A guide will know not only the best time to visit an attraction but also how to navigate away from the tour parties. Finding a good one is not easy (those touting for business outside sights are best avoided) but most city tourist offices will have contacts for qualified guides and they can be booked as late as 24 hours in advance.

10 Don't use the audio guides. I'm a great believer in audio guides because they allow you to look and take in information at the same time. But they can be a disaster for crowd avoidance at busy times, because everyone clusters around the same exhibits for to the commentary.