How Far Ahead to Book the Uffizi and the Accademia in Florence

The two museums are not one ticket

The Uffizi Galleries and the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze are two separate state museums with separate ticket offices, separate booking platforms and separate prices, and neither one's official fares page lists a ticket that covers both. Travellers routinely arrive in Florence having booked "the Uffizi" and assume Michelangelo's David is inside it. It is not. Michelangelo carved the marble between 1501 and 1504 and it was first installed at the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio, but the museum that holds it today is the Accademia, at Via Ricasoli 58/60 and on its own ticket.

Both museums close on Mondays and on 1 January and 25 December, which removes roughly one day in seven from any short trip before you have booked anything.

The Uffizi's own gallery page gives hours of 08:15 to 18:30 Tuesday to Sunday with the ticket office closing an hour before, per the Uffizi's gallery page (checked 15 September 2026). The Accademia runs slightly later, to 18:50 with last admission at 18:20, and closes access to the ground-floor musical instrument rooms and the first-floor exhibition rooms from 18:40, according to the Accademia's visit page (checked 15 September 2026).

What a ticket actually costs

Uffizi tickets are priced twice: one figure for a ticket bought on the date of entry, and a higher figure for the same ticket bought before that date. The Uffizi Galleries' official fares page (checked 15 September 2026) sets the Uffizi at EUR 25 same-day and EUR 29 in advance, so the surcharge for reserving is EUR 4 per person.

The table below compares the four main Uffizi Galleries admissions at both prices.

The Accademia works differently. The Accademia's ticket page (checked 15 September 2026) gives a full-price admission of EUR 16.00, in force since 1 January 2024, with a separate booking fee of EUR 4.00 if you reserve. A reserved Accademia visit therefore lands at EUR 20 per adult, and an unreserved one at EUR 16.

How far ahead to book

Neither museum states a recommended advance booking lead time anywhere on its official pages, so any specific number of weeks you read elsewhere is not coming from the Uffizi or the Accademia. What the official pages do tell you is what happens when advance slots run out, and the two answers differ.

The Accademia is explicit that a sell-out online is not the end of it: the Accademia's information page (checked 15 September 2026) states that even if online availability is sold out, tickets can be purchased at the museum box office on the day of your visit. That is a genuine fallback, and it costs EUR 4 less than a reservation.

The Uffizi's position is the same in structure — its purchasing page (checked 15 September 2026) lists the ticket offices under the Uffizi loggia, in Piazza Pitti and at the Boboli gates as one of three official channels — but the Uffizi is the larger draw, and the on-the-day option means joining a physical queue at 08:15 rather than walking to a reserved door. Book the Uffizi ahead if your Florence trip is short enough that one lost morning breaks it; treat the Accademia as the one you can improvise.

Buying through the official channel

The Uffizi Galleries name three official ways to buy: the platform at tickets.uffizi.it, the ticket offices, and the call centre on 800 615 615 from Italy or +39 055 0354135 from abroad, open daily 08:00 to 19:00. The Accademia names B-Ticket as its authorised online channel and Firenze Musei on +39 055 294883 by phone. Reaching either platform through the link on the museum's own site avoids the question of which reseller you have landed on.

One caution on that point: two pages on Uffizi-operated domains describe the booking route differently, with the shop's ticket information page (checked 15 September 2026) referring to B-ticket and the phone number +39 055294883 while the main site points to tickets.uffizi.it and the 800 615 615 call centre. Follow the current link from uffizi.it rather than typing a platform name into a search engine.

What the PassePartout covers

The PassePartout is the Uffizi Galleries' own multi-visit product, and it does not include the Galleria dell'Accademia. The five-day version costs EUR 40 and covers the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, or EUR 58 with Vasari Corridor access, according to the fares page.

The annual versions are separate again: the annual subscriptions page (checked 15 September 2026) lists EUR 80 for one person covering the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens and the Museum of Opificio delle Pietre Dure, EUR 120 for a family pass covering two adults and up to eight minors, and EUR 25 for a Boboli-and-Porcelain-Museum-only pass, each valid one year from a date the holder chooses and each carrying priority access.

Free days and who pays nothing

Free admission at both museums falls on the first Sunday of every month under the Ministry of Culture's Domenica al Museo scheme, which covers state museums, archaeological parks, galleries, archives and libraries across all twenty Italian regions. The catch is that free days remove the booking option entirely rather than adding one.

The Uffizi states that on these days there is no reservation and no priority pass except for people with disabilities, those accompanying them by law, and pregnant women, per the Uffizi's free Sunday page (checked 15 September 2026). The Accademia's information page says the same in its own words: admission is free of charge each first Sunday of the month, and it is not possible to make reservations. A free first Sunday is a queueing day, not a shortcut.

Age-based entitlements apply on ordinary days too. The Uffizi's free and reduced tickets page (checked 15 September 2026) gives free entry to children under 18 of any nationality on production of a passport or ID card, and a EUR 2 reduced ticket to EU citizens over 18 up to the day of their twenty-fifth birthday, with the same documents required. The Accademia's ticket page likewise lists under-18s as free, and free entry there requires identification and supporting documentation.

What your Uffizi ticket excludes

A standard Uffizi ticket admits you to the Uffizi and nothing else — not Palazzo Pitti, not the Boboli Gardens, and not the Vasari Corridor. The corridor is the roughly 750-metre passage Giorgio Vasari built in 1565 to move the Medici between Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti above the heads of the city; it closed in 2016 and has since reopened on a separate combined ticket.

The Uffizi's Vasari Corridor page (checked 15 September 2026) states that reservations are required for the corridor, that access is from the Room D19 meeting point on the first floor, and that visitors who do not reach the meeting point five minutes before their slot forfeit entry. The route runs from the Uffizi across Ponte Vecchio and out through the Boboli Gardens, so it changes where your afternoon ends as well as what it costs.

On the morning of your visit

Work out which door you need before you leave your accommodation, because the Uffizi and the Accademia both separate reserved and unreserved entrances and the queues are not interchangeable. Reserved Uffizi visitors are directed to Door 3; the Accademia is at Via Ricasoli 58/60, a ten-minute walk north of the Duomo and nowhere near Piazza della Signoria.

This guide covers admission and booking mechanics only. It does not cover guided tours, the Firenze Card's full museum list, the Bargello and Medici Chapels that share the Accademia's directorate, or the temporary exhibition programme at either museum — all of those are priced and scheduled separately, and the fares above were read on the museums' own pages on 15 September 2026 rather than taken from a reseller.