Tickets & queues, how to book the Uffizi and Accademia

In few other Italian cities does poor planning cost you as much time as in Florence. Outside the Uffizi and the Galleria dell'Accademia, home to Michelangelo's David, long queues form every day without a booking, in peak season with waits of several hours. The Uffizi gets around two million visitors a year, the Accademia around 1.2 million. Booking a time slot in advance avoids this almost entirely. This guide covers where to book officially, what you'll pay in 2026, and when to reserve.

Where to book officially

Both museums sell their tickets through their own official channels, and only there can you be sure you're not paying an inflated resale mark-up.

• Uffizi. Official sales run through tickets.uffizi.it. Since late 2025, CoopCulture has been the Uffizi's official ticketing partner; the same system also covers Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens and the Vasari Corridor.
• Accademia. The Galleria dell'Accademia sells through its own museum website, galleriaaccademiafirenze.it, part of the Firenze Musei system. If you'd rather book by phone, call +39 055 294883.

Tickets are also available through various third-party sellers and resellers. Whether these are officially authorised isn't clearly stated on the museum sites, to be on the safe side, book directly through the official addresses above.

What tickets cost in 2026

At both museums, booking online in advance costs a little more than buying on the spot, because a booking fee is added, that surcharge is the price of skipping the queue.

• Uffizi. The standard adult ticket costs 25 euros if bought on the day on the spot, and 29 euros for online advance booking. The 4-euro difference is the advance-booking fee. The reduced ticket is 2 euros, for example for EU citizens aged 18 to 25 with ID.
• Accademia. The standard ticket costs 16 euros plus a 4-euro booking fee. The reduced ticket is also 2 euros, for EU citizens aged 18 to 25, and for travellers from Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland with ID.
• Accademia combo tickets. If you want to see more, there are two bundles - Accademia plus the Bargello for 26 euros (valid 48 hours), and a six-museum combo for 38 euros (valid 72 hours), each plus the 4-euro fee.

Worth knowing: the 4-euro booking fee per person is added at both museums on full-price, reduced and even free admissions. Even if you're entitled to free entry, you still pay the fee for a reserved time slot.

Save money in the afternoon

Since 1 January 2026, the Uffizi has offered an afternoon discount: book entry from 16:00 and you pay just 16 euros instead of 25, or 20 euros if you book in advance before the day of your visit. It's not just cheaper, it also falls in a quieter part of the day, once the big tour groups have already left.

As a rule of thumb across the day, the first slot in the morning and the late afternoon are the quietest windows, with midday the busiest. There are no official crowd figures broken down by time slot, but the pattern holds across nearly all the major museums.

Opening hours and closing days

Core hours at both museums stay the same year-round, there's no separate summer or winter schedule. What matters most is keeping the closing days in mind, above all Mondays.

• Uffizi. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15-18:30 (last admission 17:30). Closed Mondays, plus 1 January and 25 December. A handful of Tuesdays have extended evening hours.
• Accademia. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 8:15-18:50 (ticket office and last admission close at 18:20). Closed Mondays, plus public holidays such as 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.

Florence's state museums, including both of these, are closed on Mondays as a rule. If Monday is your only day in the city, plan your itinerary around it.

When you should book

Availability is released on a rolling basis, roughly two months ahead; Florence's museums open up the coming quarter about a month before it starts. There's no fixed earliest or latest booking date as a hard rule, so it pays to keep an eye on the system.

• Accademia. Book around two months ahead if you can, the museum is smaller and the David is a single main draw, so the good slots go quickly.
• Uffizi. Book at least about a month ahead to secure your preferred time slot.
• Peak season. From April to September, and over Christmas and Easter, booking ahead is worth it regardless of the day of the week. Outside that window, it's often enough to book just for weekends. Popular early-morning slots can sell out one to two weeks ahead in high summer.

For a broader look at when the city is busiest or quietest, see Best time to visit Florence.

What to watch for when booking

A booked ticket is more binding than many visitors expect. Uffizi tickets are nominative - issued to a named person - non-transferable and non-refundable, and the 4-euro booking fee isn't refunded either. Each booking is for a fixed time slot with a digital ticket. Whether a slot can officially be rescheduled or exchanged isn't clearly documented, so don't count on it - only book once your travel dates are confirmed.

On free-admission days, the Accademia is also free to enter: on the first Sunday of each month, and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November 2026. Expect these days to be especially busy.

Not every museum in Florence needs a booking at all. For Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello, Palazzo Pitti and most churches, buying on the spot is usually fine. Climbing the dome of the Cathedral, on the other hand, requires a fixed time slot. If you're planning to visit several museums, check the Firenze Card - though it doesn't replace the required time-slot booking for the Uffizi and Accademia.