Accademia & Duomo help

We were last in Florence in 2010 and Accademia does require reservations, but the Duomo did not. Warning, the Duomo was closed one of the days that we were in Florence. When I was in Florence in 1983, I did the walk up to the top of the dome, it was amazing. Didn't do it again in 2010, not sure if times are restricted.

Accademia took us about 2 1/2 hours to go through. Even with tickets, we had to wait about half an hour to get into the museum. Count on about three hours for that. The Duomo you can do in a couple of hours.

You might consider climbing the bell tower instead; shorter lines and you get an eye-level view of the dome.

You may also want to stop at the Museo dell' Opere del Duomo, the museum containing the original art pieces taken out of the Duomo over the years.

In off-season and shoulder season, the Accademia is often not at all crowded in the late afternoon. There is a lot to see there, but the main draw in Michelangelo and that takes about 1/2 hour. I remember enjoying the Russian icons, the other sculpture galleries and the music room (especially the listening stations). Depends on what floats your boat.

I'd want to climb early in the day, especially if it's going to be warm.

We were last in Florence in 2010 and Accademia does require
reservations, but the Duomo did not.

The Accademia doesn't require reservations, necessarily, but they're really mandatory to have if wanting to avoid standing in a queue during high season and if wanting to get in at a specific time. The dome of the duomo, on the other hand, does require reservations; I believe that change is fairly recent.

https://www.museumflorence.com

Do note:
"The climb to the Dome may be restricted in time due to the excessive tourist flow."

I'd go with Chani's suggestion to do a climb earlier in the day, and consider Zoe's suggestion to do the Bell Tower instead for shorter lines (reservations still suggested, according to the website).

I agree with Zoe about climbing Giotto’s Campanile. Years ago, I climbed the bell tower on a hot August afternoon and almost didn't make it to the top. Luckily, a group of Italians cheered me on to finish the final steps! I was greatly rewarded with an amazing view of Firenze and the Duomo. Very memorable!

It is fascinating to see how the Duomo construction was done as you climb inside the dome -- I'd not give that up. There is a great view of all of this from Piazzale Michelangelo.

I was just there and yes, you need a reservation to climb the Duomo. Also, it is much more interesting than the Bell Tower climb. Depending on your fitness level, you can climb the Duomo in 15 minutes to 30 minutes. The same time down. There are sometimes traffic jams because someone can't keep climbing and stops to rest which since it's narrow, causes everyone to have a problem. Accademia, I would recommend a reservation because the entry line gets very long otherwise. It's actually best, if you do a tour and the wait time is even less and you learn so much more. Otherwise, you are looking at stuff that you don't really know all the interesting history/stories about. I would recommend a tour that includes the Accademia the Uffizi. The Accademia tour would take about an hour max and the Uffizi you could hit the highlights in 2 ish. Obviously, you can spend more time but this gets the highlights and we thought we saw plenty and weren't disappointed.

Climb the duomo as early as feasible - it's strenuous and it gets really hot in there. It's worth it though!