Accademia in mid-March: reserve now or chance a walk-up?

Hi Melissa,

It entirely depends on how much time you are willing to spend standing in line waiting for a chance to get in. The Accademia is very popular and if you do not have a reservation, you may end up spending a couple of hours waiting to get in - depending on the ages of your kids, this might be too much.

No one here is able to monitor or know about the length of line at the Accademia by month. So no one has enough information to make a prediction of the length of line the day you are there. Obviously you're going at a time other than the busiest months, but who knows? With the big attractions in Italy, often it's better to bite the bullet and make a reservation, to reduce an unknown to a known. Of course you do lose some spontaneity or flexibility, but to see the David does not take a long time.Go here to see the phone # and website to reserve ahead click here & scroll down to my post.

I certainly understand that the circumstances are unpredictable - line, no line, good/bad weather, good/bad karma - but I was wondering in general what to expect at that time of the year. It would be much preferred to avoid the long lines by reserving ahead; I was just trying to get as much information as possible before making a decision.

And thank you for the links to phone numbers, sites, etc.

Here's what Rick says in his book about whether to reserve ahead for the Accademia (and Uffizi): "I highly recommend getting reservations for the Accademia. Your best strategy is to get reservations as soon as you know when you'll be in town. After learning how easy this is [see phone # in link to my other post] and seeing hundreds of bored, sweaty tourists waiting in lines without reservations (they won't be sweaty in 2 weeks), it's hard not to be amazed at their cluelessness." (page 39, Florence & Tuscany 2007)

Or you could pull the trick we pulled a few years ago in December. With only 1 day in Florence, we made reservations by phone, and would have picked the tickets up and paid the reservation fee at the counter.

Our guide at the Uffizi advised that the Accademia was likely not very crowded at all (which was true) and to just buy the tickets at the counter with no mention of reservations, thereby saving on the fee.

Assuming it is still possible to do this, you could make a reservation for later in your trip, and then if things work out you could do it earlier. If not, then you've got the reservations in hand.

Call & make reservations, you will not need to pay in advance. When you arrive, if there is no line purchase regular tickets. If there is a long line claim your reserved tickets.