Florence: Accademia or Uffizi Gallery, or both?

If its a hard choice between the two, then the Uffizi.

There is more to study and see at the Uffizi. Yet you can see both if you just spend a 1/2 hour at the Accadamia. Which works out, cause the other galleries of the Accademia are unfinished works and about the process of sculpture.

I am a big art fan, and spend a longer time in museums than many folks. The Ufizzi is extraordinary, and while the original David is a marvel to behold, the Accademia offers little more in my opinion. And it costs a lot, too. The David outside the Palazzo Vecchio is a very good second runner up...and it's free!

It will be hard to do both in one afternoon as the Uffizi is huge. But I guess I would vote for the Uffizi, not only for the art but also its location, and for the views of Florence, the River Arno, the Ponte Vecchio etc. The Accademia is much smaller,not in such a pretty part of town (in my opinion).

For me the highlights of the Accademia were the David (the one in the square cannot compensate, I think), some unfinished works by Michelangelo, and the Musical Instruments part which I absolutely loved (and which boasts an original Stradivarius violin). I probably preferred the Accademia to the Uffizi, come to think of it, but if you only have to do one, then head straight to Piazza della Signoria for the Uffizi, and the other sights in that area.

I'll cast a third vote for the Uffizi. There's so much more there (history-wise and art-wise) than at the Accademia, even though David is cool.

I love the Uffizi but I have taken a lot of art classes and can recognize and appreciate many pieces in the museum. If you don't really know what you are looking at it doesn't mean as much. The David is a European, renaissance and biblical symbol so if you MUST chose, I'd see it. But, try your best to do both. You won't spend much time in the Accademia and it's probably a 15 min walk to the Uffizi. You can do it!

I WOULD like to do both, but I also wondered about the walk on a Sunday afternoon. We're able-bodied and can walk quickly if we need to in order to see both museums. We can wander the area between the two on Monday. But, I need to reserve tickets for what we'll do, so I needed advice. We can get to the Accademia at 2pm, then go to the Uffizi and be the last ones in at 4:45pm. Hopefully that will work!

Amy,

we did it the other way around: had reservations for the Uffizi at 2 pm and went to the Accademia at 5.30 pm. You definitely need more time for the Uffizi. 2 hours is minimum. After that we took a leisurly walk over to the Accademia, stopped on the way at a cafe and had fresh lemonades (that kept not only the kids happy!). When we arrived at the Accademia we we looked mainly at David and some of the sculptures close by. But after 30-45 minutes we definitely had enough. Partly because the musuem is smaller, partly because two major museums is a bit more your brain can really take in, partly because we were travelling as an extended family of 6 including 2 kids.

Melissa is right. There is so much to see at the Uffizi but if you don't know what you're looking at everything kind of becomes the same after a while. The audio-guide provided by the museum is excellent and really helped us there.

you can see both in a day if you don't mind alot of art. It is ideal to break it up into two days. But if you have to see one see the uffizzi.

We tried to mix art, churches and shopping so that we didn't too much of one in a single day. it worked well. By the way if you get the chance see the Piazza Miohael Angelo. Very nice view of florence.