Uffizi or Accadenia?

It really depends on how important art is to you. The Uffizi is one of the world's greatest art museums, so even a modest interest in art makes it a don't-miss. But if it's a chore, just skip it and enjoy the city. The Accademia is all about the "David" to be honest. Again, if it's important to you, see it. Otherwise, you can see the repro in town and skip the museum. If you do go, plan for 45 minutes total if you have a reservation (or drop in an hour before closing and walk right in).

Hi Sarah, I guess it depends what you are looking for. In my son's and my case, we liked the museums, but after a while, the art tended to blend altogether and started to lose its appeal because there was so much of it! Since you are already seeing quite a bit of art, I would suggest booking a quick trip to the Academia, so that you can see the magnificent David by Michaelangelo, which is definitely worth seeing! But, the rest of the museum doesn't have that much to offer unless you are really into art. The Uffizi is wonderful, especially for the Birth of Venus. However, other than that, everything else was pretty much a blur. Personally, I would suggest not missing out on David, but spend the rest of the time walking around and exploring the beautiful magical city. Florence is alive at night with musicians and many of the buildings are lit up. It is a wonderful experience. The lines are long to climb the Duomo, but Rick had an excellent suggestion, which we are glad we took: Buy tickets for the Terraces of the Duomo tour. You buy the tickets inside the basement of the church (or perhaps elsewhere as well, not sure). Taking this option, the lines are short. You get to see the inside of Santa Maria del Fiori and then they take you up to the beautiful terraces (much of it outside!) of the huge dome -- wow, what an experience! After that you can go on to climb the dome to the top at no extra charge.You can see all of Florence -- something that you will never forget. For us, David, climbing the dome, and exploring and enjoying Florence was the most memorable part, especially looking at the magnificent architecture and the famous Ponte Vecchio. The Piazza Signoria (not sure of spelling) was wonderful to sit and listen to music and meeting people. (It is next to the Baptistry, close to the duomo and the fake David outside.) Best wishes deciding and have a lovely time! Ruth

We have visited Florence numerous times and though different, you cannot do one without the other. One way of saving time is to book a reservation for each. That way, you're not spending valuable time waiting in line.

I agree with the poster that says make reservations and do both. The Academia really doesn't take all that long. The Uffizi is very large so look at the lay out in advance and know what you want to see in advance.

I echo what others have posted, it depends on what is important to you. The David at the Accademia is spectacular. This museum takes less than 1 hour to see and you could easily do it for less. The Uffizzi was also full of beautiful art masterpieces. It is a lot to take in as Ruth posted. I think we were there for about 2+ hours.
I have to say though we went back to Rome at the end of the trip and saw the Borghese and by the end I was museum-ed out.

I'd say just do the Academia and skip the Ufuzzi with this amount of time. Don't go to Florence and miss "The David!" The Academia is absolutely lovely and very small. The Ufuzzi is large, and art overload is a real issue unless Florence is going to be your "main" city.
Do make a reservation for the ufuzzi, and you'll get right in and use the rest of your time to enjoy the beautiful, beautiful city of Florence!

It's funny, I'd pick the Uffizi. The Uffizi has many recognizable works by masters while the Academia is primarily about seeing one work, David. It's true though you can spend a half-hour at the Academia and see David, the Uffizi requires a bigger commitment of your time to get a good look. Reservations are a great time-saver for either or both.

After seeing the museums in Rome, I would skip the Uffizi. Don't get me wrong, the Uffizi is a fantastic museum, but it was too much for me (and I hadn't been to Rome yet). But I would never miss a chance to see The David. In fact, in September I will be in Rome for 3 days and I am taking a day trip to Florence to see The David and have lunch at Sostanza.

Thanks for all the great advice. We will probably skip the Uffizi- due to time. We are going to make reservations just in case we decide to go-for the day we leave Florence but once we get there if we feel rushed or museum-ed out we will probably cancel our reservations. Thanks again for all the great feedback.

Make sure you spend at least one of your evenings sipping wine in either Piazza de la Repubblica or Piazza della Signoria. The singers/musicians come out, and the fountains are lit. Florence remains my favorite city!

Hi again, I second Donna's suggestion to sip wine and sit and listen to beautiful music in the evening with the lit up buildings in Piazza della Signoria (with the fake David out in front). Oh, what a beautiful experience! One of my most cherished memories of Florence, my favorite city.
Ruth

The Piazza della Signoria is an outdoor sculpture museum. Enjoy it during your free time, as well as the outside of the Uffizi with statues of famous Italians. The Baptistry is worth a visit. It is one of the few sites that is open late.

I liked the Accadamia better, the statue of David was wonderful to see and the museum didn't take a lot of time to go through. I went to Florence after Rome so i was on museum overload. When i went to the Uffizi i ended up going through it pretty quickly because i was sick of looking at religious and sometimes dreary paintings. (while i can appreciate the great talent, it is not my favorite style of art to look at). To try something a little different we went to the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. We didn't make it into the palace because we spent so much time walking around the gardens. The gardens are absolutely beautiful! At the top of the grounds you get a panaramic view of the city. You just had to walk across the Arno river (the bridge with all the shops on it) and it was on the other side.