I am going on an Italian tour and will be in Florence next week. Just noticed that David at Acadamia is not booked. Because I'm not sure when I will have the free time, but really want to see David, what do you recommend?

It soundslike you can't really plan a time so therefore making a reservation wouldn't work. I've found that it's much less crowded at the end of the day, so if you have some free time late in the day, you might scurry over to the museum and check the line. We walked right in about 45 minutes before clsoing time in late November, which was enough time to concentrate on David and a few of the other galleries.

Hi T,

I recommend:
Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 1010987 (dial around number), 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. There is a long listing of press 1 for this and 2 for that--press 4 for bookings. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.

You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.

At worst, there will not be a line and you won't have to pay for the reservation.

>I'm not sure when I will have the free time,

Make the time. David is worth it.

The Florence museums have recently started offering tickets for sale on line. If you go to the official web site, you will see the link to reserve/purchase tickets. Unfortunately, when you click the link, it reverts to Italian, but you should be able to figure it out. There is a calendar to click on for the date and then the time chart to select the time you want.

Here's the link and the ticket link is in pink.
http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en...a/Default.asp?

Travelpat-I can ASSURE you, you'll have NO PROBLEM getting to see David without a reservation-particularly not now, just go after 4:00, and you'll have the place practically to yourself. The Accademia is not the Uffizi-the Uffizi you must always have a reservation to avoid the lines, not true for the Accademia-just get there in late afternoon-it stays open until 6:50pm.

Yeah, I waited all of about 15 minutes (tops) in line at the Accademia two weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon. I think I arrived about 16:00 or 17:00.

Be sure to have cash if you aren't booking in advance. There was a different line for people without cash which wasn't moving very fast.

We were there in off-season too - late March '04. We got to the museum exactly as it opened in the morning. 5 people were in line in front of us. It was fantastic to see David with only 5 other people in the bilding. When we left about 1 hr later, there was a long line to get in.

We did not make reservations.

Stu Dudley

I'd follow ira's suggestion: Book a time. You have nothing to lose by doing so.

I had an experience similar to Stu's. Arrive at opening time and you may be one of very few people in the room. Or, go at the end of the day as others have suggested above. I have done both, at various off-season months, and never encountered a problem or a line.

>>I'd follow ira's suggestion: Book a time. You have nothing to lose by doing so.<<

If you want to see David all by himself without hoards of other people obscuring the view. If you want to have access to the viewing "globe" where you can "zero in" on Davids forehead, scalp, and other features (I won't go there...) then make a reservation for the exact time it opens, or 45 mins or so before they close the doors - like I mentioned earlier.

Stu Dudley

I clicked on a few November dates on the online booking calendar. It appears most of the early/late times aren't available.

We were there last week and we had the place practically to ourselves. We did get reservations, but we did not need them.

We went there at 2pm local time and I guess everyone else was eating lunch. I read some where not to go first thing in the morning as that is when it is most crowded, although I have no personal experience with that.

Bargello was also not crowded, but the Uffizi was.

Have fun!

Like I said, you'd be silly to book a reservation for the Accademia, you simply don't need one, and that means, you'll get with the rest of the group bookings-whereas, if you go after 4:00pm, you'll have the place to yourself-any tour groups that come in for the day have left by that time.

>>I clicked on a few November dates on the online booking calendar. It appears most of the early/late times aren't available.<<

Try some dates in Feb. My guess is if opening/closing times are not avaiable - then they are not even offered because they are un-necessary.

Stu Dudley

We asked our hotel to make reservations for us at the Academia and the Uffizi so we walked right in to both, but the line-up of people without tickets at the Academia was very short anyway and they were in there less than 20 minutes after we were.