Accademia Gallery and the David
An Accademia Gallery guided tour gives you an hour with a live guide in front of Michelangelo’s David, then the rest of the gallery on your own. Below are the two listings worth booking, at $49 and $32 per person: what each price covers, how entry works, and which one to pick.
Quick answer
The short answer. Want the stories behind the statues? Book the Accademia Gallery guided tour at $49 per person: rated 4.7 from 4,714 reviews, one hour with a live guide in one of six languages, and you can stay inside until closing time. Happy with an audio app and your own pace? The timed-entry ticket at $32 per person is rated 4.5 from 21,683 reviews.
The guided tour
The listing with the higher rating of the two: 4.7, from 4,714 reviews.
The $49 per person listing is an Accademia Gallery guided tour rated 4.7 from 4,714 reviews. You meet a representative at door number 39 on Via Ricasoli, who hands out the tickets, a radio and earpieces, then introduces your guide. Arrive 15 minutes before your start time.
The guide talks you through the history, the techniques and the stories behind the works. The rooms hold sculptures, paintings and religious art from the Renaissance and other periods, and the David is the highlight of the works on display. Think of it as a Michelangelo David tour with the rest of the collection around it.
Guides work in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, and the listing offers private or small-group options. You go in through a separate entrance. When the hour is up, you can stay inside and keep exploring on your own until closing time, so an Accademia Gallery guided tour is the start of your visit rather than the whole of it.
Two tickets, side by side
A one-hour guided tour of Accademia Gallery highlights against a ticket with an app. Both prices are per person.
| Ticket | Price | What the price covers | Guide | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided tour, rated 4.7 | $49 per person | Timed entry, a guide, a radio and earpieces | Live guide, six languages | 1 hour, then stay to closing |
| Timed entry, rated 4.5 | $32 per person | Reserved, timed entry and an audio guide app | Audio guide app | Your own pace |
The timed-entry ticket
The listing with the most reviews of the two: 21,683, at 4.5.
At $32 per person, the second listing is a reserved, timed entry to the Accademia Gallery with a digital audio guide app; the instructions arrive with your booking confirmation. Rated 4.5 from 21,683 reviews, it is the more reviewed of the two.
You enter at the time you picked and explore at your own pace. The listing names the David, the unfinished Prisoners and St. Matthew, works by Bartolini, and a collection of old musical instruments from the Cherubini Conservatory.
Two rules matter more here than on the guided tour. The date and time slot is binding once booked, and the listing warns that you will be refused entry if you miss it. And anyone going in with you needs a ticket of their own.
Inside the gallery
On an Accademia Gallery guided tour the David is the highlight, but the rooms around it were part of two former convents and hold works from the Academy of Design, the Academy of Fine Arts and suppressed convents.
The eyes, the nose and the set mouth of the David, with warm light on the marble.
The body of Christ held upright by two figures, the stone left rough in places, a label on the wall beside it.
Shelves of white busts above statues and paintings, with visitors walking between the plinths.
A tall draped figure holds a staff, a child at her side, rows of busts on the shelves behind.
The David
The David is 5.17 metres of marble and shows the Biblical hero, a favoured subject in Florentine art. It soon came to stand for the defence of civil liberties in the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rivals and by the Medici family.
If this is your only Michelangelo tour in Florence, it pays to stand in front of the David with someone who can explain it, and that is what the guided listing is for. The timed ticket leaves the explaining to its app.
Before you go
Small print from both listings, worth reading before your Accademia Gallery guided tour or timed entry.
The guided tour asks you to reach door number 39 on Via Ricasoli 15 minutes before the start. On the timed ticket, you collect your entrance ticket 15 minutes before your slot.
With the timed ticket, exchange your voucher at the “red point” for bookings of up to 6 people, or at the “green point” for 7 or more.
On the timed ticket the date and time cannot be changed once booked, and late arrivals can be refused entry. The guided tour says rescheduling may be possible, depending on availability.
If you book tickets for children under 18 on the guided tour, bring a photo of their ID on your phone or the ID itself. Check child prices on the listing.
On the timed ticket, accompanying persons must buy an admission ticket too. Both listings are marked wheelchair accessible.
Our verdict
Book the guided tour. For a David and Accademia Gallery tour that explains what you are looking at, the $49 per person Accademia Gallery guided tour is the one: rated 4.7, a live guide for an hour, then time inside on your own.
On a budget, or happier at your own pace? The timed-entry ticket at $32 per person, with its audio app, is rated 4.5 from 21,683 reviews.
Book direct
The two Accademia listings first, then two of our day trips for another day. Every price here is per person.
★ 4.7 · 4,714 reviews
★ 4.5 · 21,683 reviews
★ 4.7 · 3,327 reviews
★ 4.6 · 11,897 reviews
Pair it with a day trip
An Accademia Gallery guided tour lasts an hour, which leaves room in your stay for a day out of the city. Our top pick is the Cinque Terre and Pisa trip at $100 per person: a local train along the Cinque Terre coast, Vernazza and Monterosso, then time on your own at Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa. Compare it with the rest in our list of day trips from Florence.
Common questions
The guided listing is $49 per person, rated 4.7 from 4,714 reviews; the timed-entry ticket with an audio app is $32 per person. The guided tour’s small print says the entrance fee is covered when your booking includes the tickets, so check the option before you pay.
The guided tour lasts 1 hour, and afterwards you can stay inside and explore on your own until closing time. The timed ticket has no set length: you enter at your slot and explore at your own pace.
If you want the history, techniques and stories behind the works, yes: that is what the guide adds, and the listing is rated 4.7 from 4,714 reviews. If you only want to stand in front of the David, the $32 ticket with an audio app covers it.
On the timed ticket the date and time slot is binding once booked, and late arrivals can be refused entry. The guided tour says rescheduling may be possible, depending on availability. Both listings offer free cancellation.
The timed-entry listing names Michelangelo’s unfinished Prisoners and St. Matthew, works by Bartolini, and old musical instruments from the Cherubini Conservatory. On an Accademia Gallery guided tour you also see sculptures, paintings and religious art from the Renaissance and other periods.
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