Best Uffizi Gallery Guided Tours

It is by its own merits one of the most visited and important places in Florence. And if you are also an art lover, the Uffizi Gallery is a must-see. To see this impressive art gallery it is best to take a guided tour.

The best option

Florence Uffizi Gallery Guided Visit

Book your guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery

Discover all the history and secrets of his works without queuing and with a specialised guide.

From £43 at Hellotickets

The Uffizi Gallery, in Italian: Galleria degli Uffizi, is one of the best museums in the city of Florence, as it houses one of the most important art collections in Italy and, therefore, in the world. Specifically, it houses paintings made between the 13th and 18th centuries by great artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian.

On this guided tour, an art expert will show you the most important works and, of course, will put each and every one of them in context so that you leave with the feeling of knowing a little more about Italian art and culture.

The price of a guided tour depends on the type of tour you choose, i.e. whether it is a standard tour, private tour or combined with other plans. You can book a guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery from £43 in Hellotickets. In this link I leave you all the information to buy your tickets and visits to the Uffizi Gallery

The standard guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery lasts approximately 1 hour and a half. This is more than enough time to get to know the essentials of the museum and see all its rooms.

However, after the visit we have time to return to see some of the works on our own. I recommend that you find out about the layout of the museum beforehand to improve your visit.

Private guided tours are usually longer and last about three hours. In this case, as the group is smaller, the guides will go into more depth on the questions you may ask them.

The simple answer is a resounding yes, it is worth booking a guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery. There are three main points that make a guided tour a better option than a visit on your own:

• Include a professional and accredited guide: Whenever you visit a museum with a professional guide the experience is more enriching. But in the case of museums in Florence, even more so. All Florentine museum guides need a special permit from the city to ensure maximum professionalism and knowledge. This is characteristic of one of the cities with the greatest artistic heritage in the world.
• Adaptation to all languages: Guided tours are available in English, but if you are unable to take one there is no problem. All guided tours include headphones with translator function and audio guide for a wide range of languages.
• Fixed timetable and no queues: By booking a guided tour you are guaranteed to enter at a fixed time and without queuing. If you visit the museum on your own, queues are almost obligatory.

There are three options for guided tours of the Uffizi Gallery: standard guided tour, private guided tour and guided tour with city centre tour:

Standard guided tour

The most common option is to book a guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery, from 43, including a professional guide, entrance ticket and headphones to listen to the guide without difficulty.

• Duration: 1.5 hours.
• Price: From €57 for adults. Children under 6 years free.

Private visit to the Uffizi Gallery

The private visit to the Uffizi Gallery, from £104, is for those who want an exclusive guide for themselves or for a small group. The advantage is that it has no time and day restrictions, as you choose it yourself, and it also includes the entrance without queues, the guide and audioguides on request.

• Duration: about 1:40 minutes.
• Price: from 125€.

Combined visit to the Uffizi Gallery + Accademia Gallery and Florence tour

It is also possible to book a combined visit to the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia Gallery and a tour of Florence.

• Duration: about 4 hours.
• Price: from 134 €.

There are no special tours for children, but the normal guided tours are perfectly suitable for children. The professional guides will adapt the explanations without any problems if there are children in the groups.

Admission is open to all ages and children under 6 years old are free of charge. All in all, it is a good option to bring art to the little ones if you are visiting Florence with children.

The Uffizi Gallery has a collection of more than 1,500 works of art spread over 45 rooms and arranged in chronological order of style. Of these, the most outstanding works in the Uffizi Gallery, which deserve special attention on guided tours, are:

• Giotto's Madonna di Ognissanti: This large altarpiece dates from 1310 and the technique and representation used by Giotto for this work was a great revolution for the time. It depicts the Virgin and Child in a representation that broke with Byzantine standards.
• The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello: This painting is part of a triptych, specifically in its central part, parts of which are divided between the Uffizi Gallery, the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris. It was its depiction of perspective that brought this work and its author to fame.
• The Dukes of Urbino by Piero della Francesca: Portraits the spouses Federigo da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza in a diptych. It is one of the most famous works of the Italian Renaissance.
• The Birth of Venus by Botticelli: Possibly the most famous work in the Uffizi Gallery. Botticelli painted it between 1482 and 1485 and portrays the goddess Venus nude on a shell representing the birth of love and beauty represented in the figure of Venus.
• Botticelli's Spring: In the same room as the Venus, as it is a room dedicated exclusively to Botticelli's works, is the painting known as the Spring. It was commissioned by the Medici family and is a work of extreme beauty and mythological significance.
• The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci: This painting is another example of the impeccable technique of the Italian master Leonardo da Vinci. So much so that the painting has been the subject of much study and research. It stands out above all for its great amount of detail.

These are the main works to see in the Uffizi Gallery, but there are many others by such important artists as Titian, Raphael and Michelangelo. It is considered one of the most important museums in the world for a reason.

If you book a guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery you will have the possibility to choose a time. My recommendation is to do it early in the morning and at the beginning of the week, between Tuesday and Thursday, as there are fewer visitors.

As for the time of year, it is always best to visit the museum in the winter season, which runs from 1 November to 28 February. At this time of year, the number of visitors is lower.

The Uffizi Gallery is one of the must-see sights of Florence and is one of the best museums in the capital of Tuscany. To make the most of a guided tour, here are some tips that you may find useful:

• The best way to book a guided tour is to do it online and as far in advance as possible, as the opening hours are closed and only offered on Fridays and Saturdays.
• The museum has two seasons. Winter, from November to February, and summer, from March to October. Visiting the Gallery in winter will always be cheaper and the crowds are usually smaller.
• The museum has a cloakroom service for backpacks and large items. It is compulsory to leave your belongings here if they are too bulky.
• Itis not allowed to take photos of the works of art due to copyright issues.
• Bring your own headphones if you hire an audio guide as, although you are given one, the ones you are offered are disposable and of poor quality.
• If you book a guided tour, always be at the meeting point indicated at least 15 minutes beforehand.