Buy entry tickets for the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens online directly from the official Hellenic Heritage site. Combination tickets offer discounts while guided tours are sensible too. Time-slot reservation tickets are essential, also for babies and small children.
Visitors to the Acropolis have the following basic ticket options:
- Acropolis entry tickets only
- Combination tickets with other archaeological sites
- Tickets from resellers with added audio guides
- Guided tours of the Acropolis and other sights
- Queue up for free tickets on some winter Sundays and a few special days
Buy Acropolis and Slopes Admission Tickets Only
The best way to buy entry tickets for the Acropolis is online directly from Hellenic Heritage, the official seller of tickets for several Greek archaeological sites. No one has cheaper tickets but there are some reasons to consider using resellers, as explained below.
The website of Hellenic Heritage is not state of the art but it works OK. The ticket you want is “Acropolis & Slopes” in the Attica & Central Greece region.
From the calendar, pick a date and time slot. Single-Use Tickets are available for:
- General Admission — €20 (€10 November to March)
- EU Nationals Over 65 — €10 all year
- Non-EU Youths up to 25 — €10 all year
- EU Youths up to 25 — free
- Children (up to 5 years only!) — always free
The website is a bit finicky. Sometimes a simple refresh is all that is needed to make dates available again.
Time slots are currently the full hour with entry possible 15 minutes early or late. On a recent visit on a rainy Monday morning in mid-January, the only people in the queue were two visitors who were 17 minutes too early. The guards were most apologetic that they had to wait two minutes before the digital scanner would accept their tickets.
All tickets for the Acropolis always include admission to the Acropolis Hill (including the Parthenon, Athena Nike Temple, Propylaea entrance gate, and Erechtheion) and the Acropolis Slopes (including on the southside the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Theatre of Dionysus).
Buy Acropolis 5-Day Combination Tickets
A combination ticket worth considering is the Acropolis 5-Day Combined ticket. It goes under various names such as Acropolis +6 Sites or similar. It gives access to the Acropolis & Slopes, the Ancient Agora, Hadrian’s Library, Kerameikos, Aristotle’s School (Lyceum), Olympieion (Temple of Zeus), and the Roman Agora.
The combination ticket gives good savings in summer but even in winter, the main advantage is that a time-slot reservation is only required for the visit to the Acropolis. The other sites may be seen without reservations — go directly to the ticket scanner.
The 5-Day Combination ticket is €30, free for EU youths up to 25, and all children up to 5 years old. No other discounts, even in winter, are available.
The main advantage of the combination ticket is the skip-the-line benefits at the other sites. However, to be honest the only sight really worth entering is the Ancient Agora and to a lesser extent the Keramikos. For both, a very good guide is necessary to comprehend the sites. The other sites are absolutely worth visiting too but you can see anything worth seeing for free through the fence!
The 5-Day Combination ticket is popular with resellers who often add very useful audio guides.
The cheapest option without audio guides is through Hellenic Heritage. Follow the same procedure as described above but instead of “Single-Use Ticket” select “5-day Combined ticket” once a day and date were picked.
Whether buying through Hellenic Heritage or resellers, only the time for the Acropolis visit is reserved. The other sites may be visited any time before or after seeing the Acropolis but all visits must be within a five-day period after the ticket was first scanned at a venue.
Buy Tickets and Audio Guides from Resellers
Tickets for the Acropolis and combination tickets with other sights in Athens are also available through reliable resellers such as Get Your Guide and Tiqets.
These tickets are slightly more expensive than from Hellenic Heritage but there are some advantages including much more generous cancelation options, discounts on combinations, and selling for dates months in advance.
Resellers often offer audio guides for cheap — these are basically essential to make any sense of visiting sites such as the Keramikos and Olympieion. (Alternatively, have a very good guidebook, or it is impossible to make any sense out of the site.)
Popular combination tickets include the Acropolis Hill, 6 sites, and the Acropolis Museum, Hop-on Hop-Off buses, and for the ambitious sightseer, the Turbopass city pass. The Athens Turbopass becomes quite a good deal if used for several days.
Book Guided Tours of the Acropolis
Guided tours are a very sensible way to visit the Acropolis. There is surprisingly little information on the slopes leading to Acropolis and a live guide can explain the why and how of the whole complex and antique city layout.
Tours of the Acropolis Hill and Slopes (including the Parthenon) take generally two hours (three hours if the Acropolis Museum is added).
A few tips when booking guided tours of the Acropolis:
- Avoid visiting the Acropolis between 10:00 and 14:40 — it is most crowded with day trippers.
- The best time to visit is late afternoon for sunset tours or early morning; starting closer to 8 is better than closer to 9.
- Small group or private tours are worth it if a bit more expensive.
- Small groups without mentioning the upper number probably define “small” differently from you.
- Opt for tours starting from the south entrance — bottom of the hill near the Acropolis Museum or metro station. These include the Dionysus Theatre and slopes on the way up.
Always compare the advertised “from” prices with the actual price on the planned day of the visit. Also, for many tours entry tickets are not included in the base price but should be booked in the same transaction to ensure the correct time-slot reservation.
A good combination tour is the Acropolis Hill and Acropolis Museum. It should be cheaper than two tours and cut out repeating the same story twice. (If wanting only one tour, the Museum is easier to comprehend with just the free audio guide or information boards than the Acropolis Hill.)
A further interesting combination is a mythological tour that includes the Acropolis, the Agora, the Olympieion, and some other sights important in Greek mythology.
→ See also Top Tips for Visiting the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens.
Free Admission to the Acropolis
Admission to the Acropolis (and other national archaeological sites) is free for all visitors on:
- First Sunday of each winter month
- 6 March
- 18 April
- 18 May
- Final weekend of September
- 28 October
On free days, no time-slot reservations are possible, queue up at the gates! Even though free days are outside the peak season, arriving very early is sensible.
On regular days, it is essential for visitors with free admission to book free time-slot reservations!
Visitors with limited time in Athens may be saving at the wrong end if queuing up for hours on the free days. It may be more sensible to pay for a fixed time slot a day later and rather visit other uncrowded sights. (The Acropolis Museum does not participate in all free days, including no free admission on Sundays.)
A great way to start a first visit is to take an E-Bike or an audio guide tour of the old town and archaeological sites area to understand the lay of the land. It is then easier to explore and see sights alone later on.
Many walking tours covering many themes from historical sights to wine tastings and local street foods are available for visitors to Athens.
→ See also Top Tips for Visiting the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens.
More on Visiting Athens
- Acropolis & Parthenon:
- Acropolis Museum
- Ancient Agora — Archaeological Site and Museum
- 5-Day Combination Tickets — Worth it?
- Cheap Public Transportation to Athens Airport — Bus X95 is cheapest, Metro M3 is fastest.
- Odysseus — the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Sports has better information than the very old-fashioned design.
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