Visit Athens Guide
The Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum stands at Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, ten minutes downhill from the rock, and it is where the originals went — the Caryatids, the Parthenon frieze, the Athena Nike parapet. It is run by its own organisation, not by the state platform that sells the site, so its hours, its free days and its ticket are all separate. This page covers what is inside and when to come as checked in Q3 2026; the ticket itself is on the Acropolis Museum ticket page, and the rock is on the Acropolis page. The wider plan sits on the Athens city guide homepage.
Quick answer Before or after the rock, and the one evening worth planning around
The Acropolis Museum costs €20, needs no timed slot, and takes about two hours. It opens at 09:00 every day and stays open until 22:00 on Fridays, all year.
Key takeaways
- Go after the rock, not before: the top floor is laid out to face the real building through the glass, and it makes sense once you have stood in it — the Parthenon gallery explains how.
- Friday evening is the quietest good hour in Athens, and the second-floor restaurant runs to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The hours section has every band.
- Reduced tickets are sold at the desk only, never online — the ticket page sets out who qualifies.
- The ticket also covers the excavated Athenian street under the building, reached from the entrance courtyard. Most visitors walk over it and never go down.
- This museum's free days are 6 and 25 March, 18 May and 28 October — a different list from the state sites, as the free-entry page sets out side by side.
Key facts
Opening hours
| 1 Nov – 31 Mar, Monday–Thursday | 09:00–17:00 |
|---|---|
| 1 Nov – 31 Mar, Friday | 09:00–22:00 |
| 1 Nov – 31 Mar, Saturday–Sunday | 09:00–20:00 |
| 1 Apr – 31 Oct, Monday | 09:00–17:00 |
| 1 Apr – 31 Oct, Tuesday–Sunday | 09:00–20:00 |
| 1 Apr – 31 Oct, Friday | 09:00–22:00 |
Closed 1 January, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 1 May, 25 and 26 December; 09:00–15:00 on 24 and 31 December
Admission
- Adult
- €20
- Reduced
- €10, issued at the museum desk only
- Free
- 6 March, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October — the museum's own list, not the state one
Planning it
- Time needed
- Not stated by the museum; our routing: 2 hours for the three floors and the excavation
- Book ahead
- Recommended — a few days
- Address
- Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, 117 42 Athens
The ways in, priced from the museum's own page and GetYourGuide on 1 September 2026. The full comparison is on the ticket page.
| Option | Price | Includes | Cancel | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official general admission | €20 | All galleries and the excavation below | Per the museum's terms | Official site |
| Official reduced | €10 | The same, desk only with documents | Not sold online | Official site |
| Entry with optional audio guide | Listed at €26 | Entry, choice of audio track | Per listing | Check Availability |
| Rock and museum together | Listed at €63 | Acropolis slot plus museum entry | Per listing | Check Availability |
| Small-group guided, three hours | From €49 | Rock, Parthenon and museum with a guide | Per listing | Check Availability |
No official ticket covers both the museum and the rock; the combination cards are reseller products. Why that is has the history.
Acropolis Museum entry options compared
The cards behind the table, with the operator's own rating and review count.
from €26
Athens: Acropolis Museum Ticket with optional Audio Guide
Entry to the Acropolis Museum with optional audio guide. The official price is €20; reduced tickets are only issued at the museum desk, never online.
Check Availability
from €63
Combo: Acropolis & Acropolis Museum with Optional Tours
Both tickets in one purchase — a timed slot for the rock and an any-day ticket for the museum. No official pass covers both, so this is the reseller's convenience.
Check Availability
from €49
Athens: Parthenon, Acropolis and Museum Small Group Tour
Three hours in a small group with pre-reserved tickets, covering the Acropolis, the Parthenon and the museum below it in one run.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own, checked in Q3 2026; euro figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
What is inside, floor by floor
Bernard Tschumi's building is organised as a climb, and it repays being walked in order rather than wandered.
Under the building: the excavation
Before you go up, go down. A whole block of ancient Athens — houses, workshops, drains, a bath — was excavated on the site and left in place, and the museum was built on pillars above it. It is reached from the entrance courtyard and included in the ticket, and it is the part most visitors skip because the glass floor makes it look like decoration.
It has its own opening hours, which match the museum's in summer and run 09:00 to 17:00 daily in winter.
Ground floor: the slopes
The sloping gallery reproduces the climb up to the rock, with finds from the sanctuaries and houses on the Acropolis slopes arranged along it — the ordinary objects of people who lived under the sanctuary rather than in it.
First floor: the Archaic gallery and the Caryatids
The open hall of Archaic sculpture, standing free so you can walk round each figure rather than facing a wall of them — the korai with their traces of paint, the Moschophoros, the pedimental beasts. Five of the six original Caryatids from the Erechtheion stand here on a balcony, with a visible gap where the sixth should be: it was removed by Lord Elgin and is in the British Museum.
Top floor: the Parthenon gallery
A rectangular concrete core the exact dimensions of the Parthenon's cella, turned to the same compass alignment as the building itself, wrapped in the frieze at eye level and glazed on all four sides so the real temple is in view through the glass. The surviving original blocks are set beside plaster casts of the ones in London, and the difference in colour is the argument the museum is making without a word of text.
The shop, the café and the restaurant
The ground-floor shop and café need no ticket at all — you can walk in off the street. The second-floor shop and restaurant do need one, but the desk issues a free admission ticket for that purpose. The restaurant has a terrace facing the rock and stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, which is the best-value view in Athens.
Hours, and the Friday that changes the plan
Read on theacropolismuseum.gr on 1 September 2026. The museum keeps its own calendar, not the state one.
Summer, 1 April to 31 October
Monday 09:00 to 17:00; Tuesday to Sunday 09:00 to 20:00; and Friday 09:00 to 22:00. Last entry is thirty minutes before closing and the galleries are cleared fifteen minutes before it, so a 19:45 arrival in July is not a visit.
Winter, 1 November to 31 March
Monday to Thursday 09:00 to 17:00; Friday 09:00 to 22:00; Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 20:00. The weekend is longer than the working week in winter, which is the opposite of what most visitors assume.
Closed and short days
Closed 1 January, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 1 May, 25 and 26 December. Short days: 09:00 to 15:00 on 24 and 31 December, 12:00 to 18:00 on Orthodox Good Friday, and 09:00 to 15:00 on Orthodox Holy Saturday. All of the city's closures sit together on the opening-hours page.
Free admission days
6 March, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October. That is the museum's own list and it does not match the state sites' — there are no free Sundays here, and 25 March is a free day at the museum while the Acropolis itself is closed. The free-entry page puts the two calendars side by side.
Getting there, groups and the practical rules
A short walk from the rock, and a few rules that catch groups in particular.
How to get there
Akropoli station on Line 2 is at the door; the museum's own directions name it as the nearest station. On foot it is ten minutes downhill from the Acropolis south entrance along Dionysiou Areopagitou, which is pedestrianised the whole way. The nearest bus stop is Makrigianni; trolley lines 1, 5 and 15 stop there too, and there are bike racks at the main entrance and at the metro.
Groups need a booking, and it is enforced
A group is sixteen to forty people, and a reservation is mandatory — the museum warns that groups without one may not be admitted on busy days, and that even booked groups can wait. Bookings go through [email protected] or +30 210 9000903 on weekdays. School groups have their own address and their own warning about arriving unbooked.
Inside the building
Everyone passes through validation machines on the ground floor before entering the galleries. Lifts are reserved as a priority for visitors with mobility difficulties and for ticket-holders heading to the second-floor restaurant. The museum offers a digital guide; licensed human guides are arranged through the Tour Guide Association rather than at the door.
Acropolis Museum map: the door and what is around it
The entrance, the metro, and the four things within ten minutes on foot.
Next stop from the Acropolis Museum
Walk minutes are our estimates from the GPS distances.
The Acropolis
Uphill on the pedestrian avenue. €30 on a separate ticket, with a declared entry hour — the Acropolis has the hours and the gates.
10 min walkTemple of Olympian Zeus
East along the avenue, past Hadrian's Arch which costs nothing to look at. The Olympieion shuts at 15:00 in winter.
8 min walkAcropolis Museum questions
Is the Acropolis Museum worth going into?
If you are going up the rock, yes — the originals are here and the rock has casts. The top-floor gallery is built to the Parthenon's own dimensions and alignment with the real building in the window, which is a piece of argument you cannot get anywhere else. Two hours covers it; what is inside sets out the floors.
Should I visit the museum before or after the Acropolis?
After. The Parthenon gallery is laid out to be read against the building you have just walked through, and the difference between the original blocks and the casts of the ones in London only lands once you have seen the empty frieze in place. The one argument for going first is heat: in July the museum is air-conditioned and the rock is not.
What is the most famous thing in the Acropolis Museum?
Five of the six original Caryatids from the Erechtheion, on the first floor, with the gap where the sixth should be. After them, the Parthenon frieze on the top floor and the Athena Nike parapet relief of the figure adjusting her sandal.
Do I need to book Acropolis Museum tickets in advance?
No — there is no timed entry, and general admission is sold at the desk as well as online. Booking online saves a queue on a summer afternoon, nothing more. Reduced and free tickets can only be issued at the desk. The ticket page has who qualifies.
Can I eat at the museum without a ticket?
On the ground floor, yes: the shop and café there are outside the ticket line. The second-floor restaurant with the terrace facing the rock needs a ticket, but the desk issues a free admission ticket for it. On Friday and Saturday it serves until midnight.
Is the excavation under the museum included?
Yes, in the same ticket, and it is reached from the entrance courtyard rather than from inside the galleries. In winter it runs 09:00 to 17:00 daily even when the museum upstairs keeps different hours.
Reviewed Q3 2026 (July–September 2026); next review Q4 2026. Prices, hours and terms are set by the venue or operator and confirmed at checkout.
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