Visit Athens Guide
Acropolis Museum Tickets: €20, and the Desk-Only Rule
Acropolis Museum tickets come from the museum itself and always have: it is a separate organisation from the state platform that sells the rock, with its own shop, its own price and its own rules about who may buy what. This page prints them as checked in Q3 2026, alongside the reseller cards for the same entrance. What is inside is on the Acropolis Museum page, and every other ticket the city sells is compared on the Athens city guide homepage.
Quick answer What it costs, what you cannot buy online, and whether a combo pays
General admission to the Acropolis Museum is €20 and reduced admission €10. There is no timed entry and no booking fee, and the reduced and free tickets are issued only at the museum's own desk, against documents.
Key takeaways
- Buying online saves a queue and nothing else — the official price table shows there is no advance discount and no advance surcharge.
- If you qualify for the €10 rate, do not buy online at all: the desk-only rule explains what happens if you do.
- No official ticket covers the museum and the rock together. The combos are reseller products — the comparison prices them, starting with the rock-and-museum combo.
- The ticket also covers the excavated street under the building, which most visitors never go down to see. What is on each floor is on the museum page.
- Four days a year it costs nothing, and they are not the state sites' free days — the free-entry page sets the two calendars side by side.
Key facts
Opening hours
| 1 Apr – 31 Oct, Tuesday–Sunday | 09:00–20:00 |
|---|---|
| Friday, all year | 09:00–22:00 |
| 1 Nov – 31 Mar, Monday–Thursday | 09:00–17:00 |
Closed 1 January, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 1 May, 25 and 26 December
Admission
- Adult
- €20
- Reduced
- €10, desk only with documents
- Free
- 6 March, 25 March, 18 May, 28 October
Planning it
- Time needed
- Not stated by the museum; our routing: 2 hours
- Book ahead
- Recommended — a few days
- Address
- Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, 117 42 Athens
What the museum charges
Every ticket the Acropolis Museum sells itself, read on theacropolismuseum.gr on 1 September 2026. There is one price, one reduced rate and four free days; no timed slots and no presale fee.
| Ticket | Price | Covers | Where sold | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General admission | €20 | All exhibition areas plus the excavation beneath the museum | Desk or the museum's e-ticketing service | Official site |
| Reduced admission | €10 | The same | Museum desk only, on production of documents | Official site |
| Free admission | €0 | The same | Desk only; 6 March, 25 March, 18 May, 28 October | Official site |
| Second-floor restaurant, no galleries | €0 | Restaurant and second-floor shop | A free admission ticket from the desk | Official site |
| Group booking, 16–40 people | €20 per person | The same | Mandatory reservation by email; unbooked groups may be refused | Official site |
The ground-floor shop and café are outside the ticket line altogether — you can walk in from Dionysiou Areopagitou without paying. Everyone entering the galleries passes the validation machines on the ground floor, whichever ticket they hold.
The museum's €20 against the reseller cards
The official price set beside the cards on sale for the same entrance, as listed on 1 September 2026. Cancellation terms come from each listing.
| Option | Price | Includes | Cancel | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official general admission | €20 | Entry, all floors, the excavation | Per the museum's terms | Official site |
| Entry with optional audio guide | Listed at €26 | Entry plus a choice of audio track | Per listing | Check Availability |
| Acropolis and museum together | Listed at €63 | A timed Acropolis slot plus museum entry, any day | Per listing | Check Availability |
| Small-group guided, three hours | From €49 | Rock, Parthenon and museum with pre-reserved tickets | Per listing | Check Availability |
| Archaeologist-led, rock and museum | From €34 | Guide for both, entries per the option chosen | Per listing | Check Availability |
Do the arithmetic on the combo before you buy it: the two official tickets are €30 and €20, so €50 is the floor. A card at €63 is charging about €13 for the convenience of one order and an audio track — reasonable if you want it, wasted if you were going to buy both anyway. The guided cards do not always include both entries; read the inclusions.
Museum tickets and combos on sale now
The cards behind the tables, 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 Availability
from €34
Athens: Acropolis, Parthenon & Acropolis Museum Guided Tour
An archaeologist takes the monuments on the rock and then the Parthenon gallery in the Acropolis Museum, where the frieze sits at eye level.
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.
The desk-only rule, and who it catches
The single most expensive misunderstanding on this page.
What the museum actually says
Its own visitor page is explicit: general admission tickets can be bought at the ticket desk or through the e-ticketing service, while reduced and free admission tickets are obtained exclusively from the ticket desk, on production of the documents that establish eligibility. There is no online path to the €10 rate at all.
Who this hits
Anyone entitled to a reduced or free ticket who books online out of habit and pays €20 for a ticket they could have had for €10 or nothing. There is no refund mechanism for having bought the wrong category. If you think you qualify, join the desk queue with the document in your hand — on a Friday evening or a winter weekday that queue is short.
What counts as eligibility
The museum publishes the categories on its own site and in a downloadable PDF, and they change from time to time; we do not reproduce a list here that would be out of date before you travel. Read it on theacropolismuseum.gr the week you go, and bring the physical document rather than a photograph of it.
The one free ticket nobody asks for
If you only want the second-floor restaurant and its terrace facing the rock, the desk issues a free admission ticket for exactly that. You do not need to pay €20 to have dinner there — and on Friday and Saturday it serves to midnight.
Two museums' worth of confusion, in one sentence
The rock and the museum are sold by different organisations, and nothing joins them.
Different sellers
The Acropolis itself belongs to the state's archaeological estate and is sold through Hellenic Heritage at hh.gr for €30, with a declared entry hour and no refunds. The museum is a separate legal entity selling its own €20 ticket with no timed entry at all. Neither shop sells the other's ticket, and no official product covers both.
Different free days
The state sites are free on 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and two Sundays a month in winter. The museum is free on 6 March, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October. The overlaps are 6 March, 18 May and 28 October; on 25 March the museum is free and the Acropolis is shut altogether. The free-entry page prints both calendars.
Different hours, on the same afternoon
In winter the rock closes at 17:00 and the museum on a Friday runs to 22:00 — five hours apart on the same day, ten minutes' walk apart. That gap is the single most useful thing to know when planning a short winter trip. The opening-hours table lines up every site in the city.
Acropolis Museum ticket questions
What is the official site to buy Acropolis Museum tickets?
The museum's own e-ticketing service, linked from theacropolismuseum.gr. It is not hh.gr, which sells the archaeological site and not the museum — the two organisations are separate, as the two-shops section explains.
Do you need a ticket for the Acropolis Museum?
To enter the galleries and the excavation, yes — everyone passes the validation machines on the ground floor. The ground-floor shop and café need no ticket, and the desk issues a free admission ticket for the second-floor restaurant.
Can I buy one ticket for the Acropolis and the museum?
Not from either official shop. Resellers bundle them — the rock-and-museum combo is the widely booked one — but the floor price is the €30 site ticket plus the €20 museum ticket, so compare before you pay. The combined-ticket page has the fuller story.
Are Acropolis Museum tickets timed?
No. Unlike the Acropolis, the museum sells no time slots; a ticket is good for the day. That is why booking ahead saves a queue and nothing else.
Is there a discount for students or under-25s?
The museum publishes its reduced and free categories on its own site and in a PDF, and the €10 rate exists — but it is issued at the desk only, against documents, and never online. Read the current list before you travel and bring the document itself.
When is the Acropolis Museum free?
6 March, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October. Note 25 March: the museum is free that day and the Acropolis is closed. The free-entry page says which free days are worth the crowd.
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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