At a glance
🎟️ 20€
Same price all year. Reduced €10, free for EU citizens under 25.
🕘 From 9:00
Open until 22:00 every Friday. Seasonal hours are further down.
🚇 Akropoli station
Line 2. The metro exit is 100 metres from the entrance.
⏱️ 90 minutes
For a first visit. Two hours with the excavation and a coffee.
The building: on pillars, above an ancient neighbourhood
The design is by Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis. When the digging for the foundations began, a whole Athenian neighbourhood turned up underneath. The plan changed: the building now stands on more than 100 pillars, so the excavation stays where it is and can be seen from above.
The top floor is made of glass and turned slightly against the floors below. That way the frieze faces the same direction as the Parthenon. Seen from the Acropolis, the museum looks like a large grey box among the apartment blocks of Makrygianni. From inside, the Rock never leaves your sight.
The museum sits right below the south slope. In front, the Theatre of Dionysus.
The top floor, the Parthenon Gallery, stands out thanks to its glass skin.
Photos: Roderich Kahn (CC BY-SA 4.0), George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Floor by floor
You enter from the Dionysiou Areopagitou pedestrian street. In the forecourt, glass openings in the ground already show the excavation. After the ticket desk and the ticket gates, the route starts to climb.
Ground floor. The sloping ramp is the Gallery of the Slopes of the Acropolis. The floor is glass, and the cases are full of pots, figurines and offerings from the sanctuaries around the Rock. Look at the small things. They say a lot about who went up there and what they left for the gods.
First floor. This is the Archaic Gallery, a large hall where korai and kouroi stand freely, like a crowd. Four works not to miss:
- Moschophoros (around 560 BC): a young man carries a calf on his shoulders to the sacrifice.
- Peplos Kore (around 530 BC): she still keeps traces of paint. Ancient statues were coloured.
- Kritios Boy (around 480 BC): the weight rests on one leg and the body relaxes. Sculpture enters a new age.
- Mourning Athena (around 460 BC): a small relief, the goddess leans on her spear and looks down.
On the same floor stand five of the six Caryatids of the Erechtheion. The sixth is in the British Museum, and her place stays empty. Walk all the way round them: their braided hair can only be seen from behind. Photography is not allowed in the Archaic Gallery. Everywhere else it is, without flash.
The ramp climbs gently, like the path up to the Rock. The first floor appears at the far end.
You walk above the excavation, next to pottery from the sanctuaries on the slopes.
The building is open from floor to floor. From the ramp you already see the next level.
Photos: Bandelmug (CC BY 4.0), Holger Uwe Schmitt (CC BY-SA 4.0), Tilemahos Efthimiadis (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
The Parthenon Gallery
On the third floor the Parthenon frieze runs around a concrete core with the same dimensions as the temple’s cella. Above it are the metopes, and at the ends the pediments. Everything is in the order it had on the monument. The Panathenaic procession starts at the south-west corner and moves towards the east side.
The originals have the colour of the marble. The pieces held in London are shown as white plaster casts. You can tell the difference from across the room. No sign is needed to see what is missing.
On the third floor the temple is right in front of you, about 300 metres away.
Around the frieze the walkway is glazed on every side.
Photos: Bob Jenkin (CC BY 2.0), miketnorton (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
💡 Museum first or the Acropolis first?
In summer, go up the Rock early in the morning, before the heat, and visit the museum afterwards. The south entrance of the Acropolis is a few minutes’ walk away on the same pedestrian street. In winter the order hardly matters. If you have a Friday evening, the museum is open until 22:00 and the Parthenon is lit up across the way.
The excavation under the museum
Under the building lie houses, streets, wells and workshops of a neighbourhood that was lived in for centuries, from antiquity to Byzantine times. You enter from the forecourt with the same ticket and walk along paths between the walls. The excavation closes earlier than the museum. If you arrive in the afternoon, see it first.
Walkways between the walls of houses and the streets of the ancient neighbourhood.
Photo: Pinterpandai.com (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Tickets and opening hours 2026
General admission costs €20 all year. The reduced ticket costs €10 and applies to under-25s from non-EU countries and to EU citizens over 65. EU citizens under 25 and children up to five get in free with an ID card or passport. The ticket is separate from the Acropolis ticket and is valid only on the date printed on it.
| Season | Days | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 April – 31 October | Monday | 9:00–17:00 |
| Tuesday–Sunday | 9:00–20:00 | |
| Friday | 9:00–22:00 | |
| 1 November – 31 March | Monday–Thursday | 9:00–17:00 |
| Friday | 9:00–22:00 | |
| Saturday–Sunday | 9:00–20:00 |
Last entry is half an hour before closing. The excavation is open 9:00–17:00 in winter. In summer it follows the museum’s hours, except on Fridays, when it closes at 20:00. The museum is closed on 1 January, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 1 May and 25–26 December.
Free entry for everyone: 6 March, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October. On the night of the August full moon it stays open until midnight.
General tickets are sold at the ticket desk or online, only at theacropolismuseum.gr. A fake site ending in .org sells tickets too. Reduced and free tickets are issued only at the ticket desk, with your proof of eligibility in hand.
Before you go in
- Bags: there is an X-ray check at the entrance. Backpacks and anything bulky go to the cloakroom on the ground floor.
- Photos: allowed everywhere without flash or tripod, except in the Archaic Gallery.
- Wi-Fi: free throughout the building.
- Accessibility: ramps at every entrance, lifts, and wheelchairs to borrow at the information desk.
The path to the door runs over glass. Below are the houses of the ancient neighbourhood.
Stop for a minute at the railings. This excavation is the first exhibit.
Beside the stairs, above the entrance ramp.
Photos: Tomisti (CC BY-SA 3.0), Cpandmg (CC BY-SA 4.0), Davide Mauro (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Coffee and food with a view
The ground-floor café and the shop need no ticket. The second-floor restaurant has a terrace facing the Acropolis. To go up without visiting the museum, ask the ticket desk for a free entry pass. On Fridays and Saturdays the restaurant stays open until midnight. A drink up there, with the Parthenon lit, is a good way to end a day in Plaka.
On the second floor. The tables look straight at the Rock.
The Rock, the Parthenon and the tiled roofs of the neighbourhood.
Photos: L-BBE (CC BY 3.0), Sharon Mollerus (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
A 90-minute visit plan
- 0:00–0:15: Gallery of the Slopes. A few cases, and a look down through the glass floor.
- 0:15–0:50: Archaic Gallery. Start with the Moschophoros and give the korai some time.
- 0:50–1:00: the Caryatids, from every side.
- 1:00–1:30: Parthenon Gallery. Walk the full circuit of the frieze.
- If you have another half hour: the excavation, or a coffee on the second floor.
🚇 How to get there from Ioulianou 50
Akropoli station on Line 2 is at the corner of the museum. From Victoria you change once, at Omonia. Allow about 25 minutes door to door.
- Ioulianou 50 → Victoria station: a 3-minute walk to Victoria Square.
- Line 1 (green), towards Piraeus: one stop, get off at Omonia.
- Change to Line 2 (red), towards Elliniko: Panepistimio, Syntagma, and at the third stop get off at Akropoli.
- Exit onto Makrygianni: you come out at the corner with the Dionysiou Areopagitou pedestrian street. Walk 100 metres along it towards the Acropolis. The museum entrance is on your left.
🚇 Ioulianou 50 → Acropolis Museum by metro
Line 1 to Omonia, Line 2 to Akropoli station. The lines follow the actual route of the trains.
On foot the route is about 3.2 km and takes 40 minutes, via Omonia, Athinas Street and Monastiraki. It works well for the way back if you want to pass through Plaka.
Where it is in relation to the apartment
📍 From Angels Athens to the Acropolis Museum
See at a glance how to get there from the apartment at Ioulianou 50. Drag the map and zoom in for details.
What else is next door
The south entrance of the Acropolis is on the same pedestrian street, above the Theatre of Dionysus. A little further along Dionysiou Areopagitou you look down on the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. In the other direction, a 10-minute walk brings you to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
The pedestrian street in front of the museum. It climbs to the south entrance of the Acropolis.
Above the pedestrian street, with the Acropolis ticket.
The neighbourhood behind the museum: neoclassical houses, orange trees, cafés.
Ten minutes east, on Amalias Avenue.
Photos: George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jakub Hałun (CC BY 4.0), Texniths (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to book?
Not necessarily. An online ticket saves you the ticket-desk queue, which can be long on summer mornings and at weekends. The security check happens either way.
How long does the visit take?
Ninety minutes for the essentials. Two hours if you want the excavation and a coffee with a view.
Is the combined archaeological sites ticket valid?
No. The museum has its own ticket, separate from the Acropolis. The combined ticket for archaeological sites was abolished in April 2025, and the museum was never part of it.
Can I go in with a backpack?
You will be asked to leave it in the ground-floor cloakroom. A small bag passes the check.
— Kathy
