Every museum in Athens, one price check away.
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips for the Acropolis, 18 museums and the coast around Athens, compared across Headout and GetYourGuide. Real prices, real reviews, free cancellation.
Where to start
Browse Athens by what you want to see.
Four ways in. Each opens the museums and sites worth booking, guided tours first.
Most booked this week
Top experiences in Athens
Every price links straight to secure checkout on Headout or GetYourGuide.
Plan your visit
Not sure what's open, or where to start?
Three things to check before you book anything: hours, free days and whether a pass beats single tickets.
- 28 OCTNext free entry dayfree
Most museums close on Tuesdays
State museums are free on five dates a year. All 18 lined up side by side.
See all opening hours →April and October are the sweet spot
Summer means an hour at the Acropolis gate. Winter tickets are half price.
Best time to visit →One pass, six sites, three days
Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, four more museums and the hop-on bus.
Compare passes →How it works
Compare once. Book in a minute. Walk past the line.
We are not a museum and we do not sell tickets ourselves. We compare the two best booking partners and send you to the better deal.
01 · Compare once
Every museum page shows the guided tour and the plain ticket side by side, with the real price on Headout and GetYourGuide. Same price as the official site, or lower.
02 · Book in a minute
No account with us. You pay the partner on their secure checkout, get an instant mobile ticket and their free cancellation. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
03 · Walk past the line
Timed entry through a dedicated lane. From May to September that saves you an hour at the Acropolis gate, more on a hot afternoon.
Plan your route
Every museum on one map.
Tap a price pin to see the ticket and jump to its page. Most museums sit within 20 minutes on foot of the Acropolis.
Athens museums: three thousand years within a twenty minute walk
Athens holds one of the densest concentrations of world class museums anywhere, and unlike a distant ruin, almost every one sits within a short walk or metro ride of Syntagma. The Acropolis crowns the city, but the story runs from Cycladic marble figurines carved five thousand years ago, through the bronzes and gold of the National Archaeological Museum, to El Greco at the National Gallery and Van Gogh at the Goulandris Foundation. This site exists to make visiting them easy to plan well: real tickets, real prices, and a clear choice between a guided tour and a plain entry ticket for every site.
Guided tour, or plain ticket?
It is the one choice worth making before you go. The big archaeological sites reward a guide: at the Acropolis, the National Archaeological Museum and the Ancient Agora, the context turns marble into a story, and the tour still includes skip-the-line entry. For the art museums and smaller collections, a plain skip-the-line ticket is usually all you need. Every page here shows both options side by side, guided first, so you can decide site by site.
Season by season: when Athens is worth it
May to September is peak. The Acropolis gate queue runs over an hour by mid morning and the popular 8:00 and 9:00 slots sell out days ahead, so a timed ticket or a morning tour is essential. October and April are the sweet spot: warm, open late, calm. From November to March state museums halve their prices and open free on the first Sunday of every month, while the private museums keep their own calendars. Our opening hours and free days overview tracks both.
How to choose, in four steps
- Start with the two or three sites you actually care about. The Acropolis is a given. Then pick by taste: antiquities at the National Archaeological Museum, art at the Cycladic or the Goulandris, or history beyond the city at Delphi and Cape Sounion.
- Take the guide where it pays. Acropolis, Agora, National Archaeological. Skip it for the smaller collections.
- Count the sites. Four or more in three days and the City Pass usually wins. One or two and single guided tours are better value.
- Book early with free cancellation, not without it. Peak-season slots fill first. A date you can still cancel costs nothing and protects you against a heatwave.
Before you book
Frequently asked questions
The six things people ask before they book a museum in Athens.
Should I book a guided tour or just a ticket?+
For the Acropolis, the National Archaeological Museum and the Ancient Agora, a guided tour is worth it. The context transforms the visit and the price includes skip-the-line entry. For smaller collections like the Cycladic or the Goulandris, a plain skip-the-line ticket is all you need. Every museum page shows both options side by side.
Can I skip the line at the Acropolis?+
Yes. Both the timed ticket and the guided tour give you entry at a booked time slot through a dedicated lane. From May to September this is essential: the main gate queue can run over an hour by mid morning, and the popular 8:00 and 9:00 slots sell out days ahead.
Which museums should I see first?+
The Acropolis and its museum, then the National Archaeological Museum. After those, pick by taste: the Cycladic and the Benaki for art and culture, the Goulandris for Van Gogh and Picasso, the Herakleidon for the Antikythera mechanism. A day trip to Delphi or Cape Sounion rounds out three days.
Which Athens museums have free admission days?+
State museums such as the Acropolis, the National Archaeological Museum, the Byzantine Museum and the National Gallery are free on 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and on the first Sunday of each month from November to March. Private museums like the Cycladic and the Goulandris do not take part.
Is the Athens City Pass worth it?+
If you plan to visit four or more sites in two or three days, usually yes. It bundles the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum and many smaller museums that do not sell standalone online tickets, and often works out cheaper than buying separately. For one or two big sites, the individual guided tours are better value.
How does booking through this site work?+
We compare tickets and tours, then send you to Headout or GetYourGuide to complete the booking on their secure checkout. You get instant confirmation, a mobile ticket and their standard free cancellation terms. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it never changes the price you pay.