Time slots since 2023. The Acropolis lets in a fixed number of people per hour, 20,000 a day, booked as a one-hour entry window on the official hhticket.gr. Arrive within a quarter of an hour of it or the gate turns you away. Summer slots sell out days ahead; take 8 a.m. The price is €30 all year since April 2025, when the winter half-price rate was dropped; EU citizens under 25 enter free with ID.
The combined ticket is gone. The five-day combined ticket was discontinued in April 2025. Each site is now its own ticket, most around €10, bought at the gate without a line; the “combo” bundles sold online are resellers with a mark-up.
Heat. The hill opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. in summer, earlier through fall, 5 p.m. in winter. On the hottest days of July and August the culture ministry shuts it in the middle of the day; in 2025 it closed for the hottest hours several times, and slots were moved, not refunded. Book 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m., wear a hat and carry a bottle: there is no shade on top, and the tap water is fine. The first Sunday of the month is free from November to March, crowded, and the slot still applies.
The museum is a separate ticket. The Acropolis Museum is €20, no slot, and open until 10 p.m. every Friday of the year; otherwise 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in summer (Monday to 5 p.m.), and in winter to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 8 p.m. on weekends.
Getting around. Metro line 3 from the airport is €9 one way, €16 round trip, 40 minutes to Syntagma, every half hour. In town the 90-minute ticket is €1.20 for metro, bus and tram with changes; 24 hours is €4.10, five days €8.20, and a three-day tourist ticket with the airport both ways €20.
Closed days and meals. Sites open daily except New Year, March 25, Easter Sunday, May 1 and Christmas; several museums close or shorten on Monday, and some private ones (the Benaki, the Cycladic) on Tuesday. Shops close on Sunday except around Plaka and Monastiraki. Greeks eat lunch at 2 p.m. and dinner after 9 p.m.; a taverna at 7:30 p.m. is you and the staff.
On the day. Book the 8 a.m. slot and have the hill done before the heat. Then take the tram from Syntagma to the sea at Glyfada on a 90-minute ticket, swim, and eat fish at the Greek hour. Waystop’s rain plan is the second version of the day for the rare wet one.