Athens Museums / Best museums in Athens
Twelve museums and sites ranked by who should actually go, with a plan for one, two or three days in the city.
Tickets and tours
Guided, 75 minThe museum that explains the hill, 75 minutes with a guide and entry included. The Parthenon frieze only reads as a story with someone narrating it.
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Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Gauguin, Degas and Picasso in one building in Pangrati, on a timed slot. The one Athens museum that is not about antiquity at all.
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All experiences →The best museums in Athens are not the same twelve for everyone, and no honest list pretends they are. Athens has a museum for antiquities, one for Cycladic marble, two for modern art, one for Byzantine icons, one for jewellery, one for optical tricks and several more, and the right three for a family with a nine-year-old are not the right three for someone who has waited twenty years to see the Parthenon frieze. So this page ranks by who should care, with the one museum nearly everyone should visit at the top and the specialist collections lower down, each with its verified on-site price, its weekly closed day, its late opening and whether the state free days apply.
Two rules run through the whole list. First, state museums and private museums play by different calendars: the Ministry of Culture free days (6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and the winter Sundays) cover the state-run collections but not the private foundations, which set their own. Second, Tuesday is the closed day at five of the twelve, so a Tuesday in Athens belongs to the Acropolis Museum, the National Archaeological Museum and the War Museum, which all stay open. Every museum below has its own page with the guided and plain tickets compared, and the final section fits them into one, two or three days.
If you visit a single museum in Athens, this is it. The building sits at Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, a short walk from Akropoli metro on Line 2, and the top floor shows the Parthenon sculpture in the same orientation as the temple on the hill above. A reduced rate applies to non-EU visitors up to 25 and EU seniors over 65, and free for EU citizens up to 25. There is no weekly closed day. It opens Tuesday to Sunday until 8 pm in summer and until 10 pm every Friday all year, which is the quietest time to see the frieze. Free days are the museum's own list: 6 March, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October. A guided tour with entry starts from about €35 on our Acropolis Museum tickets page, and for a first visit the guide is worth the difference.
The largest archaeological collection in Greece is at 44 Patission Street, about 7-8 minutes on foot from Victoria station on Line 1 or 10-12 minutes from Omonia. A reduced rate applies all year, and the full free-day list applies: 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and every first and third Sunday from November to March. It has no weekly closed day but a late start on Tuesdays (1 pm to 8 pm), and in summer it runs to 8 pm every day. Ten verified partner products start from about €26. See National Archaeological Museum tickets for the guided and plain options. This is the second museum where a guide earns its fee: the bronzes and the Mycenaean gold need a story, not a label.
A private museum in Kolonaki at 4 Neophytou Douka Street, 500 metres from Evangelismos or a 10-minute walk from Syntagma. Under-18s enter free, and it keeps the same hours all year: 10 am to 5 pm most days, Thursday to 8 pm, Sunday from 11 am, closed every Tuesday. Because it is private, the Ministry free days do not apply and the museum publishes none of its own. The five-thousand-year-old figurines are the reason to go, and a plain ticket is all you need. Partner tickets start from about €12 on the Museum of Cycladic Art tickets page, which also explains the entrance arrangement.
The main Benaki building stands at Koumbari 1 and Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, between Syntagma and Evangelismos. The museum is private, so the state free days do not count here. What it offers instead is better: the permanent exhibition is free every Thursday from 6 pm to midnight, the one late opening in Athens that runs that long. It is closed on Tuesday and on a long list of public holidays including 28 October. The only partner product we hold starts from about €69, so for most visitors the €12 desk ticket is the better buy. The Benaki Museum page sets out both.
The newest of the big collections is in Pangrati at 13 Eratosthenous Street, about 900 metres from Evangelismos and 950 from Syntagma, roughly a 12-minute walk from either. The permanent collection and the combined ticket with a temporary exhibition are priced separately, and children up to 12 go free. Closed Tuesday, open Friday until 8 pm, and as a private foundation it lists no free days at all. Partner tickets start from about €12 with free cancellation. Our Goulandris Museum page covers the ticket types.
The state art museum at 50 Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue is reached from Evangelismos on Line 3 or a 20-minute walk from Syntagma. EU citizens up to 25 enter free. It is closed on Tuesday and open Wednesday until 10 pm. Free entry follows the state list with one difference: the first Sunday of the month from November to March, 6 March, 18 April, 18 May and the last weekend of September, but not 28 October, when the gallery is closed. Partner products start from about €28. See the National Gallery page.
Villa Ilissia at 22 Vasilissis Sofias Avenue is a few metres from Evangelismos station. The full free-day list applies, including the first and third Sundays from November to March. Hours are the catch: 8.30 am to 3.30 pm, the same in summer and winter, closed Tuesday, and you must leave the galleries 20 minutes before closing. Plan it as a morning. The partner product we list starts from about €100 and is not how most people should visit. Read the Byzantine and Christian Museum page for the hours before you go.
Next door on Vasilissis Sofias, at the corner of Rizari 2, the War Museum has the lowest admission on this list, with a reduced rate and free entry for EU visitors up to 18. Its official hours page lists no weekly closing day. It opens until 7 pm from April to October, 5 pm in winter, and until 10 pm every Saturday. Free days are the state list plus 25 March and 21 November. Several of the Athens city passes carry it at no extra cost, which is the route worth looking at if the Acropolis is already on your list. The War Museum page has the hours in full.
The museum occupies the Old Parliament Building at 13 Stadiou Street on Kolokotroni Square. The permanent exhibition and the combined ticket with the temporary exhibition are priced separately. It is closed on Monday, not Tuesday, which makes it a useful Tuesday alternative to the private museums, and it opens 9 am to 4 pm on weekdays from September to June. Free entry follows the museum's own list: the first Sunday of the month from November to February, 25 March, 18 May and 28 October. Details on the National Historical Museum page.
At Kallisperi 12 and Karyatidon Street, a five-minute walk from Akropoli station by the museum's own reckoning, this is the natural add-on to the Acropolis Museum. A reduced rate applies with ID. Note the unusual closed day: Sunday, plus national holidays. Wednesday and Saturday run to 6 pm, other days to 4 pm. It is private, so no Ministry free days, and the Saturday-free claim on some third-party sites is not confirmed by the museum. See the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum page.
A private non-profit museum at 16 Herakleidon Street in Thissio, on Line 1. From April to October it opens every day 10 am to 6 pm. From November to March it closes on Monday and Tuesday. No free days are published. Partner tickets start from about €10, and it is included in the Turbopass-based city passes, which is one reason it appears on a value plan. The Herakleidon Museum page explains the fit.
Not a museum in the sense the other eleven are, but the right pick with children. It is at Ermou 119 in Monastiraki (entrance from Astiggos 12), about five minutes from Thissio, open daily 11 am to 8 pm all year with last entrance at 7 pm, and closed only on Orthodox Easter Sunday. Adults pay €13.50 with free cancellation, and the museum has its own child and family rates. Its own figure for a visit is about 50 minutes, the only verified time estimate on this page. Partner tickets start from about €13.50. See Museum of Illusions tickets.
The Numismatic Museum on Panepistimiou Street near Syntagma (€10, closed Tuesday, 8.30 am to 3.30 pm, state free days apply), the Museum of Modern Greek Culture in Monastiraki (four venues, closed Tuesday, state free days apply) and the Hellenic Motor Museum by Victoria station (€12, no weekly closed day, free only on 18 May) all have verified facts and will get their own pages. The Numismatic and the Modern Greek Culture museums are excluded from the city passes. The Motor Museum is included in the two GetYourGuide passes.
The best museums in Athens at a glance: on-site adult admission, the weekly closed day, the late opening and whether the Ministry of Culture free days apply. Where a museum is private, the free-days column shows what it offers instead.
| Museum | Weekly closed | Late opening | Free days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acropolis Museum | none | Friday to 10 pm | own list: 6 Mar, 25 Mar, 18 May, 28 Oct |
| National Archaeological | none (Tue from 1 pm) | daily to 8 pm in summer | Ministry list applies |
| Cycladic Art | Tuesday | Thursday to 8 pm | private, none |
| Benaki | Tuesday | Thursday to midnight | private, free Thu 6 pm-midnight |
| Goulandris | Tuesday | Friday to 8 pm | private, none |
| National Gallery | Tuesday | Wednesday to 10 pm | Ministry list, except 28 Oct (closed) |
| Byzantine and Christian | Tuesday | none (closes 3.30 pm) | Ministry list applies |
| War Museum | none | Saturday to 10 pm | Ministry list plus 25 Mar, 21 Nov |
| National Historical | Monday | none (closes 4 pm) | own list: 1st Sun Nov-Feb, 25 Mar, 18 May, 28 Oct |
| Lalaounis Jewelry | Sunday | none (Wed, Sat to 6 pm) | private, none confirmed |
| Herakleidon | Mon and Tue, Nov-Mar only | none (closes 6 pm) | private, none |
| Museum of Illusions | none | daily to 8 pm | none |
Two cautions on the table. The Ministry free days are 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October and, from November to March, the first and third Sunday of the month at most state sites, though the National Gallery and the War Museum list only the first Sunday. And free days draw crowds: a Sunday in January at the National Archaeological Museum is free and full, and a Wednesday at 8.30 am is neither.
The best museums in Athens cluster, which is the good news. Akropoli station on Line 2 serves the Acropolis Museum, the Lalaounis Museum five minutes away and the Temple of Olympian Zeus about five minutes in the other direction, with the Acropolis itself above them all. Evangelismos on Line 3 serves the Byzantine and Christian Museum at its door, the War Museum two or three minutes along Vasilissis Sofias, the Benaki further along the same avenue towards Syntagma, the Cycladic 500 metres away in Kolonaki, and the National Gallery and the Goulandris each a longer walk. Thissio and Monastiraki on Line 1 serve the Ancient Agora, the Herakleidon and the Museum of Illusions. Only the National Archaeological Museum stands alone, up Patission Street from Victoria or Omonia.
One day: the Acropolis at opening, when the gate queue is shortest, then the Acropolis Museum next door, with the Lalaounis or the Temple of Olympian Zeus as a short add-on if you still have energy. That is the trip most people came for, and it does not need a pass.
Two days: add the National Archaeological Museum on the second morning, then ride to Evangelismos for the Vasilissis Sofias avenue: the Byzantine Museum before its 3.30 pm close, then the Benaki or the Cycladic, whichever is open (both close Tuesday). If day two is a Thursday, finish at the Benaki, which is free from 6 pm.
Three days: give the third day to Thissio and Monastiraki, with the Ancient Agora and its Stoa of Attalos museum in the morning and the Museum of Illusions or the Herakleidon after lunch, or, if art is your thing, swap the whole day for the National Gallery and the Goulandris on the Pangrati side. With four or more paid entries across three days, price the passes on the Athens City Pass page before buying single tickets. The Turbopass-based city pass starts from about €79 and a pick-your-own attractions pass from about €60, and both include the War Museum, the city pass also the Herakleidon, though neither covers every museum above. With more days than that, the Delphi day trip is the classic fourth day out of the city.
Before you book
What people ask before they book.
The Acropolis Museum, then the National Archaeological Museum. The first explains the hill you have just climbed, with the Parthenon frieze laid out in a glass hall aligned with the building itself. The second holds the objects everything else in Greece refers back to: the Mycenaean gold, the Artemision Bronze and the Antikythera Mechanism.
More than can sensibly be visited, but the shortlist is manageable. Around 18 museums and archaeological sites carry the main collections, from the two big state museums down to single-subject houses such as the Numismatic Museum in Schliemann's mansion, the Lalaounis jewellery museum and the Herakleidon's ancient-technology models.
The state ones, on six dates a year: 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October, and the first Sunday of each month from November to March. Private museums set their own rules instead, and the useful one is the Benaki, free every Thursday evening from 18:00 to midnight.
Two full days covers the essentials without rushing: the Acropolis and its museum on one, the National Archaeological Museum and one smaller collection on the other. A third day lets you add the Cycladic or the Benaki, or take a day trip to Delphi, whose museum holds the bronze Charioteer.
The Goulandris Foundation in Pangrati, for about €12. It hangs Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Gauguin, Degas, Rodin and Picasso in one building, which nothing else in the city does. The National Gallery is the other answer if you want Greek painting, from El Greco through the Munich School.
Some of them clearly are. The Museum of Illusions in Monastiraki is built for it and takes about 50 minutes, the Hellenic Motor Museum has a spiral ramp of cars, and the War Museum has aircraft standing in the courtyard. The big antiquities museums work better with a guide or an audio guide to give children something to follow.
Two of them are worth a booked slot before you arrive. The rest you can decide on the morning.