The Ministry of Culture announced VIP private guided tours of the Acropolis, for a fee of 5,000 euro. Moreover, ticket prices for the ancient sites and museums will go up from April 2025.
VIP Private Tours of the Acropolis from April 2024
According to an announcement by the Ministry of Culture, as of April 2024, there will be a whole new way to visit the Acropolis. Select visitors will have the option to take VIP private guided tours, outside the site’s usual opening hours, for a fee of 5,000 euro per group.
From 1st April 2024, those who can afford it, can experience a unique experience up on the Acropolis Rock. For a fee of 5,000 euro per group of up to 5 people, visitors will be able to enjoy the Acropolis without the crowds, from 7:00 – 9:00 and from 20:00 – 22: 00.
The offer, which will be limited to 4 groups per time slot, includes a special guided tour and complimentary souvenirs.
Prices to increase for Ancient Sites and Museums in Greece in 2025
The Government also announced that ticket prices for the ancient sites and museum will go up from April 2025. Compared to the current prices, price increases will range between 50% and 200%!
The Athens combined ticket will be discontinued
As of April 2024, the Athens combined ticket to the Acropolis and six more ancient sites will be discontinued. That’s a real shame, as many visitors use this popular ticket to visit the most important monuments in Athens.
Similarly, other combined tickets, such as the one covering Ancient Mycenae, Ancient Tiryns and more sites in Nafplio in the Peloponnese, will no longer be available.
Huge increases in ticket prices for ancient sites
Ticket prices for all the ancient monuments and archaeological museums around Greece will increase in the next couple of years. The price will remain the same throughout the year, and “summer price” and “winter price” will no longer exist.
Unsurprisingly, the highest increase will be at the site of the Acropolis of Athens, which will rise to 30 euro. Considering that tickets to the Acropolis currently cost 20 euro (April – October) and 10 euro (November – March), this means a whopping 200% increase!
As the ticket to the Acropolis Museum costs 15 euro, this means that a couple would need to spend 90 euro to visit both the Acropolis Rock and the Acropolis Museum.
There will be similar increases to tickets for all other ancient monuments, such as Ancient Epidaurus, Ancient Olympia or Ancient Delphi.
Free entrance to the sites on one more Sunday per month
As mentioned earlier, there will no longer be half-price tickets over the winter months (November – March), which has been the case in the last years.
Instead, one additional Sunday of free entry will be introduced. More specifically, sites will also be free to visit on the third Sunday of each winter month. This is in addition to free entrance of the first Sunday of the month which is already in place.
Well, this is what a free day looks like at the Acropolis!
Changes to other policies
There will be a few more changes to pricing policies:
- EU visitors aged 65+ will no longer be entitled to a reduced price ticket from 1 June – 30 September
- the right of free entry to visitors up to the age of 18 will be extended to non-EU visitors
- domestic taxpayers who are entitled to free / reduced entry to sites, will have to issue a Culture Card through gov.gr
The announcement of the Ministry of Culture
According to the Ministry of Culture, the new pricing policy for entrance tickets is imperative, based on
- the growing number of visitors over the last 2 years
- use of e-tickets at the 28 sites with the highest traffic
- the fact that current ticket prices were last revised 5 years ago, and are very low, in comparison to the European average.
As it turns out, the Central Archaeological Council of Greece unanimously approved the new pricing policy for the Archaeological Sites and Museums, including the VIP Acropolis tours.
Hi! I’m Vanessa from Athens and I share Greek news and travel guides on this blog. I can’t say that I’m happy with this news, it’s sad to think that there will be “VIP tours” of the most famous landmark of Athens that are only for the ultra-rich. What is your opinion on this new policy? Please let me know in the comments – and follow my FB page for more Greece-related news and inspiration!