Acropolis and 5 Archaeological Sites Combo Ticket Athens

The Acropolis and the Parthenon

The Acropolis is the rocky hill that has crowned Athens for more than three thousand years and the most famous ancient site in Greece. You enter through the Propylaea, the monumental marble gateway, pass the small Temple of Athena Nike and reach the Parthenon, the great Doric temple built in the fifth century BC for Athena, protector of the city. Beside it stands the Erechtheion with its porch of maidens, the Caryatids, whose originals are kept in the nearby Acropolis Museum.

Plan two to three hours on the hill and its slopes, including the Theatre of Dionysus. As for Acropolis opening hours, the site opens at 8:00 every day and closes in the early evening in summer and late afternoon in winter, with closures on a few public holidays. The best time to visit the Acropolis is the first slot of the morning or the late afternoon, when the light is soft and the heat is lower.

The Ancient Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos

Below the north side of the Acropolis lies the Ancient Agora, the market place and civic heart of ancient Athens, where citizens met to trade, debate and vote. Its jewel is the Temple of Hephaestus, the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece, standing almost intact on a small hill above the ruins. Across the site, the Stoa of Attalos, a long two-storey colonnade named after the king of Pergamon who gave it to the city, was rebuilt in the twentieth century and now houses the Agora Museum.

Inside the museum you see everyday objects of ancient Athenians, from pottery and coins to voting tokens. Allow about one and a half hours here. The Ancient Agora ticket in this combo covers both the site and the museum, and the self-guided audio tour on your phone helps you read the scattered foundations. A small Byzantine church of the Holy Apostles, with its painted interior, completes the visit.

The Roman Agora and the Tower of the Winds

A few minutes east of the Ancient Agora, at the edge of Plaka and Monastiraki, lies the Roman Agora, the market built when Athens was part of the Roman world in the first century BC. You enter through the Gate of Athena Archegetis, four Doric columns still holding their pediment, and walk across the old courtyard where shops and colonnades once stood.

The star of the site is the Tower of the Winds, an elegant eight-sided marble tower that served as a public clock, with sundials on its faces, a water clock inside and a relief of one of the eight wind gods carved on each side. It is one of the most charming monuments in Athens and takes only 30 to 45 minutes to visit. The site also contains a former Ottoman mosque, a reminder of the many layers of the city.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch

South-east of the Acropolis rise the colossal columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, also called the Olympieion. Work began in the sixth century BC, but the temple was finished only in the second century AD under the Roman emperor Hadrian, when it was the largest temple in Greece. A group of soaring Corinthian columns still stands today, and one fallen column lies in pieces exactly where a storm brought it down in the nineteenth century.

Next to the entrance stands Hadrian's Arch, the gateway that once marked the border between the old Greek city and the new Roman quarter. The Temple of Olympian Zeus ticket in this combo lets you walk around the columns and enjoy one of the best views of the Acropolis from below. Allow about 30 to 45 minutes; the National Garden is right next door if you want some shade afterwards.

Aristotle's School (the Lyceum)

Aristotle's School is one of the newest archaeological sites of Athens. The remains of the ancient Lyceum, a gymnasium outside the city walls where the philosopher taught and walked with his students, were discovered by chance during building works in the 1990s in the elegant Kolonaki area, and the site opened to visitors in 2014.

What you see today are the foundations of the palaestra, the open courtyard where young men trained in wrestling and athletics, surrounded by rooms and baths, now protected under a light modern canopy. It is a small and quiet site that takes 20 to 30 minutes, and few visitors make the effort, so it feels peaceful even in high season. It lies about 15 minutes on foot from Syntagma Square, between the Byzantine Museum and the Museum of Cycladic Art.

The Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic Stadium, known to Athenians as Kallimarmaro, meaning beautiful marble, is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. An ancient stadium for the Panathenaic Games stood here from the fourth century BC and was rebuilt in marble in Roman times. Restored in the nineteenth century, it hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and the Olympic flame is still handed over to each host city here.

With your ticket you can walk onto the track, climb to the top rows for a fine view over the city and the Acropolis, and see a small exhibition of Olympic torches and posters. An audio guide is usually offered at the entrance. Allow 45 minutes to an hour; the stadium stands opposite the National Garden, about 15 minutes on foot from the Temple of Olympian Zeus, so the two combine perfectly.