The Acropolis and More on the Athens Combined Ticket

Overall:

Unless you’re a true Greek history buff, you might find the ruins a bit boring if you try to do a lot of them in one day. I thought one or two a day was a perfect pace.

The signage on all of them just isn’t very good, and you don’t get maps to help you navigate. But it’s a good price and a good excuse to see more of the city, so if you’re here for a few days you might as well get it.

Purchasing a Combined Ticket

The lines at the Acropolis can be very long so we suggest going to one of the less popular sites to buy your combined ticket.

We went to Olympieion, which has almost no line.

Acropolis Strategy: Go Early and Up Immediately

The Acropolis is clearly the number one attraction in Athens. It’s the most famous and has a prominent place in the middle of the city on a giant hill. So you have to be strategic when you visit.

We got our combined ticket the day before we visited Acropolis, so we didn’t have to wait any longer than necessary when we got in line right before it opened at 8am. The line was already pretty long!

The key is to head straight from the entrance to the top of the Acropolis. Go as fast as possible. Do not stop at any point on the slopes to read the signs or look at other ruins. The point is to beat the slower crowds so you have more time to yourself at the main attraction.

Like us, you can see the other points of interest on the way down.

We saw many tour groups on our way up. In my opinion, they were going to slow. By the time we left the top of the Acropolis (8:50am) the hordes were really overwhelming so I stand by our strategy completely.

The Acropolis

We visited the Acropolis Museum the day before so had a really good idea of the history, art, and architecture of the buildings.

The signage isn’t great at any of these ruins so we definitely recommend visiting the museum beforehand to get the most out of your visit.

First you enter the Acropolis through the Propylaea, which might’ve been my favorite part as walking through it did feel awe-inspiring.

The main attraction is the Parthenon, a 5th century BC temple to Athena celebrating victory over the Persian Empire during the Greco-Persian Wars.

The Parthenon is known for its sculptures and friezes depicting Greek gods and history.

The Acropolis also hosts the Erechteion, a temple to Athena featuring the six women-shaped pillars called Caryatids. Like much of the art and religious monuments on the Acropolish, the real Caryatids are in the Acropolis Museum.

There’s also the Temple of Athena Nike, a small but very beautiful 5th century BC temple. The temple was completely demolished by Ottomans in the 1600s and later rebuilt int he 1800s after Greek independence.

It looks relatively complete and well-preserved compared to the other ruins on the site, although visitors can’t get very close to it.

Reconstruction work is still ongoing and the damage from time and war is severe, but it is quite amazing to see these old buildings that you read about in history books.

The Slopes

There are multiple other points of interest along to slopes surrounding the Acropolis, notably the 6th century BC Theatre of Dionysus, one of the oldest theatres in the world.

There’s also the Odeon of Pericles, which is still used for music concerts today, as originally intended.

There are many other places to stop and admire ancient artifacts and ruins, and it can honestly get a little overwhelming, especially as the day gets hotter and the site gets much, much more crowded.

I would advise reading about the site before hand to get a general base of what’s going on and what you want to see, because it’s a lot to take in.

Conclusion

As an American I hardly ever saw much archeology older than 300-400 years, and even Switzerland doesn’t really have too many sites that go in the BC era.

It’s quite amazing then to see these monuments, at once both foreign and familiar, ancient and evolving, up close and personal