Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympieion)

Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympieion) tickets and tours: which one to book

The Olympieion is an open archaeological site with a ticket kiosk by the entrance on Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, a short walk from the Acropolis Museum and Syntagma Square. There is no need for a guide to understand it, and no need for a timed booking, so the choice comes down to how you want to pay. The first option is a plain entry ticket, which can be bought at the gate or online beforehand so that you skip the small queue in high season. The second adds an audio guide on your phone, which explains the long history of the project and points out the details as you walk around;

it suits people who would otherwise wander past the columns without knowing why the site matters. If you plan to see several ancient sites in Athens, compare the price of single tickets with the combined pass sold by the Greek Ministry of Culture, which covers the Olympieion along with the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, Kerameikos and other sites; it is valid for several days and often pays for itself after three or four visits. Holders of EU student cards and visitors under 25 from the EU usually enter free, so carry identification. Many general walking tours of Athens stop outside the railings, by Hadrian's Arch, and point out the columns without going in. That view is good, but the site is worth entering for the scale you only feel when you stand at the foot of the columns.

Visiting Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympieion): what to see and how to behave

The first thing that strikes you is the size. Fifteen Corinthian columns still stand, thirteen of them grouped at the south-east corner of the platform, each about 17 m tall and some 2 m across, and a sixteenth lies where a storm blew it down in 1852, its drums spread across the ground like a fallen stack of coins. Originally there were 104 of them. The temple took longer to build than almost any other building of the ancient world. The sons of the tyrant Peisistratus began it around 520 BC as a limestone temple meant to outdo the great temples of Samos and Ephesus, but work stopped when the tyranny fell.

More than three centuries later the Seleucid king Antiochus IV revived the project in marble with a Roman architect, and it was finally completed by the emperor Hadrian, who dedicated it in the 130s AD and placed a colossal gold and ivory statue of Zeus in the cella. It was damaged in a barbarian raid in 267 AD and later quarried for stone. Walk all the way round the platform. On the south side you can look down on the remains of Roman baths and houses, and from the northern edge the Acropolis rises above the trees, which makes the best photograph on the site. Outside the entrance, Hadrian's Arch marked the boundary between the old city and the new quarter he built. There is no shade on the platform and the paths are gravel. The nearest metro station is Akropoli, about ten minutes on foot, and Syntagma is a little further.

Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympieion): opening hours, ceremonies and the best time to go

Like other Athenian archaeological sites, the Olympieion opens in the morning and closes in the evening, with long summer hours and much shorter ones from November to March. Check the current times on the Ministry of Culture website, especially around Easter and national holidays, when hours change or the site closes. Early morning is the best time. The columns face the morning sun, the site is quiet, and you avoid the heat that settles on the bare stone platform by midday from June to September.

The last hour before closing is the other good window, with warm light on the marble. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant seasons. Entry is free on several dates each year, including some national commemoration days and, in winter, the first Sunday of the month; those days are crowded. Forty-five minutes to an hour is enough. The site sits at the heart of a walking route: combine it with Hadrian's Arch, the National Garden and the Zappeion to the north, the Panathenaic Stadium a short walk east, and the Acropolis Museum and the Acropolis itself to the west.