Monreale Cathedral & Cloister tickets

Two sites, two timetables

The classic mistake at Monreale is assuming the cathedral and the cloister share one ticket and one set of hours. They don't. The Benedictine Cloister (officially the Cloister of Santa Maria Nuova) is run by the Sicilian Region, with CoopCulture handling tickets. The cathedral is a parish church and sets its own hours.

• Cathedral: Mon–Sat 9am–1pm and 2pm–5pm (last entries 12:45pm and 4:45pm). Sundays 2pm–5pm only.
• Cloister: Mon–Sat 9am–7pm. Sundays and holidays 9am–1:30pm. Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

The two timetables don't line up well. On a Sunday morning the cloister is open and the cathedral is closed; on Sunday afternoon it's the other way round. On weekdays, arriving at 1pm means an hour's wait for the cathedral. The easiest plan is a weekday: cathedral in the morning, then the cloister.

Cloister tickets

Full price is €8. The €4 reduced ticket is for EU citizens aged 18–25 and FAI members. Non-EU visitors qualify only "under reciprocity", so don't count on it. Under-18s of any nationality go free, though under-12s need an adult. On the first Sunday of each month entry is free for everyone, as at all Sicilian regional sites.

Entry is capped, and CoopCulture recommends buying online and printing the ticket at home. For visitors with limited mobility, only the ground floor of the cloister is accessible, through the entrance on the public gardens (Villa Comunale).

We couldn't find current official prices for the cathedral's paid extras: the rooftop walk, the Roano Chapel and the Diocesan Museum. Ask at the desk when you get there.

The rooftop walk

Plenty of visitors skip the Towers (Torri del Duomo), a walkway over the cathedral roof about 45 m up. You climb the old stone stairs inside the south tower. From the top you look down into the cloister, along the apses and across to Palermo and its bay. It's stairs all the way, so think about your knees before buying.

Audio guide, guide or day trip

Tiqets sells cloister entry. GetYourGuide has an inexpensive phone audio guide covering the cathedral and cloister. For the mosaics it's nearly essential: without the stories, the gold walls are just gold walls. There are also private tours, some combined with Palermo's Capuchin Catacombs, and day trips from Cefalù.

Monreale pairs well with the Norman Palace and Palatine Chapel in Palermo. Do the Palatine Chapel in the morning, take bus 389 from Piazza Indipendenza, and reach Monreale after the cathedral reopens at 2pm.