Valley of the Temples tickets

How the ticket works

The Valley is a Sicilian regional park, and its official tickets are sold by CoopCulture (linked from the park's website) or at the ticket offices. Full price is €14. The €7 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 go free whatever their passport, though under-12s need an adult with them. Bring ID if you're claiming any discount.

Online you pick a time slot, but the ticket is good for the whole day you selected, crowd flow permitting. Miss your slot and you can still get in. The park caps numbers, so in spring and on summer evenings a ticket bought in advance saves you a nervous wait.

Two combos are worth knowing. The Kolymbethra Garden combo (€20) adds the Kolymbethra Garden. It keeps shorter hours: in November and December it closes at 4pm, with last entry at 3:30pm, and you can only get in through the park. The Pietro Griffo Museum combo (€19.20) is for anyone who wants the finds that are no longer on site.

Pick your entrance before you park

There are three ticket offices, and which one you use shapes the day.

• Temple of Juno (Tempio di Giunone), on Via Panoramica dei Templi. This is the east gate and the busiest one. The park's recommended long route starts here and runs the full Via Sacra to Porta V.
• Porta V, in Contrada Sant'Anna, at the opposite end, near the Sant'Anna car park.
• Hellenistic Theatre (Teatro Ellenistico), opposite the Griffo Museum. It's closed November to March.

The long route is one-way, so you finish far from your car. Drivers often take the park's short route instead: in at Juno, walk to the Temple of Concord, walk back. It works, but you skip everything beyond Concord. If you arrived by bus, do the full walk and catch a bus back from the other end.

Allow half a day for the whole site, and more if you add the garden and the museum. Shade is scarce. In summer, go at 8:30am or wait for late afternoon. Bikes and scooters aren't allowed.

Hours, evening openings and free days

The park is open every day of the year, 8:30am–8pm, with last entry at 7pm. From 20 June to 20 September it opens in the evening too: until 11pm on weekdays and midnight on Saturdays and holidays. That's the "Valley of the Temples at sunset" visit most people are after, and the standard ticket covers it.

On the first Sunday of every month entry is free for everyone, as at every Sicilian regional park. In summer, first-Sunday free entry has stopped at 7pm, and evening entry after 8pm was paid. Check the park's notices for your date.

Visitors with limited mobility can borrow one of two electric wheelchairs for free. Book by the day before your visit.

Official ticket or reseller?

If you'll walk around on your own, the official ticket is the cheapest way in. Resellers charge more, but they package what the park doesn't sell in one click. Tiqets has the plain ticket and the Kolymbethra combo. GetYourGuide and Headout sell app audio guides and skip-the-line guided tours, including sunset ones. The park also rents its own audio guide for €5.

A guide pays off here more than at most sites, because the park is big and the signage is thin. Read the reseller's cancellation terms before you buy, because they vary by product.

Getting there

Agrigento is about 2 hours by train from Palermo, with 13 trains a day on weekdays and fewer at weekends. Buses run from Palermo and Catania airports. From Agrigento Centrale station or the Piazzale Rosselli bus station, city buses 1, 2 and 3 go to the park. Drivers should follow signs to the Giunone roundabout below the Temple of Juno, then park at Sant'Anna or near the temple. If you're based on the east coast with no car, a day tour is realistically the only way to do Agrigento in a day.