Visit Athens Guide
Delphi: The Day Trip Worth the Whole Day
A Delphi day trip from Athens is about ten hours door to door: three each way through the mountains, four at the sanctuary and its museum, and usually a stop at Arachova on the way back. It is the one day out of Athens we would recommend without qualification, and it has the only ticket among the day trips that covers a site and its museum together. Everything below was read on the official page in Q3 2026. The alternatives are on the day trips hub, and the wider plan on the Athens city guide homepage.
Quick answer How long, what it costs, and whether to do it or Meteora
Delphi costs €20 full and €10 reduced, and that single ticket covers both the archaeological site and the Archaeological Museum of Delphi. A day trip from Athens runs about ten to eleven hours; three hours on site is enough for both.
Key takeaways
- One ticket, two places — the museum holds the Charioteer and is included, which what the ticket covers sets out.
- The site closes at 15:30 from 1 November to 31 March, which is earlier than most people expect and shapes a winter trip.
- Delphi or Meteora is the question most visitors are actually asking; the honest answer depends on how much coach you can stand.
- Coaches from Athens land between 11:00 and 13:00. A trip that gets you there earlier is worth paying for — the trips compared shows which.
- Free on the state free-entry days, including two winter Sundays a month: the free-entry page has them.
Key facts
Opening hours
| 1 April – 31 August, daily | 08:00–20:00 |
|---|---|
| 1–15 September, daily | 08:00–19:30 |
| 16–30 September, daily | 08:00–19:00 |
| 1–15 October, daily | 08:00–18:30 |
| 16–31 October, daily | 08:00–18:00 |
| 1 November – 31 March, daily | 08:30–15:30 |
Closed 1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Orthodox Easter Sunday, 25 and 26 December
Admission
- Adult
- €20
- Reduced
- €10
- Free
- 6 March, 18 April, 18 May, the last weekend of September, 28 October, and the first and third Sunday from 1 November to 31 March
Planning it
- Time needed
- Not stated by the site; our routing: 2 hours on the site, 1 hour in the museum
- Book ahead
- Essential — weeks ahead
- Address
- Archaeological Site of Delphi, 330 54 Delphi
The ticket, and what it covers
Read on the official Hellenic Heritage page for Delphi on 1 September 2026. The line that matters is the third one: no other day trip in this guide sells a site and its museum on one ticket.
| Ticket | Price | Covers | Note | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official full | €20 | The archaeological site and the Archaeological Museum of Delphi | No timed entry | Official site |
| Official reduced | €10 | The same | Documents shown at the gate | Official site |
| Free-entry days | €0 | The same | Five fixed dates plus two winter Sundays a month | Official site |
| Small-group day trip | From €39 | Transport, guide or audio, and usually the entry | Check the inclusions | Check Availability |
| Full-day guided trip | From €26 | Transport and guiding; entry often extra | Check the inclusions | Check Availability |
The commonest mistake on a Delphi day is assuming the €20 entry is in the tour price. Some listings include it and some do not, and a €26 coach seat plus €20 at the gate is a different number from a €39 trip with entry included. Read the inclusions on the card, not the headline.
The Delphi day trips
The cards behind the table, with the operator's own rating and review count.
from €39.10
From Athens: Small-Group Delphi, Museum & Arachova Day Trip
The same route in a small group, with the Delphi museum and Arachova, under the Parnassus cliffs.
Check Availability
from €26
Athens: Mythology of Delphi, Museum and Arachova Guided Tour
Ten hours to the Temple of Apollo and the Delphi museum, with the mountain village of Arachova on the way back. One official ticket covers site and museum.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own, checked in Q3 2026; euro figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
What is there
A sanctuary built up a mountainside, and a museum with one very famous bronze in it.
The Sacred Way
The path climbs in switchbacks from the entrance through what was once a forest of dedications — treasuries built by individual cities to hold their offerings, statues, tripods, the spoils of wars fought against each other. The Athenian Treasury has been re-erected and stands about a third of the way up. Every city in the Greek world wanted its monument seen on this slope, and they competed for the positions.
The Temple of Apollo
Six columns re-erected on the terrace where the oracle spoke. The Pythia sat in the adyton and answered questions on behalf of the god; the answers were famously capable of being read two ways. The omphalos, the stone marking the navel of the earth, is a copy on site and an original in the museum.
The theatre and the stadium
Above the temple, a theatre for five thousand looking straight down the valley, and above that — a further steep climb — the stadium where the Pythian Games were run, with its starting sill still in place. The stadium is the best thing at Delphi and the part most people skip because of the climb.
The museum, and the Charioteer
Included in the ticket and beside the site entrance. It holds the bronze Charioteer of Delphi — a life-size figure of about 470 BC with inlaid eyes, one of very few large Greek bronzes to survive — along with the Sphinx of the Naxians, the twin kouroi Kleobis and Biton, and the sculpture from the treasuries. Allow an hour.
Athena Pronaia and the tholos
Fifteen minutes down the road from the main site, and included: the round tholos whose three re-erected columns are the photograph on every Delphi poster. Some day trips skip it; if yours gives you free time, walk down.
The shape of the day
Ten to eleven hours, and where they go.
Getting there
About three hours each way by road from Athens, north-west across the plain and then climbing onto Parnassus. There is no train to Delphi; the public KTEL coach takes about the same time and runs to a timetable that gives you either too little on site or a night in the village. For most people the organised trip is the sensible choice, which is not something we say often.
When to be on the site
Coaches from Athens converge between about eleven and one. If your trip arrives at ten you get the Sacred Way in relative quiet; if it arrives at noon you will walk it in a queue. In summer the other consideration is heat — the slope is unshaded and the stadium climb is steep.
Arachova
The mountain village ten minutes above Delphi, and the stop most trips build in on the way back. It is a ski resort in winter and a stone village with weaving and cheese shops the rest of the year, built along a single steep street. Forty minutes there is pleasant; it is not a reason to book one trip over another.
Winter
The site closes at 15:30 from 1 November to 31 March, so a winter day trip is shorter on site and the same length on the road. Parnassus can also close the pass in snow. It is still worth doing — the sanctuary in low winter light with nobody on it is the best way to see it — but check the forecast.
Delphi or Meteora
The question the search results are full of, answered plainly.
If you have one day: Delphi
Ten to eleven hours against Meteora's fourteen, with four hours at the destination rather than three. Delphi is also the more important site by a distance — it was the religious centre of the Greek world for centuries — and the museum is included. For one day out of Athens, this is the one.
If you want the photograph: Meteora
Monasteries on sandstone pillars are unlike anything else in Europe, and no ruin competes with them visually. But it is a fourteen-hour day, and by coach it is about ten hours of driving. The Meteora page makes the case for doing it by train instead.
If you have two days out of the city
Do both, on separate days, with something gentle in between — the Argolid is a third long coach day and three in a row is too many. The day trips hub sorts everything by hours.
Delphi map
The site, the museum, the tholos down the road and the village above.
Where this fits
What else is worth a day out of Athens.
Meteora
The other long day, and the more photogenic one. Meteora is better by train than by coach.
14 hoursCape Sounion
An evening rather than a day. Cape Sounion closes at sunset, which is the point of going.
4 hoursDelphi questions
Is a Delphi day trip from Athens worth it?
Yes — it is the one day out of Athens we would recommend without qualification. Ten to eleven hours door to door, three of them at the sanctuary and its museum, and one €20 ticket covers both. The shape of the day sets out where the hours go.
How much time do I need at Delphi?
Two hours on the site if you climb to the stadium, and an hour in the museum. Three hours is comfortable; two is a rush.
Should I go to Delphi or Meteora?
Delphi, if you only have one day — it is four hours shorter and the site is more important. Meteora if the photograph matters more than the history. Delphi or Meteora makes the comparison.
Can you take a train to Delphi from Athens?
No. There is no rail line to Delphi; it is road only, about three hours each way, either by organised coach or on the public KTEL service.
Is the museum included in the ticket?
Yes, and this is unusual: the €20 covers the archaeological site and the Archaeological Museum of Delphi together. No other day-trip site in this guide does that. The ticket has the source.
What time does Delphi close?
20:00 from 1 April to 31 August, stepping down through the autumn, and 15:30 from 1 November to 31 March, with last admission twenty minutes earlier. The opening-hours table has every band.
Reviewed Q3 2026 (July–September 2026); next review Q4 2026. Prices, hours and terms are set by the venue or operator and confirmed at checkout.
We may earn a commission if you book through one of our links, at no extra cost to you. Full affiliate disclosure