How best to get tickets to sightseeing sites and museums inAthens

The only official website is this one:

https://tickets.hh.gr/en

Avoid any other pass or combo ticket offers available online. They might look tempting, but they will charge you for unnecessary options, or even for things that are actually free on the official websites.

Since the Acropolis gets the most visitors, it uses a date and time slot entry system. It is best to buy your tickets a week in advance if you want to visit at a specific date and time.

For all other sites and museums, this is not necessary.

The Acropolis Museum is privately managed and has its own website and booking system:

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/

With regard to the Acropolis, what does the orange and the green dots next to the available times mean? Also, I notice that some times are greyed out (which means they are not available), but then why are slots (8:00-9:00) missing on some days in August, but not in September (I only looked at some dates).

For the past few years, the maximum number of visitors to the Acropolis has been capped at 20,000 per day.

The color depends on the number of tickets already sold via the online booking system, I have no idea what thresholds they use to determine whether a time slot appears green, orange, or red. Needless to say, red indicates a time slot that is already heavily booked. Yes, if a slot appears gray, it usually means it is fully booked through the online reservation system.

I have never seen a missing time slot, so I’m not sure what that might indicate. I just checked and don't see any missing slots for August, so it could simply be a scrolling issue on your phone or computer.

If a slot is green but you cannot book it, it means the site is either closed or admission is free on that day.

Thank you, @JoLui. The slots have now appeared, whether grayed out or not.

RS suggests two hours at this site. So that would rule out 19:00-20:00, right?

Does it make sense to do this and the museum the same day in two separate hour slots? Should they be chosen to be back-to-back?

As for how much time to spend on the Acropolis hill, I can't give a definitive answe, it depends on your curiosity and your pace, but yes, 2 hours is a good estimate. As you know, there are several other structures besides the Parthenon to see on the Acropolis hill.

Regarding whether you should visit the Acropolis Museum beforehand, I think you should. You'll get a better sense of the context and what you're looking at, but if your schedule forces you to do the Acropolis Hill first, it's no big deal.

If you're visiting both on the same outing and like to optimize your time, use the side entrance of the Acropolis, which is located just 200 meters from the Acropolis Museum along the pedestrian avenue Dionysiou Areopagitou. In this Street View, the side entrance to the Acropolis is on the right behind the trees and the museum entrance is right by the white building on the left:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zbNqtVfRNTWcia4n9

Since you're starting with the Acropolis Museum, you might as well take your time and not rush to enter the Acropolis until 4:00 or 5:00 PM, it will be less crowded starting around those hours.

If optimization isn't a priority for you, you can start with the museum in the morning, take your time, grab a drink, have lunch, go for a walk or do whatever you like, and head to the Acropolis starting around 4:00 PM.

For lunch, I advise against the lineup of tourist-trap restaurants located on the pedestrian street Makrigianni, right in front of the Acropolis metro station. Here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/1VLfNSiG5FnuPpxX7

Thank you! We are staying close to the Acropolis so not a huge problem, I think, for us to make several trips.

For Acropolis, if we buy tickers in person, then does that mean we have to choose the next available slot? In other words, suppose I show up at 8 AM. Likely there are no tickets available on that day for that slot: can I then buy a specific slot if that is available for later in the day, or do I have to take a specific timeslot that is available?

Sorry I meant, do I have to take the next timeslot that is available.

I believe as a walk-up you can choose among any time-slots still available.

I think Janet is right, if you can choose a time slot online, it must be the same at the physical ticket counters.

My last visit to the Acropolis was just before this time-slot system was introduced, back when we bought our tickets at the entrance without worrying about time slots.

OK, I will just buy it online then, on the chance that Janet is right. Thanks to you both!

I bought the Acropolis tickets for Friday 18:00-19:00 because they generally kick people out after 19:30. I was wondering if it makes sense to take the 19:00-20:00 museum ticket (since that is all that is available that I can do after 18:00 since the museum says it is open till midnight on account of the full moon). Or is my reading incorrect? I am wondering if I can buy the 16:00 ticket, hang in there till 17:30, go to the Acropolis and then after that tour ends at 19:00, wander back to the museum and hang in there till the moon shows up in its glory (if it does).

Or does it mean that I have to hang in around the museum itself all this while, in which case the 19:00 ticket is the only real option (the Excavation museum admission ends at 19:30 anyway).

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/events/august-full-moon-acropolis-museum-2

This part is unclear to me. Does anyone know/have experience with this on other full moon nights?

How much time should one budget for the Acropolis and the museum each? Rick Steves says 2 hours for Acropolis (with no mention of the museum), but it is not clear to me if that means we budget 2 hours for only the Acropolis or we also include the museum.

I bought the Acropolis tickets for Friday 18:00-19:00 because they generally kick people out after 19:30. I was wondering if it makes sense to take the 19:00-20:00 museum ticket (since that is all that is available that I can do after 18:00 since the museum says it is open till midnight on account of the full moon). Or is my reading incorrect? I am wondering if I can buy the 16:00 ticket, hang in there till 17:30, go to the Acropolis and then after that tour ends at 19:00, wander back to the museum and hang in there till the moon shows up in its glory (if it does).

Or does it mean that I have to hang in around the museum itself all this while, in which case the 19:00 ticket is the only real option (the Excavation museum admission ends at 19:30 anyway).

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/events/august-full-moon-acropolis-museum-2

This part is unclear to me. Does anyone know/have experience with this on other full moon nights?

I wanted to update, but the time on the ticket for the Acropolis is only an entry time, and it does not (as I mistakenly thought) also include the time when you have to leave (that is 20:00 in the summer when the monument closes). You are entitled to stay as long as you feel like. The entry time starts 15 minutes before when it is listed on the ticket and perhaps ends 15 minutes before the next hour (I could not tell this).

The museum can not really be done in one hour. The second of the two audio guides itself is two hours long. Also, if you take the shorter one hour audio guide, then note that it is not simply a briefer description of all the material in the longer audio guide, but rather, about a third of the exhibits (in full). There is no WIFI connectivity on some sides of the upper floor, so the audio guide can not work online in those places unless you have your own WIFI source.

We were so glad we did the museum second and on a full moon night when the museum is open till midnight. When we left around 10:40 (it was a Friday), there were still long queues for people waiting for tickets to get into the museum.

To me, 2.5 to 3 hours only for the museum seems to be an appropriate amount of time. The Acropolis itself seems to be more like a 1.5-2 hour affair. Of course, both totally worth it.