The Pantheon costs €7 — and children still get in free

For most of its history the Pantheon was the great free thing in Rome: you walked in off the square, stood under the oculus, and walked out. That ended on 3 July 2023, when an entry ticket became compulsory. On 1 July 2026 the full price went up again, from €4.69 to €7.00.

Seven euros is not a lot. But it changes the arithmetic of what you buy and where, and the official concessions are generous enough that a family can easily overpay several times over by booking the wrong thing.

The official prices, and who does not pay them

Full price: €7.00 since 1 July 2026, according to the official visitor information.

Reduced: €2.00 for EU citizens from age 18 up to and including the day of their 25th birthday.

Free: under 18s. No ticket charge at all.

Free: the first Sunday of every month. On that day free tickets are collected directly at the ticket offices and kiosks on site rather than booked online.

Free during mass, for worship. Mass is at 5 p.m. on Saturdays and the eve of holidays, and at 10.30 a.m. on Sundays and holidays. Entry is free for the exercise of worship at those times — which is not the same as a free sightseeing window, and it should not be treated as one.

Run that through a family of four with two children aged ten and fourteen: the official cost of the visit is €14. Two adults. That is the number to hold in your head when you look at any listing selling “Pantheon tickets for families”.

Official tickets are sold through the Musei Italiani portal, the Musei Italiani app, and the on-site ticket offices and automatic kiosks. A ticket has been required since July 2023; advance online booking is not compulsory. Bring identification matching the name on the ticket. There is no skip-the-line option.

Hours and closing days

Open every day, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., normally with last entry at 6.30 p.m. for individuals and 6 p.m. for groups and schools. Ticket offices close at 6 p.m.

Normally closed on 1 January and 25 December, unless a special opening is announced.

Hours may shift for religious celebrations, and the building is a working basilica — Santa Maria ad Martyres — not only a monument.

What the platform listings cost, read against €7

Compare the final price per person and the selected option with the official admission fee.

Entry with an app. The entry ticket with digital audio guide starts at €7 per person, rated 4.5/5 from 10,683 reviews. Exchange the voucher at Salita de’ Crescenzi 35 ten minutes before the booked time; bring your own phone and headphones. The other digital audio option starts at €7 per person, rated 4.7/5 from 698 reviews, and meets at Via della Rotonda 26 fifteen minutes early. That operator excludes pregnant visitors, wheelchair users and people over 95. Neither listing guarantees entry without queuing.

Check the total. An advertised starting price is not a promise that every date or option costs the same as official admission. Read the selected option before paying for commentary or other extras.

The family listing. The ticket with children’s audio guide starts at €17 per person, with 4.3/5 from 10 reviews. It is not a price for the whole family. Under-18s have free admission, but commercial audio and booking services can still cost money. Collection is at OhMyGuide Roma Museum Store, Via dei Bergamaschi 49; the operator requests identification or a credit card as a deposit for the audio device. Check the children’s recording language separately from the host’s language before booking.

Guided tours. The small-group guided tour with entry starts at €43 per person, with 4.9/5 from 1,380 reviews. It lasts 50 minutes to one hour, in English or Italian, with up to ten participants in the small-group option. Meet at Piazza Capranica and bring ID for adults and children. The operator lists the route as wheelchair accessible.

Does a guide make sense in a building with one room?

Honestly: more than you would expect, but only briefly.

The standard visit centres on the rotunda. Explanation helps you notice why the dome is concrete, why its aggregate gets lighter towards the top, and how the coffers lighten it as well as decorate it. The building’s conversion into a church is also part of its survival story.

The guided option above allows 50 minutes to an hour to explain the building. For a longer tour, read the itinerary to see whether it adds other sites and how much time is actually inside the Pantheon.

The official audio tour is offered in eleven languages. Its collection point is OhMyGuide Roma Museum Store, Via dei Bergamaschi 49; do not assume collection is at the Pantheon entrance.

When to come, and when not to

Consider the 9 a.m. opening. Still allow time for security and queues; an early slot does not guarantee immediate entry.

Check service times. Ticket sales stop one hour before liturgical activities; during services entry is reserved for worshippers.

The first Sunday of the month, if free entry matters more than crowds — and note that you collect the ticket on site that day, so arriving early is the whole strategy.

Evening events depend on the date. The after-hours visit with live concert lists 1.5 hours, admission, audio guide and a concert inside the Pantheon, from €44 per person. Check the actual event date before planning an evening around it.

On a wet day, deliberately. Rain falls through the oculus and drains through holes in the floor, and it is the one thing about the Pantheon that photographs badly and experiences brilliantly.

The short version

For an independent visit, compare official admission at €7 with the app package at €7 per person, including its voucher collection. Under-18s have free admission, but paid audio or booking services are separate. For explanations from a guide, choose the 50-minute to one-hour small-group tour at €43 per person only if English or Italian suits everyone. For longer tours, read the full itinerary before booking.

Everything mentioned here is in our Rome selection. The same ticket-or-guide question at the fortress across the river is in Castel Sant’Angelo: audio guide or guided tour, the device-versus-app comparison is worked through in full in the Colosseum audio guide, and for fitting the Pantheon into a wider plan, start with which Rome tour to book.