Is the Naples Archaeological Museum free?
Are you deciding how to get in?At the ticket office, a ticket costs €20 with no booking fee. What you find online adds an app, a guide, or skip-the-line access.
Compare the six optionsWho always gets in free
Under 18s of any nationality, Italian teachers with certification, people with disabilities. Between 18 and 25, you pay the reduced rate, €2, and the actual rule is broader than it’s often stated: it applies to citizens of the European Union and EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), to non-EU countries with reciprocal agreements — Switzerland and Uruguay — and to non-EU citizens with a residence card or permit. The museum also specifies that “the age limit should be considered exceeded from the day after the 25th birthday”: on your birthday, you still pay €2.
The free days in 2026, and their true cost
The first Sunday of the month, 25 April, 2 June, 4 November, and 8 March for women. Two practical warnings. The first: “On days with free admission for everyone, tickets cannot be pre-purchased but only collected at the ticket office”, so you’ll queue anyway and there’s no way to skip it. The second also applies to those who buy an official guided tour: “On the first Sunday of the month and on free admission days, those who purchase an activity are not entitled to skip the queue”.
Then there’s the part that determines whether a free day is worth it for you. The museum writes: “On the occasion of free openings for everyone, for safety reasons, the Egyptian collection, the Secret Cabinet and the Magna Graecia section remain closed to the public”. These are precisely the three sections that casual visitors look for first. You get in for free and miss room 65 and the entire level -1. If you’re in Naples for two days and the first Sunday falls within your window, the honest calculation is this: free with three sections closed, or €20 on any other day with the entire museum open — minus what’s closed for works, which is a separate list and changes every few weeks. I keep it updated here.
What you pay, for comparison
Full price is €20 and the online booking fee is zero: the museum's own words, “with a pre-sale fee of €0.00”. So booking on the museum's official ticket office costs exactly the same as paying at the counter. The OpenMANN annual pass costs €25, five euros more than a single entry, and is valid for 365 days. Everything sold online with an app or a digital guide is above €20: the version with a ticket and audio app starts at €26 at the time of writing, six euros more than at the counter, in exchange for booking from home and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. The full price list, with all six options, is on the tickets page.
Best sellerNaples: National Archaeological Museum ticket and audio app
In-person guideNaples: Guided tour of the National Archaeological Museum
City passCampania: Artecard 3–7 days or Gold/Lite 365
Frequently asked questions
When is entry free at the Naples Archaeological Museum?
On the first Sunday of every month, April 25, June 2, November 4, and March 8 for women. Entry is always free for under 18s, regardless of nationality.
What remains closed on free entry days?
The Egyptian collection, the Gabinetto Segreto, and the Magna Grecia section, for security reasons: the museum states this. These are three of the most sought-after sections. What there is to see, room by room.
Can tickets be booked on free entry days?
No: on free entry days, tickets cannot be pre-purchased; they are only collected at the ticket office. Not even those who buy the official guided tour are entitled to skip the line on those days. On other days, booking on the museum's website costs nothing extra: the pre-sale fee is zero.