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What it costs to visit the Catacombs of San Callisto

Tour cost
In short: the cheapest honest way in is admission at the gate plus a city bus, and that is a perfectly good day out. Everything above it buys transport, a longer route, or the road above the catacomb. It does not buy a better tour underground, because the catacombs’ own staff guide every group and that is included in the admission price. Here is every rung of the ladder and what each one changes.
At the door€10 full, €7 reduced
Official online ticket€12 / €9
Free entryUnder 7
Entry ticket on GetYourGuidefrom €14
Coach transferfrom €49
Half a day on the Appiafrom €68

€10 at the gate, and what that already includes

Admission is €10 full and €7 reduced, free for children under 7. The reduced rate covers ages 7 to 16, school groups, clergy, religious and seminarians, and students of archaeology, architecture, art history or cultural studies up to the age of 25 with proof. That €10 includes the guided visit, because there is no other kind. Tours leave every 30 minutes, the last of the morning at 12:00 and the last of the afternoon at 17:00, and the ticket office closes at 16:50.

Two things the ticket is not: refundable, and covered by a city pass. The rules say tickets are non-refundable, and San Callisto sits outside the Roma Pass and the Omnia Card, appearing under the paid add-ons rather than inside either. ATAC transport passes and park cards give no discount either.

Included in the €10 admission

  • The 40-minute guided visit, led by the catacombs’ staff
  • A group in Italian, English, French, Spanish or German
  • The Crypt of the Popes, the Crypt of St Cecilia and the Cubicles of the Sacraments
  • Departures every 30 minutes within opening hours

Not included at any price

  • Transport of any kind
  • A refund if you change your mind
  • Roma Pass or Omnia Card coverage
  • Photography, a lift, or anywhere to sit

€12 online through the official vendor

Booking online costs €12 full and €9 reduced, a €2 booking fee on top of the gate price. The only officially authorised online seller is Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, which trades as Omnia. The custodians’ homepage says online reservation is required while their tickets page still describes paying at the desk, so the safe reading is to book ahead rather than count on a walk-up.

€14 for the GetYourGuide entry ticket

The entry ticket sold on GetYourGuide is from €14 at the time of writing, rated 4.6 from 3,703 reviews, and it is the most-booked thing on this site. It is admission, nothing more. You still meet at the gate at Via Appia Antica 110/126 and you still get the same forty minutes. The difference between it and the official €12 ticket, at the time of writing, is a couple of euro and the right to change your mind: free cancellation up to 24 hours before, against a non-refundable ticket from the catacombs.

See today’s price for the entry ticket
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, on all six tours listed here — book now, decide later.

The bus fare, which I am not going to invent

There is no metro station at the catacombs. Every public-transport route ends in a bus leg: Metro B to Circo Massimo then bus 118 to the stop called Catacombe di San Callisto, about two minutes from the gate; or Metro A to San Giovanni then bus 218 to Fosse Ardeatine, about five minutes’ walk. A standard Rome bus ticket covers the leg, and I am not going to print a figure for it, because fares change and no source I trust gives me a current one. Check ATAC’s published fare before you travel and budget for two rides. The getting there page has every route written out.

The cheap day, in full, because it is a real option

Take the metro to Circo Massimo, take the 118, buy admission at the gate or hold a ticket you booked ahead, and go down with the next group. Afterwards, walk the private San Callisto road to San Sebastiano, which is about ten minutes on foot and keeps you off the traffic on the first stretch of the Appia; its gate follows catacomb hours, 10:00 to 17:30, and it closes on Wednesdays with everything else. The Appia Antica Regional Park around you covers 4,580 hectares, contains over 16 km of the ancient road, and is free and always open. Two bus fares and €10 or €14, depending on where you buy the ticket, and you have had the morning the rest of this page is measured against. If that is your day, you have not missed anything underground.

€32 for the same visit, guided at the gate

One listing sells the gate visit as a small guided experience from €32 at the time of writing, in English, Spanish, German or French. It rates 4.9, from 25 reviews. Before you pay the difference, read Alex, 8 September 2026, four stars: it is advertised as 1 hour but the tour itself was about 35 minutes, and most of the group had radios while he was not given one. A five-star reviewer would have told you the same thing. The underground portion is the same portion everyone else gets.

What the extra €35 between €14 and €49 buys

The coach transfer runs from €49 at the time of writing: a panoramic bus from central Rome, two hours door to door, six languages including Polish, with an optional Capuchin Crypt add-on. So the extra thirty-five euro over the entry ticket buys a seat, a fixed departure, a commentary on the way out and the guarantee that you will not be standing at a bus stop in August working out which direction is south. For some people, especially in a group or with a tight afternoon, that is worth every cent. It is rated 4.3, the lowest here, and its reviewers tend to praise the driver rather than anything underground, which is a fair reflection of what is being sold.

It is also where I would set your expectations honestly. A one-star reviewer of a different catacombs tour, one this site does not sell, put the general case better than I can: “Bottom line it was just a ride to the catacombs and back. No privet tour or anything like expected. He drove us and brought tickets to official tour (that was amazing) with another large group… Could have takes a Uber/taxi and pay at least half price for the same experience. The driver was very nice.” That is the test. If a transfer product only drives you there and back, price it against a taxi, not against a tour. Details on the transfer page.

€68 to €79 for half a day

The top of the ladder is where the money stops buying transport and starts buying the road. The three-hour Appian Way tour runs from €68 at the time of writing and adds a walk on the old road, the aqueducts and the outside of Cecilia Metella’s tomb; it needs five participants to run. The five-hour e-bike day runs from €69 and includes lunch or an aperitif, rated 4.9 from 152 reviews. The private driver runs from €79 for two hours with hotel pickup, and has four ratings in total, which is no track record at all.

The case for spending it is not that the catacomb gets better. It is that San Callisto sits inside a park on a road inscribed by UNESCO in 2024, ten minutes from two more catacombs and a chariot circus, and the bus-both-ways version of this trip sees a gate, a staircase and a bus stop. I have made that argument at full length on the Appian Way tours page.

Frequently asked questions

Is the GetYourGuide ticket more expensive than buying at the gate?

Yes, slightly. Admission is €10 at the door and €12 booked through the official online vendor; the GetYourGuide entry ticket is from €14 at the time of writing. The premium buys free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, where tickets bought from the catacombs are non-refundable.

Does the Roma Pass or the Omnia Card cover San Callisto?

No. The catacombs are not included in either card, and appear under Omnia’s paid add-ons rather than inside the card. ATAC transport passes and park cards give no discount either. Budget for admission separately.

How much is the bus to the catacombs?

A standard Rome bus ticket, and I am deliberately not printing a figure, because fares change and no source I trust publishes a current one. Check ATAC’s published fare, then budget for a ride each way on the 118 from Circo Massimo or the 218 from San Giovanni.

Who gets the reduced €7 price?

Ages 7 to 16, school groups, clergy, religious and seminarians, and students of archaeology, architecture, art history or cultural studies up to the age of 25 with proof. Children under 7 go free. Booked online the reduced price is €9.

Is a more expensive tour a better tour of the catacomb?

No, and this is the one thing I would want you to take away. The catacombs’ own staff guide every group on the same route for about 40 minutes, in five languages, included in admission. Paying more changes how you arrive and what surrounds the visit. If you want to compare catacombs rather than tours, this page does that.