verified 3 November 2026

Baths of Caracalla (2026): €10 Tickets, Hours by Season, the Mithraeum and Summer Opera (2026)

The Baths of Caracalla, with walls still several storeys high and far fewer people than the Forum: the €10 ticket, hours by season and the Monday closing, the underground and Mithraeum, and the summer opera, which is at the Circus Maximus in 2026.

Conrad Ru
By · Founder of TourliVerified November 2026

I travel, research, and write every Tourli guide myself.

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── baths of caracalla · tickets and tips

The Baths of Caracalla, Rome Tickets, seasons, the underground and the opera

The Baths of Caracalla are one of the best-preserved imperial buildings of ancient Rome, largely because nothing was ever built on top of them. The emperor Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, opened the central building in 216 AD; it was finished by the last emperors of the dynasty and worked until 537, when the Goths cut the aqueducts during their siege of Rome. Walls still stand several storeys high, and the site is far quieter than the Roman Forum.

A ticket costs €10 until 10 January 2027 (the €8 standard price plus €2 for the Frank Horvat photography exhibition on site), and the site is closed on Mondays. The Baths sit between the Colosseum and the start of the Appian Way and the catacombs, so they fit an ancient-Rome day or a morning before the Appian Way. For everything else in the city, see things to do in Rome.

Baths of Caracalla

The short version. Come Tuesday to Sunday, buy the €10 ticket on Musei Italiani or on site, and allow an hour to an hour and a half. In winter, arrive by 3pm: the ticket office shuts at 3.30pm, and the exhibition rooms and the Domus di Vigna Guidi close at 4pm.

What you see. The plan is the classic one for Rome's great imperial baths: a huge rectangular enclosure around a central block. Along the main axis run the calidarium (hot room), tepidarium (warm room), frigidarium (cold room) and the natatio, the open-air pool. Two gyms and the changing rooms mirror each other on either side, and the outer enclosure held two libraries, latrines and the water cisterns. In front of the ruins, the Specchio (Mirror), opened in 2024, is a shallow rectangular pool that echoes the natatio and reflects the walls, with jets and lights worked from an underground room.

The Domus di Vigna Guidi. A Roman house older than the baths, found on the south-east side in 1858-1869 and reopened in 2022 after its detached frescoes were restored. One small shrine shows the Egyptian gods Anubis, Isis and probably Osiris facing Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, which the site calls unique. It's on the normal ticket but closes on very crowded days, such as the first Sunday of the month.

The underground and the Mithraeum. Below the baths run about two kilometres of galleries wide enough for carts, where hundreds of enslaved people and skilled workers kept the furnaces, boilers, water supply and a mill going. They also hold a Mithraeum, one of the largest in Rome, where you can still make out the fossa sanguinis used in initiation rites. The site's pages don't list the underground as part of a normal day visit; in 2026 it opened on six 'Notturno Imperiale' evenings, the last on 15 October, and no 2027 dates have been announced yet.

Until 10 January 2027: a show of 72 photographs by Frank Horvat (1928-2020) fills a gym and the vaulted rooms. It's why the ticket costs €2 more; see it by 4pm.

attraction · Aventine · Caracalla
Baths of Caracalla
4.6 Google (26,504) 1-1.5 hours
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 52, 00153 Roma RM, Italy
Price: €10 full, €4 reduced (EU citizens 18 to 24) until 10 January 2027: the standard €8 and €2 plus a €2 supplement for the Frank Horvat exhibition. Free for under-18s and on the first Sunday of the month. Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 9am-4.30pm from 25 October to 28 February; last entry and ticket office close 3.30pm. Closed Mondays. Longer hours from March (see below).
Access: The surface level has no changes of level and is easy to get around, with tactile panels for visitors with visual impairments. Visitors with reduced mobility who come by car can use the parking opposite the entrance.
Tip

No booking needed. Tickets are named and sold only on Musei Italiani (portal or app) or on site at the ticket desk and the automatic machines, which take cards only; there are no guided tours or skip-the-line extras. Glass bottles aren't allowed. Metro (subway): Circo Massimo (Line B), about 10 minutes' walk.

Book Google Maps Website Verified Nov 2026

Museo delle Mura

The Museo delle Mura is a free city museum inside Porta San Sebastiano, the gate in the Aurelian Walls where the Appian Way leaves Rome. Its visitor route through the gate's rooms was laid out in 1990, and it's the natural start for a walk or bike ride down the Appian Way to the catacombs. The walk along the top of the walls has been closed since 15 June 2026 for works, and only 20 people can be inside at once, so expect a short wait at busy times.

museum · Appian Way · Porta San Sebastiano
Museo delle Mura
4.5 Google (698) Up to 50 minutes
Via di Porta San Sebastiano, 18, 00179 Roma RM, Italy
Price: Free Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10am-4pm, last entry 3pm. Closed Mondays, 1 May and 25 December. The walkway along the Aurelian Walls has been closed for works since 15 June 2026.
Tip

At most 20 visitors at a time and a 50-minute limit inside; the tower terrace isn't open. It's about 1 km south-east of the Baths along Via di Porta San Sebastiano.

Google Maps Website Verified Nov 2026
── tickets · 2026

Baths of Caracalla ticket prices, and where to buy

Full price: €10 and reduced: €4 until 10 January 2027. These are the standard €8 and €2 plus a €2 supplement for the Frank Horvat exhibition; the site adds the supplement whenever an exhibition is on. The reduced ticket is for EU citizens from 18 until their 25th birthday; other visitors that age pay full price.

Free: under-18s, ICOM members and the other free categories set by law. Everyone goes free on the first Sunday of the month, and women go free on 8 March. On the European Heritage Days in September, the Saturday opening costs a symbolic €1.

Where to buy: only on the Ministry of Culture's Musei Italiani portal (museiitaliani.it), in the Musei Italiani app, or on site at the ticket desk and the automatic machines at the entrance (the machines take cards only). There's no booking fee, and you don't need to print the ticket: show it on your phone. Tickets carry your name. The Soprintendenza takes no responsibility for tickets bought anywhere else.

── hours · seasons

Opening hours by season, and the Monday closing

The Baths are open Tuesday to Sunday from 9am and closed every Monday. Last entry is when the ticket office closes:

  • 25 October to 28 February: 9am to 4.30pm; last entry 3.30pm.
  • 1 to 28 March: 9am to 5.30pm; last entry 4.30pm.
  • 29 March to 31 August: 9am to 7.15pm; last entry 6pm.
  • 1 to 30 September: 9am to 7pm; last entry 6pm.
  • 1 to 24 October: 9am to 6.30pm; last entry 5.30pm.

Holidays: the site's list of holiday openings, at the normal hours, includes 1 and 6 January, Easter Sunday and Monday, 25 April, 1 May, 2 June, 15 August, 1 and 4 November, and 8 and 26 December.

The exhibition and the Domus close early: until 10 January 2027 the Horvat rooms close 30 minutes before the site, and visitors are asked to see them, and the Domus di Vigna Guidi, by 4pm.

── free days

Free first Sundays and other free days

The Baths of Caracalla are part of the Ministry of Culture's free first Sunday of the month at state museums and sites; the next ones are 6 December 2026, 3 January 2027 and 7 February 2027. The Ministry's other national free days are 25 April, 2 June and 4 November.

Free days are busy, and the Domus di Vigna Guidi closes on first Sundays, and can close on other very crowded days, to protect its frescoes. For how free days work across Rome, see the best time to visit Rome.

── the opera

Opera at the Baths of Caracalla: not announced for 2027

The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma has long staged its summer season in the Baths. In 2026 it moved: the summer festival ran from 29 June to 31 July 2026 at the Circus Maximus, with Aida at its heart, because the Baths of Caracalla are under restoration work. The opera house announced that season on 10 March 2026.

The summer 2027 season, and where it will be, has not been announced yet. When it is, it will be on operaroma.it. The Baths themselves also hold occasional evening openings run by the Soprintendenza, such as the 2026 'Notturno Imperiale' nights; no 2027 dates are out.

── getting there

Getting there

The entrance is at Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 52. The nearest Metro (subway) stations are Circo Massimo on Line B, about 10 minutes' walk, and Porta Metronia on Line C. Buses 75, 628 and 760 and tram 3 stop at Circo Massimo. A €1.50 ATAC BIT ticket covers the ride.

From the Colosseum, it's one stop on Line B to Circo Massimo, or a walk past the Circus Maximus. Pair the Baths with the Aventine Hill and Testaccio for lunch, or continue south-east to the Museo delle Mura and the Appian Way. On a Monday, when the Baths are shut, look at things to do in Rome for what's open.

To price the rest of your trip, see our Rome trip-cost guide, and for a base, where to stay in Rome.

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Planning your Rome trip? Save the Baths of Caracalla and everything around them to a day-by-day plan with Tourli, the app that turns travel guides into actionable itineraries.

── frequently asked

Frequently asked questions.

How much is a Baths of Caracalla ticket in 2026?
€10 full price and €4 reduced while the Frank Horvat photography exhibition is on, until 10 January 2027. That's the standard €8 and €2 plus a €2 exhibition supplement. The reduced ticket is for EU citizens from 18 until their 25th birthday, and under-18s go free. Buy it on the Ministry of Culture's Musei Italiani portal or app, or on site at the ticket desk or the automatic machines (cards only); there's no booking fee.
Is the Baths of Caracalla open on Mondays?
No. It's closed every Monday. From Tuesday to Sunday it opens at 9am; from 25 October to 28 February it closes at 4.30pm, with last entry and the ticket office closing at 3.30pm.
Do you need to book the Baths of Caracalla?
No. Booking isn't required, and the site doesn't sell guided tours or skip-the-line extras. Tickets carry your name and are sold only on the official Musei Italiani portal and app, or on site at the ticket desk or the automatic machines (the machines take cards only). Other sellers aren't official.
Can you see the Mithraeum at the Baths of Caracalla?
Not on a normal day visit: the site's visitor information doesn't list it as part of the daytime route. The underground galleries and the Mithraeum, one of the largest in Rome, were opened on the 2026 'Notturno Imperiale' evenings, which ran from July to 15 October. No evening dates have been announced for 2027 yet.
Is there opera at the Baths of Caracalla in 2027?
Not announced yet. In 2026 the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma moved its summer festival to the Circus Maximus (29 June to 31 July) while the Baths of Caracalla were being restored. The opera house hasn't announced its summer 2027 season or venue.
Is the Baths of Caracalla free on the first Sunday of the month?
Yes. It's one of the state sites in the Ministry of Culture's free first Sundays; the next one is 6 December 2026. On those crowded days the Domus di Vigna Guidi, the frescoed Roman house inside the site, is closed to protect the frescoes.
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