Advice on Acropolis tickets and museum combinations in Athens

[Ginfa]

Has anyone been to Athens specifically the acropolis? Very confused about which tour or ticket to buy - are there any good value combination tickets that include the museum? Any help gratefully appreciated or reccomendations of tours etc

I;m not sure about combo tickets but we were there last October. My advice would be to book the museum first, it gives a good overview to the site and is air conditioned, gets busy though so book early in the day or late in the afternoon. For the Acropolis itself, book the earliest slot you can, by mid morning (when we were leaving) it was starting to get heaving with tour groups and cruise passengers. Kids under 18 don't pay but you have to reserve them a slot.

Also well worth investigating an audio tour. From what I could see the tour guides operated a bit of a cartel and were not very good. Written info was poor. I went as a teen on a school trip with incredibly knowledgeable teachers and found it frustrating that none of this info about symbolism, mythologies etc. seemed available.

The noticeboards seemed to focus on the procedural elements of listing and funding for preservation and the tour guides seemed to have set patter that wasn’t very informative. I wished I had downloaded an interesting self tour.

Don't do what we did and book through an agent. I think the best place is This Is Athens, which is the official tourist site without the mark up. We booked in a hurry online and got fleeced (although, to be fair, we had a brilliant time and it was totally worth what we paid). Kids under 18 are free, but bring thier ID so you can prove their age just in case. We didn't bother with the museum because we didn't have time, so I can't comment on that but I can recommend going at sunset when it's a bit quieter (still mobbed), cooler, and exceptionally beautiful. There's a free audio tour you can download to listen to as you go around, but we didn't use it (too busy with kids and just googled what we were interested in later!).

Thanks for the suggestions above - we are hoping to find a tour because we went to pompeil last year and the tour was a real highlight and important to understand the history but hoping to find one that is really good!!

Buy online in advance or you'll end up like us, there at midday in July, the only time slot we could get. That was hot.
The museum is incredible, don't miss it.

To be honest @Ginfa if you want to understand the history go to the Acropolis Museum first. It really is excellent and easy to spend several hours there, and of course fully air-conditioned.

we went in April and bought tickets through the official websites for both museum and the Acropolis.

did a 5pm entry slot at the Acropolis itself. No queue at all, and not at all crowded.

In the upper sections of the museum be prepared for a lot of "THE BRITISH STOLE OUR SCULPTURES" posters and information.

Interesting take.