Underground cemeteries cut into tufa beyond the city walls, where early Christians buried
their dead. Walk down to the Crypt of the Popes, find a shepherd painted on a vault 1,700 years ago, then climb
into the pines of the Appian Way.
Guided visits by the site's own guides
Seven catacombs open, with different weekly closing days
With the Appian Way, the Capuchin Crypt or San Clemente
Closing days, spelled outEach catacomb follows its own opening calendar; we say which
Cemeteries, not bone hallsWhat you will and will not see underground
Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, per each listing
Secure checkoutBook on GetYourGuide, with a mobile voucher
Catacomb tours
Choose your catacombs tour
In the centre, the small-group minibus tour: the Appian Way on foot and a catacomb near closing
time. On the left, the official San Callisto ticket on its own. On the right, the Capuchin bone chapels with a
catacomb.
The catacomb's own guided visit, sold by its official online seller: the Crypt of the Popes and the crypt of St Cecilia. You make your own way out to the Appia.
What's included
Entry to the Catacombs of San Callisto with the guided visit the site runs for every visitor
The Crypt of the Popes, the crypt of St Cecilia and the cubicles of the sacraments
Meet at the ticket office at Via Appia Antica 110, ten minutes before your slot
Getting there is up to you: bus 118 from Circo Massimo or Colosseo, or bus 218 from San Giovanni
About 50 steps down and up, no lift; no photos or strollers; free cancellation up to 24 hours before
LengthAbout 40 minutesClosed on WednesdaysBook this →
A minibus out past the walls, a walk on the ancient paving, then San Sebastiano or Domitilla near closing time, when the crowds have gone. The aqueducts are an option.
What's included
A private air-conditioned minibus from Piramide metro station and back, with an English-speaking guide
Entry to the Catacombs of San Sebastiano or Domitilla, depending on the day, with the site's guided visit
A walk on a stretch of the Appian Way and the outside of the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella
The Roman aqueducts, with the aqueduct option
Shoulders and knees covered; no photos inside; not for wheelchair users; free cancellation up to 24 hours before
The friars' bone chapels under Via Veneto, then a coach out to one of the Roman catacombs for a guided visit. Most options add the hidden basilica of San Martino ai Monti.
What's included
Entry to the Capuchin Crypt and Museum, with an audio guide
Entry to one of the Roman catacombs with a guided visit (the listing does not name which)
The basilica of San Martino ai Monti and its underground rooms, except on the after-hours option
An air-conditioned coach and a guide; meet by the Triton fountain in Piazza Barberini
No shorts, short skirts or sleeveless tops; no strollers; free cancellation up to 24 hours before
The underground visit is much the same on every option: the site's own guide, about 40 minutes, no
photos. What changes is which catacomb you see, how you get there and what comes with it. Details are taken from
each listing.
Option
Meets at
Which catacomb, and what else
Length
Notes
Catacombs, Appian Way & Aqueducts by Minibus
Piramide metro station
San Sebastiano or Domitilla, plus the Appian Way on foot and the aqueducts option
Cancellation terms are shown on each listing; the tours here list free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Per the official sites, San Callisto
closes on Wednesdays, San Sebastiano and Priscilla on Mondays, and Domitilla on Tuesdays.
What you actually book
The guide is included. The ride is not.
Roman law kept burials outside the city, so the catacombs lie along the old consular roads beyond the walls:
San Callisto, San Sebastiano and Domitilla by the Via Appia Antica, Priscilla on Via Salaria. About 60 are
known. Seven are regularly open. The main ones, such as San Callisto, San Sebastiano and Priscilla, are visited in a
group with the site's own guide, for about 40 to 45 minutes. Nobody walks those galleries alone, and outside guides stay above ground.
At those sites, the plain entry ticket already comes with a guide. What a tour adds is the ride out of the centre, a
catacomb chosen for the day you are free, and something bundled with it: the Appian Way, the aqueducts, the
Capuchin Crypt or San Clemente.
7
Catacombs regularly open to visitors, out of about 60 dug around
ancient Rome, according to the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, which has looked after them since 1852.
San CallistoSan SebastianoDomitillaPriscillaSant'AgneseSanti Marcellino e PietroSan Pancrazio
Galleries cut into tufa, a volcanic stone soft enough to dig.
01
Check the weekday
San Callisto shuts on Wednesdays, San Sebastiano and Priscilla on Mondays, Domitilla on Tuesdays. Tours switch catacomb to stay open.
02
Cemeteries, not bone halls
Expect empty niches, frescoes and inscriptions. The walls of stacked skulls are Paris, or the Capuchin Crypt on Via Veneto.
03
Dress for a sacred place
Shoulders and knees covered on most tours, and a light layer: it stays at about 16 to 17 degrees underground all year.
04
Who can skip a tour?
Anyone happy to take bus 118 and book the catacomb's own slot. A tour earns its place on a short trip, or with the Appia added.
The visit
A catacomb visit in four moves
Whether you go by bus, minibus, golf cart or e-bike, the visit underground follows the same shape.
Here is what happens between the city and the stairs back up.
01
Out past the walls
The Appia catacombs are beyond the Aurelian Walls. Bus 118 runs from Circo Massimo; the tours here use a minibus, a coach, a cart or bikes.
About half an hour from the centre
02
Meet the site's guide
At the ticket office your group joins one of the catacomb's own guides, in your language. Tours with a guide of their own hand you over at the door.
Groups leave about every 30 minutes
03
Down the stairs
Irregular steps lead into the galleries: about 50 at San Callisto, 70 at San Sebastiano. Then narrow corridors, niches, painted chambers and crypts.
About 40 to 45 minutes below
04
Back into daylight
Up into the pines. On the longer tours, a walk on the old paving, the tomb of Cecilia Metella or the aqueducts before the ride back.
Getting there, who can come, a sample half day and what to bring.
With a tour: transport is included on every tour here except the two plain entry tickets.
Bus 118: from the Colosseo or Circo Massimo metro stops (line B) to the San Callisto and San Sebastiano stops on the Via Appia Antica.
Bus 218: from San Giovanni (metro A) to the Fosse Ardeatine stop, by San Callisto.
Priscilla: metro B1 to S. Agnese Annibaliano, then about 15 minutes on foot, or buses 63 and 92 to the Priscilla stop.
Steps: about 50 down and 50 up at San Callisto, 70 at San Sebastiano, with no lift.
Wheelchairs: not possible at San Callisto or San Sebastiano, and the tours here say the same.
Children: welcome, but strollers are not allowed at San Callisto; the golf cart tour takes no infants under 2.
Claustrophobia: the galleries are narrow, and the sites advise against a visit if confined spaces trouble you.
Early afternoon: bus 118 or the tour pickup from the centre.
Mid-afternoon: the guided visit at San Callisto, San Sebastiano or Domitilla.
Late afternoon: a walk on the paving towards the tomb of Cecilia Metella.
Evening: golden light on the Appia, then back into the city for dinner.
A light jacket or cardigan, even in summer; it is cool and humid below.
Clothes that cover shoulders and knees.
Comfortable shoes with grip for uneven steps.
No large bags: San Callisto bans luggage and San Sebastiano bulky items.
7Catacombs openOut of about 60 known in Rome.
150 kmOf galleriesAbout that, all the catacombs together.
40 minA guided visitAbout 40 to 45 minutes below ground.
16°CUndergroundTo 17 degrees, humid, all year.
1578RediscoveredWorkers broke into one on Via Salaria.
1854The Crypt of the PopesFound again by de Rossi.
Where it is
Three catacombs on one old road
San Callisto, San Sebastiano and Domitilla
Via Appia Antica 110 and 136, Via delle Sette Chiese 282, Rome
The three big Appia catacombs sit close together south of the Aurelian Walls, with bus 118 passing San Callisto
and San Sebastiano and Domitilla a short walk away on Via delle Sette Chiese. The plain tickets meet at the catacomb
itself; the tours start in the centre and bring you here.
The minibus tour meets at Piramide metro station
The Capuchin and after-hours tours meet by the Triton fountain in Piazza Barberini
The golf cart starts near Largo Argentina; the e-bikes near the Colosseum
Our guide was very knowledgeable and the area with the aqueducts was beautiful.
★★★★★
Great guide and no waiting in line! Highly recommend it
★★★★★
The guide was really great and the catacombs were worth it on their own!
★★★★★
Being a small group you got to experience and understand the history first hand in close up.
★★★★★
Perfect start to our Rome trip. It was such fun in the chaotic traffic.
★★★★★
I would certainly recommend this trip to anyone who has a spare day in Rome.
★★★★★
This was the best tour I have done in Italy so far.
★★★★★
He was incredibly knowledgeable. He paused for questions often and had an explanation for everything.
★★★★★
A must for anyone interested in early Christianity or in Roman history in general.
The other side of Rome
North of the centre: Priscilla
Every tour above heads south to the Appia. Priscilla lies the other way, on Via Salaria, with some of
the finest paintings in any Roman catacomb.
Priscilla Catacombs Entry & Guided Visit
Via Salaria 430 · About 45 minutes · GetYourGuide
Away from the Appia, on Via Salaria in the north of the city: two levels of galleries looked after by Benedictine sisters, the Greek Chapel, and a painting of the Virgin and Child with a prophet pointing to a star that the Vatican's commission calls the oldest image of the Mother of God in the West.
Search for the catacombs of Rome and the pictures blur together: skulls stacked in walls, candlelit
tunnels, monks' bones. Some of those pictures are Paris and some are a 17th-century crypt on Via Veneto. Rome's
catacombs are something older and quieter: the cemeteries of the city's first Christian families. Here is what you
will find, and how to choose a visit.
Cemeteries outside the walls
Roman law did not allow burials inside the city, so the dead were laid along the roads leading out of it. From the
2nd century, Christians began digging underground, often extending a family tomb, into tufa, a volcanic stone that is
soft to cut and hardens in the air. Galleries were dug level below level, lined with loculi, rectangular
niches sealed with a slab, with arched tombs and small painted family chambers between them. Taken together, Rome's
catacombs run to about 150 km. They were burial grounds and places of memory, not hiding places: the old story of
Christians living in the tunnels to escape persecution is not supported by historians today.
Rows of loculi: most were emptied long ago.
Seven open, each on its own calendar
Of about 60 catacombs, seven are regularly open: San Callisto, San Sebastiano and Domitilla on and by the Via Appia
Antica, Priscilla on Via Salaria, Sant'Agnese on Via Nomentana, Santi Marcellino e Pietro on Via Casilina, and San
Pancrazio for a few hours a week. They belong to the Holy See and are run day to day by religious communities. Each
follows its own opening calendar, per its official site: San Callisto closes on Wednesday, San Sebastiano on Monday, Domitilla
on Tuesday, Priscilla on Monday, Marcellino e Pietro on Thursday. The main ones, such as San Callisto, San Sebastiano and
Priscilla, are visited only with the site's own guide, in a group, for about 40 to 45 minutes.
The honest small print: because the catacomb's own guide is part of the entry ticket at the main sites, a tour
does not buy you a better guide underground. It buys the transport, a catacomb picked to be open on your day, and the
extras around it. If you are happy to ride bus 118 and book a slot yourself, the plain San Callisto ticket is all you
need.
What each one is known for
San Callisto is the famous one: the Crypt of the Popes, where nine popes were laid, and the crypt of St Cecilia.
San Sebastiano gave every catacomb its name, from ad catacumbas, the old name of this stretch of the Appia,
and its walls carry ancient graffiti invoking Peter and Paul. Domitilla holds the only half-underground basilica in
Rome, dedicated to the martyrs Nereus and Achilleus. Priscilla has the Greek Chapel and a painting of the Virgin and
Child that the Vatican's commission calls the oldest image of the Mother of God in the West.
The Good Shepherd, a favourite image of early Christian painters.
Which option, and when
For the classic visit with the Appian Way and transport, take the minibus tour. For the popes and nothing else, the
San Callisto ticket. For bones and a catacomb in one go, the Capuchin tour, or the after-hours version with Priscilla.
For an English-speaking small group at Domitilla, the two-hour tour that meets at its gate. If you would rather ride,
the golf cart or the e-bike. Planning it yourself? Start with
which catacomb to visit.
Straight answers to what people ask most about visiting the catacombs of Rome.
Which is the most famous catacomb of Rome?
San Callisto, on the Via Appia Antica. It holds the Crypt of the Popes, where nine popes were buried, and the crypt of St Cecilia, and its official site describes nearly 20 km of galleries. Our guide to the open catacombs sets it beside the others.
Which catacomb is best to visit in Rome?
It depends on the day and what you want to see. San Callisto for the popes, Domitilla for its half-underground basilica, San Sebastiano for the place that gave catacombs their name, Priscilla for one of the earliest known images of the Virgin and Child. Each one follows its own opening calendar.
Is it worth visiting catacombs in Rome?
Yes, if you want early Christian Rome rather than bones on display. The visit is short, about 40 to 45 minutes with the site's own guide, and the frescoes, inscriptions and tombs of popes are seen in place. Tips before you go covers who should skip it.
Can you visit the catacombs in Rome without a guide?
No. The main catacombs, such as San Callisto, San Sebastiano and Priscilla, are visited only in a group with the site's own guide, and the entry ticket includes that guide. A tour adds the transport, the choice of catacomb and extras such as the Appian Way.
What are the different catacombs in Rome?
About 60 have been found, Christian and Jewish. Seven are regularly open: San Callisto, San Sebastiano and Domitilla by the Via Appia, Priscilla on Via Salaria, Sant'Agnese on Via Nomentana, Santi Marcellino e Pietro on Via Casilina and San Pancrazio, which opens only a few hours a week.
What is the dress code for the Rome catacombs?
Clothing suited to a sacred place. San Sebastiano's rules ask for it, and several tours on this page require shoulders and knees covered, with no shorts, short skirts or sleeveless tops. Bring a light layer: it is about 16 to 17 degrees Celsius underground.
Is it cold in the catacombs in Rome?
Cool and humid. San Callisto gives about 16 degrees Celsius and San Sebastiano about 17, all year round, so a light jacket helps in summer and the galleries feel mild in winter.
Can you take pictures in the catacombs?
Not at San Callisto or San Sebastiano: both forbid photos and video inside, per their rules, and the tour listings say the same. The Paris catacombs are different and allow private photos.
Which catacombs are better, Paris or Rome?
They are different things. Paris is an ossuary of several million people in old quarries, with bones stacked along the route. Rome's catacombs are ancient cemeteries with frescoes, inscriptions and tombs of popes. Rome, Paris or Naples compares them.
Who is buried in the catacombs?
Ordinary Christian families of ancient Rome, along with martyrs and early popes; Rome also has Jewish catacombs. Burial inside the city was forbidden, so the cemeteries grew outside the walls. Who is buried there tells the story.
How do you get to the catacombs on the Appian Way?
Bus 118 from Circo Massimo or Colosseo stops at San Callisto and San Sebastiano; bus 218 runs from San Giovanni. The tours on this page include transport from the centre. The Appian Way half day has the details.
How much does a catacombs tour in Rome cost?
The price is shown at checkout and moves with the date. What changes it is transport, what is bundled (the Appian Way, the Capuchin Crypt, San Clemente) and the group size; the plain entry with the site's guide is the simplest option.
Ready to book
Below the Appia, by lamplight.
The minibus tour with the Appian Way, the official San Callisto ticket and the Capuchin Crypt combo, with free cancellation.
The official ticket
About 40 minutesClosed on WednesdaysFree cancellation
