Palatine Hill opens at 9 am, and Google Maps lists 7:30 pm as closing every day, but the official page I relied on shows a winter closing of 4:30 pm with last entry at 3:30 pm. That gap is the first thing to settle before you plan your day. This guide covers the Palatine Hill opening hours by day, what is on the hill, the entrances, the best time to go and how to get there. Once the Palatine Hill opening hours are clear, the tickets come next, and my full comparison of Palatine Hill tickets lists 10 options with prices.
Palatine Hill Opening Hours
Today, Saturday 7 November 2026, the Palatine Hill opening hours per Google Maps are 9 am to 7:30 pm. The Palatine Hill opening hours look the same on every day of the week:
Day
Hours per Google Maps
Monday
9 am to 7:30 pm
Tuesday
9 am to 7:30 pm
Wednesday
9 am to 7:30 pm
Thursday
9 am to 7:30 pm
Friday
9 am to 7:30 pm
Saturday
9 am to 7:30 pm
Sunday
9 am to 7:30 pm
The official Palatine Hill opening hours are on the hours and tickets page of the Parco archeologico del Colosseo, and that page is the one to trust. For 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027 it shows the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill opening at 9:00, the Colosseum at 8:30, and the park closing at 4:30 pm with last entry at 3:30 pm. It lists closures on 25 December 2026 and 1 January 2027. Rome’s tourism board, Turismo Roma, gives the same winter hours and closures. It also lists a longer summer schedule: 9:00 to 19:15 from 29 March to 30 September 2026, with last entry at 18:15, so the Google Maps closing time of 7:30 pm looks like a summer figure. In winter I’d plan around the earlier official time.
Palatine Rome Opening Hours
The Palatine Rome opening hours, like the Palatine Hill opening hours in general, work differently from a museum, because the hill is open ground inside a larger park, and your timing is set partly by your ticket. A bundle that includes the Colosseum puts you on a timed slot there first, and the Forum and Palatine come either side of it. The Touristation ticket at $42, which leaves the Colosseum out, is valid for 24 hours, and the Discover Rome Tours listing says its Forum and Palatine entry is valid for 24 hours with a 9 am to 6 pm window. That 6 pm figure is the reseller’s statement, and it does not match the official winter closing, so I would not rely on it.
Palatine Hill Rome Opening Hours
The Palatine Hill Rome opening hours are the same on all seven days according to Google Maps, so there is no weekday that opens later or closes early in the listing. What does change is the season. The official page I read covers only the winter period, and the summer schedule is longer, so the hour you should leave the hill depends on the month. In November the Open-Meteo record for Rome gives sunset at about 4:49 pm, so the winter closing time and the last light roughly coincide. In June sunset is at 8:46 pm, long after a winter-style closing. The weather table further down has the months.
Palatine Hill Closing Time
The Palatine Hill closing time in the official winter opening hours schedule is 4:30 pm, and the last entry is 3:30 pm. Google Maps shows 7:30 pm, which would leave three hours more, but I would not plan a late visit on that figure. If you want the Forum and the Palatine on the same afternoon, start the hill no later than about 1 pm in winter so that you have the last entry as a margin. That 1 pm figure is my own rule of thumb and not an official one. The hill is large, the paths are uphill from the Forum side, and a visit with a guide takes up to 1.75 hours on its own.
What Is On Palatine Hill
What is on Palatine Hill is the answer to why people plan their day around the Palatine Hill opening hours. Wikipedia calls it mainly a large open-air museum and says the Palatine Museum holds finds from the excavations. The Touristation listing names the sites its ticket opens: the Palatine Museums, the House of Augustus, the House of Livia and the Domus Tiberiana. Google Maps also lists the Palatine Museum, the House of Livia and a place it calls Stadio Palatino, all on the hill. I’d also expect gardens and wide views over the Circus Maximus, but none of the listings I compared names them and I could not open the park’s page, so I won’t describe them as fact.
By my estimate from Google Maps coordinates, the museum is about 1 minute from the map pin for the hill and the House of Livia about 3 minutes, a straight-line distance multiplied by 1.3 at 4.8 km/h. The Roman Forum is about 6 minutes away and the Colosseum about 7, and I describe both in my Roman Forum tickets and Colosseum tickets pages.
Palatine Hill Entrance
The Palatine Hill entrance sits inside the Palatine Hill opening hours like everything else, and on Google Maps it is listed at Via di S. Gregorio, 30, 00186 Rome, and its listing links to the official ticketing site. I could not confirm the other gate names from the official site while writing, so I will not guess them. What the tour listings show is where people meet. The GetYourGuide audio guide ticket says to show it at the Colosseum entrance in front of the Arch of Constantine, and for the Forum side to enter via Via Sacra and use the ticket-holder line on the right. Most guided tours meet near Colosseo station: the Nicom and Tours And Tours listings at Via delle Terme di Tito 93, City Walkers on the terrace above the station and Touriks at the green kiosk outside it. The Touristation tickets are exchanged at Piazza d’Aracoeli 16, and the listing says not to go to the Forum gate first.
Tours And Tours
Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill Tour
★4.2 (759 reviews)
2.5 hours
Free cancellation
My pick: If you want the guide to handle the gates and the story: $43, 2.5 hours, live guide and headsets, 4.2 from 759 reviews, free cancellation 3 days ahead.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Professional guide
✓ Entrance tickets
✓ Headsets
Not included / not suitable
✕ Hotel pickup and drop-off
✕ Food and drinks
✕ Gratuities
Meeting point: Meet us at Via delle Terme di Tito 93. If you arrive by Metro, from the 'Colosseo metro station' reach the terrace above the station. Walk on 'Via Nicola Salvi' about 100m and turn left. Via delle Terme di Tito, 93, 00184 Roma RM, Italia
Languages: Spanish, French, German, English, Italian
Duration: 2.5 hours
Cancellation: Cancel up to 3 days in advance for a full refund
“It was amazing. Our guide was so knowledgeable, entertaining and fun. We learned so much!” – GetYourGuide review
Several listings change the meeting point by option, and Doooing lists three, so read your confirmation the evening before.
Best Time to Visit Palatine Hill
Within the official Palatine Hill opening hours, the best time to visit is at 9 am when it opens, and I can say that from the hours and the weather more than from crowd data. The official page does not publish crowd levels, so I will not invent quiet days. One reviewer of an audio guide ticket advised going early to beat both the heat and the queues, which fits the sunshine figures. Open-Meteo’s 2025 record for Rome shows how the light and weather move through the year.
Another reviewer found the hill peaceful with places to rest and a water refill station. For the best time to visit the hill I’d pick a morning in spring or autumn and book the earliest slot your ticket offers.
How to Get to Palatine Hill
The nearest station is Colosseo on Metro line B, about 451 m from the hill’s map pin in a straight line, roughly a 7-minute walk by my estimate. The line is operated by ATAC Roma. Circo Massimo station on the same line is about 587 m away, roughly 10 minutes, and it is the closer approach from the south side. The Arch of Constantine is a 5-minute walk and the Colosseum 7, so the hill is a short step from the Colosseum area. The Circus Maximus, which has its own page on my Circus Maximus tickets guide, lies just beyond.
What to Know Before You Go
Per the official hours page, as I read it, every ticket is named for the visitor, you show an ID document at the entrances and tickets go on sale 30 days before the visit date. If your bundle includes the Colosseum, that part needs a timed slot, and the listings warn that late arrivals cannot be guaranteed entry. One Roman Way reviewer said the audio guide would not download, so install it before you leave your hotel. I did not find the bag rules on the pages I read, so check the official site for what you can carry in.
Allow 1.5 to 3 hours inside the Palatine Hill opening hours, depending on whether the Colosseum is on your ticket. The hill is uneven ground with a climb from the Forum, so I would wear walking shoes and bring water, though that is my own advice and not an official rule. The hill belongs to the Historic Centre of Rome, which UNESCO lists as a World Heritage property.
Once you know the Palatine Hill opening hours for your date, the next choice is the ticket. Every Palatine Hill ticket I compared is explained there. The home page lists the other attractions I compare.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Palatine Hill opening hours?+
Google Maps lists Palatine Hill open 9 am to 7:30 pm every day. The official hours page, as I read it for the winter period of 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027, shows the Palatine opening at 9:00 with the park closing at 4:30 pm. The two disagree, so trust the official page and check colosseo.it for your date.
What time does Palatine Hill close?+
Google Maps shows 7:30 pm, but for the winter period the official page gives 4:30 pm as closing and 3:30 pm as last entry for the archaeological park. I did not find the hours for other seasons, so check the official site in spring and summer.
Is Palatine Hill closed on any days?+
The official hours page lists closures on 25 December 2026 and 1 January 2027. Google Maps shows no closing day in its weekly hours.
How long do you need at Palatine Hill?+
The listings I compared that include the hill run from 1.5 to 3 hours. A live-guided Forum and Palatine walk takes 1.5 to 1.75 hours, and the whole Colosseum, Forum and Palatine bundle takes 2.5 to 3 hours with a guide.
Do I need a ticket for Palatine Hill?+
Yes. The hill is part of the archaeological park and the official hours page says tickets are named and an ID document is checked at the entrances. My comparison of Palatine Hill tickets lists 10 options that include the entry.
Is there a free day at Palatine Hill?+
Per the official hours page, as I read it for my Colosseum guide, entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, with further free dates such as 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. Names and slots still apply, so check colosseo.it first.
