Pisa Museums and Monuments by Opening Hours
Matching Pisa’s attractions to the day and hour you arrive
The trouble with museum planning in Pisa is timing. Several state museums close on Mondays, one opens only in the afternoon on weekends, and one is open on Friday afternoon but otherwise only in the morning. This page sorts the main paid attractions by when they are actually open, with 2026 prices in euros. Hours move with the season, so confirm on the official page before you set out.
Mornings
The Museo delle Navi Antiche is the best weekday morning stop, open Tuesday to Friday from 8:30 to 14:00. It sits in the Medici Arsenals at Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli 16 and displays some 30 Roman and Hellenistic vessels dug out of an old river basin near the railway in the late 1990s, with cargo such as amphorae and sailors’ belongings. Admission is €8 or €2 reduced. Palazzo Reale on Lungarno Pacinotti runs mornings from Tuesday to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for €5 (€2 reduced), showing court rooms, tapestries and the wooden shields once used in the Gioco del Ponte.
Afternoons
On Saturday and Sunday the Navi Antiche switch to an afternoon opening from 14:00 to 19:30. Palazzo Reale opens from 14:00 to 18:30 on Fridays only. The Museo di San Matteo keeps long hours from Tuesday to Saturday and a short Sunday. It is the place for painted crucifixes, Masaccio’s San Paolo and Donatello’s gilded reliquary bust of San Rossore, at €5 (€2 reduced). Palazzo Blu, on Lungarno Gambacorti, is open 10:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and to 20:00 at weekends, with its permanent collection at €5 or €3 reduced and large loan exhibitions alongside.
Mondays
Expect the state museums to be shut, though Palazzo Blu keeps its weekday hours. Otherwise spend the day at the cathedral square, where the monuments keep their own timetable, or on the Mura walk. The Camposanto, with its frescoes burned and rescued after the Allied bombing of July 1944, deserves a quiet visit, and the Museo delle Sinopie next door shows the preparatory drawings revealed beneath them.
Ticket structure at the square
Only the Opera della Primaziale Pisana sells these, so ignore resold tickets that promise to skip a queue, because each Tower entry is a fixed slot anyway. The Cathedral is free to enter, though any paid ticket also gives an untimed pass. Under-11s with an adult enter the Cathedral, Baptistery, Camposanto and both museums at no charge. Tickets without the Tower stay valid for a year. Some Baptistery areas can be closed for restoration, so look at the official page first.
Passes worth knowing
The national museum pass for San Matteo, Palazzo Reale, Navi Antiche and the Certosa di Calci costs €14 and lasts seven days. The city Pisa Card is about €24 for seven days and covers a wider list including Palazzo Blu, the Mura, the Botanical Garden and a city bike for an hour. Neither includes the Tower. A reseller product called the Pisa Pass is a different thing, a cathedral square bundle priced from about €33.
Guided visits
Licensed guides run roughly 90 minute walks of the Cathedral, Baptistery and Camposanto, bookable through the cathedral authority or local agencies. Prices vary, so compare before booking. The Certosa di Calci can only be entered with a guide in any case, so its €5 ticket already includes that arrangement on weekdays.
Read more: Pisa sightseeing , Pisa activities and the Pisa 3 day itinerary .
Hours for each museum are on the Navi Antiche page , the Palazzo Reale page and Palazzo Blu . Guided museum visits can be compared in a GetYourGuide search for Pisa .