What to book, in short
In one day you can do the Duomo complex, Piazza del Campo (free, always open) and, if you have a head for heights, the Torre del Mangia. What to book and where:
- Duomo: the OPA SI PASS on the Opera della Metropolitana's website. It costs less than on the platforms and is valid for three days.
- Duomo roofs: buy the Porta del Cielo instead of the pass, because it already includes it.
- Torre del Mangia: it cannot be booked. Go to the ticket office in the morning and choose your slot.
- Museo Civico: at the ticket office together with the Tower, €15 in all.
Only add Santa Maria della Scala and Palazzo delle Papesse if you are staying the night.
Siena Duomo tickets: OPA SI PASS, single ticket or Porta del Cielo
The Duomo complex is run by the Opera della Metropolitana, a non-profit body that puts its takings back into conservation. The ticket offices are at Piazza Duomo 7 and at the Dear Guests visitor centre, Via di Città 48, open every day.
The prices below are those published on the Opera's official site:
| Ticket | What it includes | Full | Children 7–11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cathedral | Duomo, the floor when uncovered, Piccolomini Library | €7, €10 when the floor is uncovered | — |
| OPA SI PASS | Cathedral, Library, Museo dell'Opera, Panorama from the Facciatone, Crypt, Baptistery, Oratory of San Bernardino when open | €14, €16 when the floor is uncovered | €3 |
| Porta del Cielo | the whole OPA SI PASS plus the route over the vaults and roofs | €21 | €6 |
Children up to 6 go in free. Also free: residents of Siena and people born there, people with disabilities with one companion, and students at the two Siena universities. The Library is paired with the Cathedral by both the Opera and the resellers: if it matters to you, check the wording when you buy.
The pass is valid for three consecutive days from issue, and the full circuit takes about two hours. The audio guide is free and plays on your own smartphone. Compared with the single ticket the pass is almost always worth it: for €6–7 more you add the Museo dell'Opera, with Duccio's Maestà, painted for the high altar, and Giovanni Pisano's original statues, plus the climb up the Facciatone, the top of the unfinished façade of the Duomo Nuovo, reached by a narrow staircase.
The Porta del Cielo
This is the route over the vaults and roofs of the Cathedral, through spaces closed to the public for centuries, with views down into the nave and out over the city. It is not included in the OPA SI PASS, but the €21 ticket includes the pass: do not buy both.
The Porta del Cielo is open only from 1 March to 6 January, during Cathedral hours. It is sold online, or at the ticket office if places are left, and in summer it is best not to count on that. You go up in small accompanied groups at fixed times; for age limits and group sizes, ask the call centre.
The floor: when it is uncovered
The floor of the Duomo is made up of 56 panels in inlaid and engraved marble, created between the 14th and 19th centuries by more than forty artists. The cartoons are almost all by Sienese artists, with one famous exception: the Hill of Wisdom, designed by Pinturicchio in 1505. The scenes around the altar, with the stories of Elijah and Moses, are by Domenico Beccafumi, while the Massacre of the Innocents is by Matteo di Giovanni. Vasari called it "the most beautiful", "large and magnificent".
To protect it, it stays covered for most of the year. The rule:
- it is uncovered from late June to late July;
- it is covered again in early August, around the Palio dell'Assunta;
- it is uncovered again from mid or late August into autumn, usually until mid or late October, and in some years until November.
So it is not true that you can see it "only from August to October". In the weeks when it is uncovered the ticket costs €2–3 more and the Cathedral also opens on Sunday mornings (09:30–18:00). On certain dates the Opera organises the 07:30 "Clavigero" visit: you follow the keeper of the keys as he opens the Cathedral, the Library and the roofs.
- January: not recommended or closed
- February: not recommended or closed
- March: good
- April: good
- May: good
- June: good
- July: best time
- August: good
- September: best time
- October: best time
- November: good
- December: not recommended or closed
best time good not recommended or closed
The Duomo floor is normally uncovered from late June to late July and again from mid or late August into autumn; around the Palio dell'Assunta it is covered again. On 2 July and 16 August the city is packed and several museums close early.
Opening hours of the complex
From 1 April to 31 October the complex opens from 10:00 to 19:00, and the Museo dell'Opera from 09:30 to 19:30. In winter the hours are 10:30–17:30, while between 26 December and 6 January the long hours return. On Sundays and public holidays only the Cathedral has shorter hours, opening in the afternoon from 13:30. Last entry is half an hour before closing. There is a ramp on the left side of the Duomo, but the Museum, Crypt and Baptistery are not wheelchair accessible.
Tiqets, GetYourGuide or the official site?
Let's be clear: for the Duomo the official site is cheaper. Tiqets sells the OPA SI PASS from €21.50 and GetYourGuide from €19.50, against the official €14–16. For the Cathedral and Library ticket the resellers start at €12 (GYG) and €15 (Tiqets), against €7–10. What you get in return is an app you already know and support in several languages, not a discount; the Tiqets ticket, what's more, cannot be refunded. Be wary of "savings" calculated against a "full price" higher than the official one. Partner prices change often and we check them regularly.
Siena: Cathedral Complex Pass with Audio Guide (OPA SI PASS)
(3,891 reviews) from €19.50
Book on GetYourGuide
Siena: Siena Cathedral and Piccolomini Library Entry Ticket
(5,597 reviews) from €12
Book on GetYourGuideGuided tours are a different matter. GetYourGuide has a two-hour walk with entry to the Duomo, from €40; Tiqets has early entry to the Cathedral with the keeper of the keys, from €42. If you want someone to explain the floor to you, this is where paying extra makes sense.
The Museo Civico and the Torre del Mangia
The Palazzo Pubblico closes off the lower side of Piazza del Campo. Inside is the Museo Civico, with its frescoed halls, and from one corner rises the Torre del Mangia. Here tickets and hours belong to the city council, not the Opera.
| Ticket | Price (Museo Civico website) |
|---|---|
| Museo Civico | €10, €11 booked online |
| Torre del Mangia | €10 |
| Museo Civico + Tower | €15, valid 1 day |
| Museo Civico + Santa Maria della Scala | €14, €15 booked, valid 2 days |
| Museo Civico + Tower + Santa Maria della Scala | €20 |
The museum's reduced price (€9) applies from 11 to 19 and to over-65s; under-11s go in free, including on the Tower.
The Tower rules:
- no booking: tickets are sold only on the day, at the Palazzo Pubblico ticket office or at Dear Guests;
- you climb every 45 minutes, with at most 25 people per slot, and there is also a daily cap: on busy days the places run out;
- with a combined ticket you start with the Tower;
- there are about 400 steps and no lift, with 30 minutes in all for the climb, the stop at the top and the descent. Under-14s may only climb with an adult;
- it is not advised for anyone with heart or breathing problems, vertigo or claustrophobia, or during pregnancy; it closes in bad weather.
From March to October both open 10:00–19:00. From November to February the museum closes at 18:00 and the Tower at 16:00, with the last slot at 15:15.
On the platforms the Museo Civico is available from €14 on Tiqets and, combined with Santa Maria della Scala, from €18: in both cases more than the ticket-office price.
Santa Maria della Scala
The museum complex opposite the Duomo costs €9, but €8 if you book: here, unlike the Museo Civico, it is cheaper online. In winter it is closed on Tuesdays, and the combined tickets with the Museo Civico are not sold on the first weekend of the month.
The Palio: how it works for visitors
The Palio is run every year on 2 July (the Palio di Provenzano) and 16 August (the Palio dell'Assunta). The festivities begin on 29 June and 13 August with the tratta, when horses are assigned to the contrade (the city's districts) by lot. Of the 17 contrade, ten race: the seven that did not run in the same Palio the year before, plus three drawn by lot.
The six trial races, in the morning (at 09:00) and the evening (around 19:45 in July, 19:15 in August), are free and far less crowded than the race itself.
On Palio day:
- you can stand in the middle of the Campo for free, but you have to get in early. The guidance going around is by 16:15 in July and 15:45 in August: after that the wait is more than three hours, in the heat, and leaving before the race is almost impossible;
- there are bag checks, so leave your backpack at the hotel;
- small children are not allowed in the square;
- seats in the stands, on balconies and at windows cost money, several hundred euros. There is no single ticket office: you buy them from the owners or through agencies.
On Palio days Santa Maria della Scala closes early (at 17:00 on 2 July, 16:30 on 16 August) and the car parks fill up fast. If the Palio does not interest you, avoid those dates.
Siena as a day trip from Florence: bus or train
By bus is almost always the best choice. Autolinee Toscane's 131R express takes the dual carriageway in about 75–80 minutes, with services roughly every hour on weekdays and fewer on Saturdays and Sundays. A ticket costs €10.90 each way. In Florence it normally leaves from the bus station next to Santa Maria Novella, but at the moment 131R services are temporarily leaving from Via Orti Oricellari, a few steps away: check the stop on the Autolinee Toscane website before you go. The ordinary 131 goes via Colle and Poggibonsi and is slower. In Siena get off at Piazza Gramsci or Via Tozzi, 10–15 minutes' walk from the Campo.
By train, the regional service from Florence Santa Maria Novella costs €10.80. About half the services are direct and take 1 hour 27–35 minutes; the others change at Empoli and arrive in 1 hour 42–49 minutes. The problem is the arrival: Siena station lies about 2 km below the centre. You can take city bus 520 to Piazza Gramsci, or the free escalators inside the shopping centre opposite the station. They come out at Porta Camollia and run day and night, when they are working: in the past they have often been out of order. From Porta Camollia to the Campo it is still 15–20 minutes on foot.
By car: the historic centre is a ZTL (a limited traffic zone), watched by cameras 24 hours a day, and the fines are sent to your home. If you are staying in the centre, your hotel can register your number plate for loading and unloading. The cheapest car park is the Stazione one (€2 for the whole day beyond two hours), best combined with the escalators. The Il Campo, Duomo, San Francesco and Santa Caterina car parks cost €2 an hour, up to €35 a day. The Museo Civico recommends the Siena Ovest exit for the Duomo and Santa Caterina, and Siena Sud for Il Campo.
If you would rather not think about transport, organised day trips from Florence pair Siena with San Gimignano, and often with Pisa or Chianti. The trade-off is time: you often get only two or three hours in Siena, too little for the full pass.
Siena tours and day trips on GetYourGuide
Mistakes to avoid
- Arriving on a Sunday morning and finding the Cathedral closed: outside the weeks when the floor is uncovered, on Sundays it only opens from 13:30.
- Leaving the Tower for a winter afternoon: it closes at 16:00 and the slots sell out.
- Paying extra for a "skip the line" at the Duomo: with the official online ticket you are already sorted, and the surcharge buys convenience, not a different entrance.
Nearby and related pages
Siena pairs well with San Gimignano, linked by bus line 130, and with the Val d'Orcia to the south. Monteriggioni and the other walled villages are on our page about the borghi, the hill towns and villages of Tuscany. There is also our page on the Opera della Metropolitana and our reviews of Tiqets and GetYourGuide. If you are starting from Florence, you will find all the alternatives on our day trips page, and winery tours on the one about Tuscany wine tours.