Day trip from Rome Ostia Antica
The excavated harbour town of ancient Rome, 25 km south-west of the centre and 26 minutes from Porta San Paolo on the Metromare line.
Is Ostia Antica worth a day trip from Rome?
Half a day. Not on a Monday.
Go, and keep it to a morning. Ostia Antica gives you streets, baths, a theatre and mosaics without the 2-hour journey to Pompeii, and 3 hours on site is enough for most people. Trains leave Porta San Paolo every 20 minutes and a city ticket covers the ride. The site opens at 8:30 and is closed on Mondays. Closing time moves with the season: 18:30 until 24 October, then 16:30 through February, with last entry an hour earlier. There is little shade and almost nothing to eat inside, so bring water.
The decision sheet
- Travel time
- 26 minFrom Porta San Paolo, next to Piramide (Metro B) · one way · Cotral, Metromare timetable
- Transport
- Metromare train
- Self-guided cost
- € 212 BIT tickets at € 1.50 + Ostia Antica Park ticket € 18 (all the Park's sites, valid 8 days) · Parco archeologico di Ostia antica, integrated tickets
- Tour price
- From € 49Civitatis catalogue
- Time needed
- 2.50–4 hDaytripo editorial
- Closed days
- Monday
- Best time
- Mar-May and Sep-Oct, morningsDaytripo editorial
- Verdict
- Worth half a dayDaytripo editorial
What to see and do in Ostia Antica
- 01
The theatre
A restored Roman theatre you can climb for a view over the whole site. It is 15 minutes from the gate along the main street and still hosts summer shows.
- 02
Square of the Guilds
Behind the theatre, a portico of shipping offices with black and white floor mosaics showing ships, dolphins and elephants. Each one advertised a trade route. Allow 20 minutes.
- 03
Baths of Neptune
A raised walkway looks down on a large mosaic of Neptune driving four sea horses. It is on the right of the main street, before the theatre.
- 04
The Thermopolium
A Roman snack bar on Via di Diana with its marble counter, shelves and a painted menu of food still on the wall. Five minutes, and children like it.
- 05
Apartment blocks and the Forum
Multi-storey brick housing, some with stairs you can climb, around the Forum and its tall brick temple. This is how ordinary Romans lived. Allow 40 minutes.
Good forAncient sitesWith kids
How to spend the day
Take Metro B to Piramide and walk through to Porta San Paolo station. Catch the 08:45 Metromare and get off at Ostia Antica at 09:11; the entrance is a short walk over the footbridge. Follow the main street to the theatre and the Forum, then loop back through the baths. Leave around 12:30 and you are in Rome for a late lunch. Trains back run every 20 minutes until about 22:30.
Ostia Antica in summer and in winter
Summer
June to AugustThe site stays open until 18:30, but go at 8:30. By noon the brick and paving hold the heat, and the umbrella pines shade only parts of the main street. Three hours is enough. Afterwards, stay on the same train line for two more stops and you are at the beach in Lido di Ostia.
Winter
December to FebruaryFrom late October through February the site closes at 16:30, with last entry an hour earlier, so a morning visit is the only sensible plan. It is quiet, sometimes nearly empty, and low sun suits the mosaics. After heavy rain some areas flood and the grass paths turn muddy.
How crowded it gets
Quiet- Busiest
- Free first Sundays and spring weekday mornings with school groups
- Quietest
- Afternoons, and any weekday from November to February
Ostia is rarely busy. School groups cluster at the theatre between 10:00 and 12:00 in April and May, so walk past them to the far end first and come back.
How do you get to Ostia Antica from Rome?
Metromare train
- Travel time
- 26 min
- Frequency
- Every 20 min
- Cost
- € 3 return
- Departs from
- Porta San Paolo (Metro B Piramide)
The Metromare, formerly the Roma-Lido line, leaves from Porta San Paolo, attached to Piramide metro station. A normal € 1.50 BIT ticket is valid, one per direction. Get off at Ostia Antica, not Lido. On weekday evenings the last trains leave the terminals at 22:30 because of track works.
Organized tour
- Travel time
- 4 hours
- Cost
- From € 49
- Departs from
- Piramide metro station
Meets at Piramide and uses the same train, so you are paying for the guide: 4 hours in total, with entry and train tickets included. Worth it here, because the ruins have few signs and a guide makes sense of the warehouses, guild offices and baths.
Practical: clothes, food and money
What to wear
Closed shoes for uneven Roman paving and dusty paths. In summer bring a hat, sunscreen and more water than you think. In winter wear waterproof shoes, as puddles sit on the old streets for days.
What to eat
Pack a snack: there is a single cafeteria near the museum, well inside the site. For a proper lunch walk five minutes from the gate to the small walled village beside the castle of Julius II, where a few trattorias serve Roman pasta and fried fish.
What you will spend
Hard to spend much. The train is two € 1.50 city tickets and the Park ticket is € 18, valid 8 days for all its sites. Water and a snack are the only extras. The guided tour, from € 49, includes entry and train.
How to get the most out of the day
- The fountains inside are few and far from the entrance. Fill your bottle before the ticket office.
- Go to the far end near Porta Marina first, then walk back. Most visitors turn around at the Forum and miss the seaside quarter.
- The ticket office takes cards, and entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, the only day when it gets crowded.
- With children, give them the mosaics in the Square of the Guilds to find animals in. It buys you 20 calm minutes.
How long do you need in Ostia Antica?
Plan 2.50–4 h on site, plus 26 min of travel each way from Rome.
When is Ostia Antica closed?
Monday. Best time: Mar-May and Sep-Oct, mornings.