# Ostia Antica

A day trip from Rome: an entire Roman town, with streets, houses, baths and a theatre, half an hour by train from Piramide.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/lazio/ostia-antica · Revisado: 2026-11-12

Ostia Antica is the Roman town closest to hand from Rome: half an hour by train from the Piramide metro stop. It was the capital's port, at the mouth of the Tiber, and when the river and the sea withdrew it was left empty and covered in silt. What you see today is an entire town of streets, multi-storey houses, warehouses, baths, bars and temples, less famous than Pompeii and much quieter.

## What can you see at Ostia Antica?

You enter by the Porta Romana and walk along the Decumanus Maximus, the main street, which crosses the city from end to end. On the right, near the start, the Baths of Neptune, with an enormous mosaic you look down on. Further on, the theatre and, behind it, the Square of the Corporations, where each shipping company had its office with its ship in mosaic. Then the forum and the Capitolium, the main temple, and beside it the Thermopolium, a Roman bar with its marble counter, and the brick apartment houses. At the far end, the Ostia Museum keeps the statues.

Outside the enclosure, with the same ticket, are the castle of Julius II and the borgo, opposite the ticket office, and, on the way to the airport, the Porto necropolis and the imperial harbours of Claudius and Trajan.

## How do you get there from Rome?

By train, which is easiest. The Rome–Lido line leaves from Porta San Paolo station, right next to the Piramide stop on metro line B, and stops at Ostia Antica. From the station you cross a footbridge and in a few minutes you're at the ticket office. The Rome urban ticket is valid.

By car, along Via Ostiense or Via del Mare to Viale dei Romagnoli, 717: about 30 or 40 minutes from the centre depending on traffic. There is an unattended car park from 7:30 to 19:30 next to the entrance.

From the airport, Ostia is about 10 km from Fiumicino. If your return flight leaves in the afternoon, you can leave your luggage in the car, see the Porto necropolis, which is on the way, and arrive in good time.

## How much does it cost and what are the opening hours?

The integrated ticket costs €18, €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25, and is valid for eight consecutive days for all the sites in the park. The castle, the necropolis and the harbours can be paid for separately at €6. On the first Sunday of every month everything is free.

The excavations open from Tuesday to Sunday at 8:30. They close at 16:30 in winter, from 25 October to the end of February, at 17:15 in March, at 19:00 from April to September and at 18:30 in the first half of October. You can enter up to an hour before. They are closed on Mondays and on 25 December.

## How much time do I need?

Three or four hours for the excavations and the museum; a long half day with the castle. With the Porto necropolis and the imperial harbours, a whole day, preferably by car. It's the most convenient excavation to combine with Rome: you return in mid-afternoon and still have time for Trastevere.

## Where to eat?

You can't eat or picnic inside: there is a café and vending machines. On leaving, Allo Sbarco di Enea, next to the entrance, is a fish house with dining rooms under a vine arbour; Il Frantoio, by the Castel Fusano pine wood, serves Roman cooking with a cheap set lunch.

## Ostia or Pompeii?

If you have a single day and you're in Rome, Ostia: it's half an hour away, not two, and the visit is quieter. Pompeii has the frescoes and Vesuvius behind it; Ostia has the apartment houses, warehouses and the port, and you understand better what daily life was like in a merchants' town. If you have time, do both; Pompeii is better organised from Naples.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Rome (a 22.0 km), Castelli Romani (a 30.9 km), Lake Bracciano (a 41.0 km), Tivoli (a 47.9 km)

## Qué hacer
- **The excavations of Ostia, Rome's port city** (3 h 30 · All ages · 18): What it is
Ostia was the port of Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber, and came to have tens of thousands of inhabitants. When the river receded and the port moved, the city emptied and silt covered it. Today you walk through it as through a neighbourhood: the decumanus maximus, the main street, runs from end to end among warehouses, baths, multi-storey houses, taverns and temples. Unlike Pompeii, here you see the city of merchants and dockers, with its brick blocks of flats.
Hours and entry
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30. It closes at 16:30 from 25 October to the end of February, at 17:15 in March, at 19:00 from April to September and at 18:30 from 1 to 24 October; the ticket office and last entry, an hour before. Closed on Mondays and 25 December. The integrated ticket costs €18 (€2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25) and is valid for eight consecutive days for all sites in the park: excavations, museum, Julius II castle, Porto necropolis and imperial harbours. The first Sunday of the month is free. There are audio guides for the long route (€7), short (€5) and for children (€5).
Getting there
By train, the Roma–Lido line leaves from Porta San Paolo, next to the Piramide metro stop, and stops at Ostia Antica: from the station you cross the footbridge and in a few minutes you are at the ticket office. By car, along via del Mare or the Ostiense to viale dei Romagnoli, 717; there is an unattended car park from 7:30 to 19:30.
What you need to know
You cannot eat or picnic inside: there is a café and drinks machines. Dogs are allowed on a lead. From mid-December to the end of March the mosaics are covered to protect them. There is a wheelchair-accessible path from the ticket office to the museum.
- **The theatre and the Piazzale delle Corporazioni** (45 min · All ages): The theatre, next to the decumanus, keeps its tiers of seats and is used in summer for the Ostia Antica festival. Behind it is the Piazzale delle Corporazioni, a colonnaded square where shipowners and traders from all over the Mediterranean had their offices: in front of each, a black-and-white mosaic with their ship, port or merchandise. Climb to the top of the tiers to see the whole square. From mid-December to the end of March the mosaics are covered.
- **The Baths of Neptune and their great mosaic** (20 min · All ages): At the start of the decumanus, on the right as you enter, are the Baths of Neptune. From a high terrace you see the great mosaic on the floor: Neptune driving four sea horses among tritons, dolphins and monsters. It is one of the largest mosaics in Ostia and the first stop for almost everyone. In winter it may be covered.
- **The Thermopolium and the apartment houses** (40 min · All ages): On via di Diana, a step from the forum, is the Thermopolium, a Roman bar with its marble counter, the shelf where food was displayed and a courtyard with benches. Around it are insulae, brick blocks of flats of several storeys, with stairs that climbed to the floors above: the House of Diana is the best known. It is the part of Ostia that best explains how ordinary people lived, and the one children like most.
- **The Capitolium and the Forum** (30 min · All ages): The centre of the city: an elongated square with the Capitolium, the temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, at the far end, on a brick flight of steps. It is the tallest building left in Ostia and the photograph in almost every guide. There is an accessible route from the inner car park to the Capitolium for people with reduced mobility.
- **Ostia Museum** (45 min · All ages): Inside the site, at the far end, the museum holds the statues, portraits, sarcophagi and reliefs that came out of Ostia. It opens Tuesday to Sunday at 9:30 from April to 24 October and at 10:30 the rest of the year, so don't leave it until the end: in winter the last entry is at 15:00. Next to it is the excavations café. It has a ramp and can be reached by wheelchair from the ticket office.
- **Julius II Castle and the borgo of Ostia Antica** (1 h · All ages · 6): Opposite the entrance to the excavations, on the other side of viale dei Romagnoli, is the borgo, a little walled village with its church and a few streets, and the castle that Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, later Pope Julius II, built in the late 15th century to control the Tiber. It is open Tuesday to Sunday: from November to February from 10:30 to 16:30; from 1 March to 15 June from 10:30 to 19:30; from 16 June to 31 October, from 13:30 to 19:30. Last entry half an hour before. It costs €6 or is included in the €18 integrated ticket.
- **The Porto necropolis on the Isola Sacra** (1 h · Adults and teenagers · 6): On the other side of the Tiber, on the way to Fiumicino airport, is the cemetery of the city of Porto: a street with dozens of brick family tombs, some with plaques that tell the deceased's trade in terracotta reliefs. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 to 16:30, last entry at 16:00. It costs €6 or comes with the integrated ticket. You get there by car along via dell'Aeroporto di Fiumicino, via Cima Cristallo and via Pal Piccolo. A good stop if you are flying from Fiumicino in the afternoon.
- **The imperial harbours of Claudius and Trajan** (1 h 30 · Adults and teenagers · 6): When Ostia became too small, Claudius and later Trajan built a new harbour north of the Tiber, with a hexagonal basin that can still be made out, today a lake among pines. The entrance is at via Portuense, 2360, beneath the viaduct of the airport motorway. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00; from late October to February, last entry at 15:30. It costs €6 or comes with the integrated ticket. The viewpoint over Trajan's lake is temporarily closed. There is an audio guide in Italian and English for €5.

## Dónde comer
- **Allo Sbarco di Enea** (Restaurant, Ostia Antica, €€€). Qué pedir: lobster pasta or fettuccine with red prawns and courgette flowers
- **Il Frantoio** (Restaurant, Ostia Antica, €). Qué pedir: the meat menu: amatriciana or gnocchi al ragù and something grilled

## As a family: A Roman city to explore on foot

Ostia is more manageable than Pompeii and is half an hour from Rome: a good first Roman city for children. You can go into the houses, climb the theatre tiers and look for the ships in the mosaics.

### What works best
The Thermopolium: a Roman bar with its counter, like the ones today

The theatre, to climb to the top of the tiers, and the ship mosaics of the Piazzale delle Corporazioni

Julius II Castle, in the borgo, with its tower

The children's audio guide, in Italian or English, for €5

### Where to sleep
In Rome, and come for the day by train

Ostia Antica Park Hotel, with a seasonal pool, if you have a car

### Where to eat
Il Frantoio, with a meat menu at €10

Allo Sbarco di Enea, with outdoor dining next to the entrance

### Keep in mind
You cannot eat or picnic inside; there is a café and machines

The ground is uneven paving: pushchair with big wheels or baby carrier

In summer there is little shade: go first thing

### Qué hacer as a family
- The excavations of Ostia, Rome's port city
- The theatre and the Piazzale delle Corporazioni
- The Baths of Neptune and their great mosaic
- The Thermopolium and the apartment houses
- Julius II Castle and the borgo of Ostia Antica

## With teenagers: How ordinary people lived in Rome

For teenagers Ostia helps them understand what they study: here there are no palaces, but blocks of flats, bars, public latrines, warehouses and merchants' offices.

### What works best
The multi-storey apartment houses and the Thermopolium

The Piazzale delle Corporazioni, with each shipping company's ships in mosaic

The Porto necropolis, with reliefs of trades on the tombs

The Ostia Museum, with portraits of the city's people

### Where to sleep
In Rome; the Rome–Lido train lets them come on their own

Ostia Antica Park Hotel, if you go by car

### Where to eat
Allo Sbarco di Enea, fish at the entrance

Il Frantoio, cheap Roman cooking

### Keep in mind
EU citizens aged 18 to 25 pay €2 for the integrated ticket

You cannot fly a drone: it is a no-fly zone because of the airport

### Qué hacer with teenagers
- The excavations of Ostia, Rome's port city
- The theatre and the Piazzale delle Corporazioni
- The Thermopolium and the apartment houses
- Ostia Museum
- Julius II Castle and the borgo of Ostia Antica
- The Porto necropolis on the Isola Sacra

## Consejos

### Go in at 8:30
Before the groups arrive and before the heat.

### Leave the decumanus
The side streets are empty and have the best-preserved houses.

### Use the integrated ticket
It's valid for eight days: you can come back another day to the castle or the necropolis.

### Check the date if you're coming for the mosaics
From mid-December to the end of March they're covered.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How do I get from Rome to Ostia Antica?
On the Rome–Lido train from Porta San Paolo, next to the Piramide stop on metro line B, to the Ostia Antica stop. From there, a few minutes on foot.

### How much does the ticket cost?
€18 for the integrated ticket, valid for eight days for all the sites in the park. €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25.

### Which day is it closed?
Mondays and 25 December.

### Can you go with a dog?
Yes, on a lead all the way round and picking up after it.

### Is there somewhere to eat inside?
There is a café and vending machines, but you can't eat or picnic in the archaeological area.

### How much time is needed?
Three or four hours for the excavations and the museum.