Tickets for Old Nesebar: Museums, Churches, Combined Tickets and Opening Hours
In Old Nesebar, the historic town on the small peninsula, you pay when you go inside one of the sites run by the municipal Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (Старинен Несебър): the Archaeological Museum, the painted churches, the Ethnographic Museum and the windmill. This guide gives the official 2026 prices, the combined tickets, when each site opens and which churches are working churches rather than museums. Prices and hours were checked on the museum's website as of November 2026.
In short
- Tickets are sold by the municipal Museum "Ancient Nessebar". Its official price list is on ancient-nessebar.com.
- The most expensive single tickets are for the Archaeological Museum and the Church of St Stephen: €4.60 each for an adult.
- A combined ticket for all 7 museum sites costs €17.90 for an adult and €8.69 for a child.
- From mid-October to the end of December only the Archaeological Museum and St Stephen keep regular hours. Under the 2025 timetable the other sites open "on request".
- The ruins of St Sophia, St John Aliturgetos and the Basilica of the Virgin Eleusa are not on the museum's price list.
Who sells the tickets, and for which sites
Museum "Ancient Nessebar" is a municipal research and cultural institute. It looks after the monuments of the National Archaeological and Architectural Reserve "Ancient Nessebar". The old town has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 9 December 1983, and the certificate is displayed in the lobby of the Archaeological Museum.
You need a ticket for seven museum sites:
- The Archaeological Museum, with the exhibition "Nesebar Through the Ages".
- The Church of St Stephen, also called the New Metropolitan Church. Its murals date from 1599 and show more than 1,000 figures in 258 scenes. Read more in our article on St Stephen.
- The Church of St Saviour (Sveti Spas), built in 1609 and painted throughout.
- The Church of St Paraskeva.
- The Church of St John the Baptist, built in the 10th century.
- The Ethnographic Museum in the Moskoyani House of 1840. See our article on the Ethnographic Museum.
- The windmill.
Single ticket prices in 2026
From the museum's official 2026 price list, as of November 2026:
| Site | Adults | Children | Group, adults | Group, children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archaeological Museum | €4.60 | €2.30 | €4.09 | €2.05 |
| Church of St Stephen | €4.60 | €2.30 | €4.09 | €2.05 |
| St Saviour, St Paraskeva, St John the Baptist, the windmill (each) | €2.56 | €1.53 | €2.05 | €1.02 |
| Ethnographic Museum | €3.07 | €1.53 | €2.56 | €1.28 |
The price list does not say up to what age the child ticket applies, so ask at the ticket desk if you are travelling with a teenager.
Which combined ticket to choose
Each combined ticket below costs less than the single tickets for the same sites added up. Official 2026 prices:
| Combined ticket | Adults | Children |
|---|---|---|
| Archaeological Museum + one church | €6.14 | €3.07 |
| St Stephen + St Saviour | €6.14 | €3.07 |
| Archaeological Museum + Ethnographic Museum | €6.65 | €3.07 |
| Archaeological Museum + St Stephen | €7.67 | €4.09 |
| Archaeological Museum + St Stephen + 1 site of your choice | €9.71 | €4.60 |
| St Stephen + 3 sites of your choice | €9.71 | €4.60 |
| Archaeological Museum + St Stephen + Ethnographic Museum | €10.23 | €5.11 |
| Archaeological Museum + St Stephen + 2 sites of your choice | €11.76 | €6.14 |
| Archaeological Museum + St Stephen + 3 sites of your choice | €13.29 | €6.65 |
| All churches + the windmill | €13.29 | €6.65 |
| Archaeological Museum + St Stephen + 4 sites | €15.34 | €7.67 |
| All 7 museum sites | €17.90 | €8.69 |
"Site of your choice" means one of St Saviour, St Paraskeva, St John the Baptist or the windmill. In its description of the "All churches + the windmill" ticket, the museum lists St Stephen, St Saviour, St Paraskeva, St John the Baptist and St Todor.
For example, the Archaeological Museum and St Stephen bought separately cost €9.20, while the combined ticket for both is €7.67. All seven sites bought separately cost €22.51 for an adult; the combined ticket is €17.90.
Archaeological Museum + St Stephen covers the two sites with the most expensive single tickets. Under the 2025 timetable they are also the only ones with regular hours from 2 January to 31 December.
Opening hours
As of November 2026 the opening-hours page on the museum's website still shows the 2025 timetable. It shows how the hours change through the year, but check whether it has been updated before you go:
| Period (2025 timetable) | Archaeological Museum and St Stephen | St Saviour, St Paraskeva, St John the Baptist, Ethnographic Museum, windmill |
|---|---|---|
| 2 January – 31 March | daily 9:00–17:00 | on request |
| 1–30 April | daily 9:00–17:00 | daily 9:30–13:30 and 14:00–17:00 |
| 1 May – 1 June | daily 9:00–18:00 | daily 10:30–14:00 and 14:30–18:00 |
| 2 June – 14 September | daily 9:00–19:00 | daily 10:30–14:00 and 14:30–19:00 |
| 15 September – 12 October | daily 9:00–18:00 | daily 10:30–14:00 and 14:30–18:00 |
| 13 October – 31 December | daily 9:00–17:00 | on request |
Two things to note: the smaller sites close for lunch, and outside the season they open only on request. In winter, count on the Archaeological Museum and St Stephen. For winter visits in general, see what stays open in Nesebar in winter.
Which churches are museums and which are working churches
The churches of Old Nesebar covered here fall into three groups:
- Museum sites with a ticket: St Stephen, St Saviour, St Paraskeva and St John the Baptist. Their pages on the museum's website say: "The church is a museum site."
- Churches and ruins not on the price list: the Basilica of St Sophia (the Old Metropolitan Church, late 5th to early 6th century), whose roof has not survived; St John Aliturgetos from the 14th century, damaged in the 1913 earthquake; the 6th-century Basilica of the Virgin Eleusa on the north shore, part of which has collapsed into the sea; and Christ Pantocrator from the 13th–14th century. None of them is on the museum's price list. Christ Pantocrator is one of the best-preserved medieval churches in the town and the museum's website also calls it a museum site; it houses the photo exhibition "Nesebar and the Bay on Old Maps (4th to 19th Century)".
- A working church: the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Успение Богородично), marked on the museum's map. Services are held there: on 15 August 2024, the feast of the Dormition, the Metropolitan of Sliven served a bishop's liturgy there, as reported by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). Enter a working church as a church, not a museum: dress modestly and keep quiet, especially during a service.
Guides and groups
The museum offers guided talks in Bulgarian, Russian, German and English, and panoramic tours: "Messambria – Mesembria – Nesebar" through sites from every period, and "Faith in Nesebar" through the churches. The guide fees on the price list are still only in leva. Converted at the fixed rate of 1.95583, a talk for a group of up to 20 people costs about €15.34, and for a group of more than 20 about €0.77 per person. For school and university students, a talk in Bulgarian is about €5.11 for a group of up to 20. A panoramic tour without entering a museum site is about €30.68 for a group of up to 20. Book a guide in advance on the museum's official numbers: +359 554 46012 or +359 554 46019.
How to plan your visit
- Start at the Archaeological Museum. Its exhibition covers ancient Messambria and medieval Nesebar, a good introduction before you see the monuments themselves.
- Choose a combined ticket by how many sites you want to see. Compare it with the table above.
- Outside the season, check ahead. Between mid-October and April the smaller sites do not open every day.
- Take in the ruins that are not on the price list. The Basilica of St Sophia stands on what is thought to be the old centre of the town. For a route, see our walking tour of Old Nesebar.
- Check prices on the spot. The tables here follow the 2026 price list; the current prices are always on ancient-nessebar.com and at the ticket desks.
Sources
- Admission and guided-tour prices for 2026 — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Opening hours of the museum sites — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- About us — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Contacts — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Archaeological Museum — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of St Stephen — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of St Saviour — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of St Paraskeva — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of St John the Baptist — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of Christ Pantocrator — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of the Virgin Eleusa — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of St John Aliturgetos — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Church of St Sophia — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Ethnographic Museum "Old Nesebar" — Museum "Ancient Nessebar" (read 1 November 2026)
- Nesebar: the Metropolitan of Sliven at the Dormition church (photo caption) — BTA, Bulgarian News Agency (read 1 November 2026)
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