Tours › Borghese Gallery · Rome
Borghese Gallery Skip-the-Line Ticket with Audio Guide
From €41 per person
- Duration
- 2 hours
- Visit
- At your own pace
- Entry
- Skip the line
- Audio guide
- GBITESDEFRPT
The hardest ticket in Rome, and nobody setting the pace
The Borghese is small enough that you do not need a guide to get through it. What you need is the ticket, and that is the hard part: entry runs in timed slots of two hours, the number of people inside is capped, and in high season the slots go around two weeks ahead. This is that ticket, booked and held for you, with the POP GUIDE audio guide on your own phone so you know what you are looking at when you get there.
Inside, the two hours are yours to spend however you want. Most people give the ground floor the lion's share, and with good reason: Bernini caught Daphne in the half-second she becomes a tree, and Pluto's fingers press into Proserpina's thigh as if the marble were skin. Then there is the room with six Caravaggios, which exists nowhere else, and the picture gallery upstairs with Raphael and Titian. With no group to keep up with, you can stand in front of Apollo and Daphne for twenty minutes if that is what you came for.
At a glance
- Duration
- 2 hours, the length of the entry slot
- Visit style
- Independent: no guide and no group
- Audio guide
- POP GUIDE app on your own phone, 6 languages
- Entry
- Timed slot booked for you, no ticket queue
- Meeting point
- In front of the gallery, Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5 - look for our red flag
- What to bring
- A charged phone, headphones and a valid photo ID for everyone
- Cancellation
- Free up to 24 hours before your slot
- Best for
- Independent visitors who want the hardest ticket in Rome without joining a group
Highlights
- A reserved timed slot in a gallery that sells out weeks ahead
- Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, the Rape of Proserpina and David
- Six paintings by Caravaggio, including David with the Head of Goliath
- The POP GUIDE audio guide app on your own phone, in 6 languages
- Two hours with no group to follow: stop as long as you like in front of each room
What’s included
- Pre-booked timed-entry admission to the Borghese Gallery
- Access code for the POP GUIDE audio guide app, in 6 languages
- Self-guided access to the sculpture rooms and the Pinacoteca upstairs
- Assistance from our representative at the meeting point
Not included
- A live guide: this is a self-guided visit
- Headphones and a charged phone, which you bring yourself
- Transport to the gallery, which sits inside Villa Borghese park
- Food and drinks
- Hotel pick-up and drop-off
Itinerary
Meeting pointIn front of the gallery, Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5
Our representative waits in front of the gallery with a red flag, inside Villa Borghese park. Come twenty minutes before your slot: you collect the ticket and the access code for the audio guide, and the Borghese closes the door on your entry time, so this is not a place to be casual about timing. Download the POP GUIDE app before you arrive if you can, leave large bags in the free cloakroom, and allow for the walk through the park, because no car reaches the entrance.
1Ground floorBernini, and the ancient sculpture the family collected around him
The ground floor is the reason people come, and with no group moving you along it is where most of your two hours will go. Apollo and Daphne catches the half-second in which she becomes a laurel: bark closing over her leg, fingers already leaves, marble worked so thin at the edges that light passes through it. Walk around it slowly, because the story only resolves from certain angles, and that is exactly what a guided group rarely has time to let you do.
2Caravaggio roomSix paintings in one place, which exists nowhere else
No other room in the world holds six Caravaggios. They span his whole career, from the early Boy with a Basket of Fruit to David with the Head of Goliath, painted when he was a fugitive with a death sentence on his head and had given the severed head his own face. The audio guide takes them in order, which is the only way the arc makes sense: a painter getting darker and more desperate, canvas by canvas.
3PinacotecaThe floor above, and the paintings the sculpture overshadows
Upstairs is the picture gallery, quieter than the sculpture rooms and routinely rushed by visitors who spent ninety minutes below. Raphael's Deposition, Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, Domenichino, Correggio. Keep an eye on the clock: the slot is two hours and the gallery clears the rooms at the end of it, so if the Pinacoteca matters to you, go up before you have used the ground floor entirely.
Good to know
- Meet in front of the gallery, Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5, 20 minutes before your slot: our representative waits there with a red flag
- Download the POP GUIDE app from the App Store or Play Store before you arrive; you receive the access code at the meeting point
- Bring a charged phone and your own headphones: the guide plays on your device
- The gallery is inside Villa Borghese park and no car reaches the door, so allow time for the walk in
- Entry is by timed slot and cannot be moved: arriving after it means losing the visit, with no refund
- Large bags and backpacks must go in the free cloakroom before you enter
- Slots sell out roughly two weeks ahead in high season, and longer around holidays
- The last entry of the day, at 5.45 pm, is a one-hour slot rather than two
- Bring a valid photo ID for every participant
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before your slot; after that the ticket cannot be refunded
- The gallery is not suitable for wheelchair users or visitors with limited mobility
Who this ticket is for
This ticket is for
- Independent visitors who want the hardest ticket in Rome without joining a group
- Anyone who would rather spend twenty minutes in front of one sculpture than follow a route
- Travellers who need Italian, Spanish, German, French or Portuguese, which the guided tour does not offer
- Visitors on a budget who still want to know what they are looking at
Look elsewhere if
- Anyone who wants to ask questions: for that you need the guided tour, with a licensed guide and a group of 15
- Travellers without a smartphone, headphones or room to install an app
- Wheelchair users and visitors with limited mobility, for whom the gallery is not suitable
- Visitors who want to stay past their slot: the gallery clears the rooms between entries
Ticket with audio guide or guided tour?
Frequently asked questions
How does the audio guide work?
It is an app called POP GUIDE and it plays on your own phone. Download it from the App Store or Play Store, collect your access code from our representative at the meeting point, and download the content before you go in. From that point it works offline, which matters inside a building with thick walls.
Which languages is the audio guide available in?
Six: English, Italian, Spanish, German, French and Portuguese. You choose the language in the app, so two people on the same booking can listen in different languages.
Do I need my own phone and headphones?
Yes. The audio guide is an app on your device, so bring a charged phone and headphones. If two of you want to share, bring a splitter or a second pair.
Why does the Borghese have to be booked so far ahead?
Because the number of visitors inside at any one time is capped and entry runs in timed slots rather than continuously. A few hundred people every two hours, and in spring and summer the slots go around two weeks ahead. It is the reason the gallery is so calm and the reason you cannot turn up on the day.
How long do I actually get inside?
Two hours, which is the length of the slot. The gallery clears the rooms at the end of it before the next entry, so the two hours are real and they are all you have. The collection is small enough that this is genuinely sufficient, as long as you do not spend all of it on the ground floor.
Where exactly is the meeting point?
In front of the gallery itself, at Piazzale Scipione Borghese 5, inside Villa Borghese park. Our representative waits there with a red flag. Come twenty minutes before your entry time, and remember that no car reaches the door: the last stretch is a walk through the park whichever way you arrive.
What happens if I arrive late?
You lose the visit, and it cannot be refunded. The Borghese checks entries against the slot and does not let latecomers in with the next group. This is stricter than most museums in Rome, which is why we ask you to be there twenty minutes early rather than five.
Is the Pinacoteca upstairs included?
Yes, and the audio guide covers it. The practical warning is about time rather than access: most visitors spend so long with the sculpture downstairs that the picture gallery gets ten rushed minutes at the end. Go up before your slot is two thirds gone.
What is the difference between this and the guided tour?
The guide. Both have the same two-hour slot and the same collection. The guided tour adds a licensed guide, a group capped at 15 and radio headsets, and runs in English only. This ticket is cheaper, works in six languages and leaves the pace entirely to you.
What can I take inside?
Only what you can carry easily. Large bags and backpacks go in the cloakroom, which is free, and umbrellas are not allowed in the rooms. Allow a few extra minutes for this before your slot: it happens after you arrive, not before.
Do children need a ticket?
Everyone in your party must be included in the booking, children and infants alike, because the gallery counts heads against the slot. Reduced and free rates apply by age, and the booking form shows which one applies to each person.
How do I get to the gallery?
It sits inside Villa Borghese park, above Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps. The usual approaches are on foot up from Piazza di Spagna or through the park from Porta Pinciana; buses stop on Via Pinciana, a few minutes away. Whichever way you come, the last stretch is a walk, so build it into your timing.
Can I cancel my booking?
Yes. Cancel up to 24 hours before your slot and you are refunded in full. Inside the last 24 hours the ticket is non-refundable, because the slot has already been issued in your names and cannot be resold.
Is the gallery accessible for wheelchair users?
We do not recommend it for wheelchair users or visitors with limited mobility. Write to us before booking and we will tell you honestly what is workable on the day you are coming.