Hagia Sophia Entrance Fee 2026: €25, Hours, Queue

Hagia Sophia entrance fee 2026: €25 for foreign visitors (fee and hours checked against the Ministry of Culture page on 24 October 2026), upper galleries only, children under 8 free, no Museum Pass, closed to visitors on Fridays 12:00 to 14:00. Buy online if you are visiting in summer or at midday, because the ticket queue is the one worth skipping; the security queue is not skippable by anyone.

First visit? Our pick is the 4.8-rated ★ Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and Basilica Cistern guided tour (paid link, about 1,990 reviews). Only want the ticket? See all Hagia Sophia ticket options (paid link).

What changed and why the ticket is what it is

Hagia Sophia reverted to a mosque in 2020. Since January 2024 foreign visitors pay to enter and follow a dedicated route to the upper galleries, while the ground floor prayer hall is for worshippers. That is why the ticket is priced in euros, why Museum Pass Istanbul does not apply, and why the visit closes for Friday prayer. The private city passes do include it as a guided entry; our pass comparison shows when they pay off.

Price and who pays

Visitor	Price
Foreign adult	€25
Child under 8	Free, with passport or ID
Turkish citizens coming to pray	Free, ground floor as worshippers; foreign residents pay the €25 gallery ticket (how this compares)
Students, seniors	No discount

Pay in euros or by card at the booth. Paying in lira at the booth uses the site’s own exchange rate, which is not in your favour. If you want to pay in lira at a fair rate, buy online.

Hours and prayer closures

• 1 April to 30 September: 08:00 to 19:30. The ticket booth closes at 19:00.
• 1 October to 31 March: 09:00 to 19:30, booth closes 19:00.
• Fridays: closed to tourists from 12:00 to 14:00 for congregational prayer. The queue that forms while it is closed is the worst of the week.
• Daily prayers: the official Ministry page lists no closure of the tourist gallery for them; tourists use a separate entrance and route. The square is busiest around the noon and afternoon prayers.

Live status and this week’s hours: Is Hagia Sophia open now?

Best slots: right at opening, or the last two hours of the day. Avoid Friday midday entirely.

Booth ticket vs online ticket

At the booth. €25, no extras, and the queue, which in July and August can be an hour. Fine in winter or at opening time.

Online. Third-party sellers list Hagia Sophia entry from around $33, usually with an audio guide app bundled, and a separate entry lane that bypasses the booth. You still go through security with everyone else. Worth the difference when the booth queue is long, and worth it if you want the audio guide anyway; the mosaics mean more with context.

• Hagia Sophia tickets on GetYourGuide (paid link), with cancellation up to 24 hours before on most listings.
• Combination tickets with the Basilica Cistern and the Blue Mosque audio guide exist on the same page. The Blue Mosque itself is free; you are paying for the guide, so only buy that if you want narration.

If it is your first visit, take a guided tour instead of a solo ticket. The best-rated one on GetYourGuide covers Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern in three hours with tickets included, rated 4.8 from 2,199 reviews and carrying the Top rated badge (checked 13 October 2026). It costs more than a solo ticket, and GetYourGuide prices in your own currency, so read the figure it shows you. For that difference you get the other two sights and someone explaining what you are looking at.

Short on time? There is also a shorter small-group tour of just Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (paid link), also well rated, if you would rather do the Cistern on your own.

Skip the tour if you have read a bit and just want to see the mosaics on your own.

Dress and behaviour

It is a mosque. Shoulders and knees covered for everyone, headscarf for women (lent at the entrance if you do not have one), shoes off is not required on the gallery route. No flash, no loud groups, keep clear of the prayer hall. Security will turn away shorts.

What else is next door

Everything on the same square: Blue Mosque (free, closed at prayer times too), Basilica Cistern (1,950 TL, open daily, no Museum Pass), Topkapı Palace (2,750 TL with Harem, closed Tuesdays, Museum Pass covers the palace but not the Harem, allow half a day). Do Hagia Sophia first at opening, Cistern second, Topkapı after lunch. Eminönü’s Bosphorus ferry pier is a ten-minute walk downhill; see the Bosphorus cruise guide for the 14:40 public short tour. Want photos with the dome behind you? Compare the private photoshoots in the Old Town.

Getting there

Sultanahmet tram stop on the T1 line is a three-minute walk. From the airport, the metro and tram take about 90 minutes; a private transfer is 45 to 75 depending on traffic. See the airport transfer guide and, for data on arrival, the eSIM guide.

Disclosure

GetYourGuide links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we get a small commission and you pay the same price. Prices and hours above are from the cited sources and from visiting ourselves; the booth price is set by the site’s administration and can change with the lira. If you find it different on the day, email hello@nomadistanbul.com and we will update the page with the date.