Meteora
Meteora, Greece
Meteora is not one ticket but six. Each working monastery on the rock pillars charges its own small entrance fee at the…
165 tickets & tours
By type
Best monasteries & abbeys to visit worldwide
Monasteries and abbeys were built to be apart from the world, which is why many of the most visited ones are on cliffs, islands and mountainsides. Meteora in Greece is a group of monasteries on rock pillars, each with its own opening days; Mont-Saint-Michel rises from a tidal bay in Normandy; Geghard in Armenia is partly carved out of the mountain; Rila is the great monastery of Bulgaria; Montserrat above Barcelona keeps the Black Madonna and its boys’ choir; and Batalha, Alcobaça, the Jerónimos in Lisbon and Melk Abbey on the Danube are among the grandest in Europe.
Greece 20Italy 12Spain 12Portugal 11Armenia 8France 8Georgia 8United Kingdom 7Austria 6Bulgaria 5Croatia 5Czech Republic 5Serbia 5Ireland 4Montenegro 4Romania 4Egypt 3Moldova 3North Macedonia 3
Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey
Mont-Saint-Michel, France
The island and its village are free to enter; the abbey at the top is the ticket.
91 tickets & tours
Geghard Monastery
Garni, Armenia
Entry is free, as at most Armenian monasteries, so the only thing you pay for is getting there.
89 tickets & tours
Batalha Monastery
Batalha, Portugal
A single ticket covers the whole site, and it is cheap; the church itself is free, so paying gets you the cloisters,…
68 tickets & tours
Rila Monastery
Rila, Bulgaria
Entry to the courtyard and the main church is free, which catches out visitors who expect a ticket.
61 tickets & tours
Jvari Monastery
Mtskheta, Georgia
Jvari Monastery stands on a rocky mountain top above the town of Mtskheta, at the meeting of the Aragvi and Mtkvari…
51 tickets & tours
Alcobaça Monastery
Alcobaca, Portugal
The Monastery of Alcobaça stands in the centre of the town of Alcobaça in central Portugal, about an hour and a half…
31 tickets & tours
Arkadi Monastery
Rethymno, Greece
Entry is by a cheap ticket bought at the gate, and it covers the whole complex, including the small museum and the…
31 tickets & tours
Melk Abbey
Melk, Austria
Melk Abbey stands on a rocky outcrop above the Danube and the town of Melk, at the western entrance to the Wachau…
31 tickets & tours
Debre Libanos
Debre Libanos, Ethiopia
There is a small entrance fee collected at the gate, and a separate charge if you want to photograph inside;
30 tickets & tours
Montserrat Monastery
Montserrat, Spain
The basilica is free to enter, and so is the walk up to it once you are on the mountain, so the choices are about…
24 tickets & tours
Jeronimos Monastery
Lisbon, Portugal
The church of Santa Maria is free; the cloister is the ticket, and the two are entered by different doors, which…
17 tickets & tours
Bachkovo Monastery
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Bachkovo Monastery stands in the Rhodope Mountains, about thirty kilometres south of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, beside the…
11 tickets & tours
Snagov Monastery
Bucharest, Romania
Snagov Monastery stands on an island in Lake Snagov, about forty kilometres north of Bucharest, Romania, and it is…
11 tickets & tours
Convent of Christ
Tomar, Portugal
One ticket covers the whole complex, castle walls included, and it is inexpensive;
10 tickets & tours
El Escorial
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain
The state heritage service sells a single ticket for the Royal Site, which covers the basilica, the palace apartments,…
10 tickets & tours
Goshavank
Gosh, Armenia
Goshavank stands in the village of Gosh, in the forested hills of Tavush province about twenty kilometres east of…
8 tickets & tours
Monastery of Saint Naum
Ohrid, North Macedonia
The Monastery of Saint Naum stands on a cliff above Lake Ohrid, about thirty kilometres south of the town of Ohrid in…
8 tickets & tours
Ostrog Monastery
Ostrog, Montenegro
There is no entrance fee at all; the monastery lives on donations and on the candle stalls by the gates.
8 tickets & tours
Kykkos Monastery
Troodos, Cyprus
The monastery itself is free to enter; the museum beside it charges a modest ticket and is the one part worth paying…
7 tickets & tours
Kylemore Abbey
Galway, Ireland
Kylemore Abbey stands on the shore of Pollacapall Lough at the foot of the Doughruagh mountain in Connemara, County…
7 tickets & tours
Santa Catalina Monastery
Arequipa, Peru
The entrance fee is moderate by Peruvian standards and covers the whole walled complex;
7 tickets & tours
Ardenica Monastery
Fier, Albania
Ardenica Monastery stands on a hill between Fier and Lushnjë in central Albania, about ten kilometres from the ancient…
6 tickets & tours
Curchi Monastery
Chisinau, Moldova
Curchi Monastery stands in a wooded valley in the Orhei district of central Moldova, about sixty kilometres north of…
6 tickets & tours
Many of these places still have monks or nuns, so visits follow their rules: dress codes, closing hours at midday, silence in the church and days when parts are shut. Many also lie far from the nearest city, so the tours on these pages are often day trips with transport. Each page explains how to get there, what the ticket covers and what time of day works best.