What is the difference?
Both towns were great Etruscan cities, both have a necropolis on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and both have a museum in town. The difference is what the tombs show you. At Cerveteri the tombs were built to look like the houses of the living, and you walk through and into them. At Tarquinia the tombs are small rooms underground, and their walls were painted; you look into them through glass.
Cerveteri: tombs built like houses
The Banditaccia necropolis is laid out like a town, with a monumental road of more than two kilometres between the tombs. The oldest are great round mounds of earth on tufa bases, the tumuli; later ones line streets like rows of houses. Inside, the rooms are carved with beds, chairs, doorways and ceiling beams, and the most famous, the Tomb of the Reliefs, is carved and painted with the tools and objects of a household. It is a place to walk, and you need a couple of hours and comfortable shoes.
Tarquinia: tombs painted inside
The Monterozzi necropolis has about 200 known painted tombs, from the seventh to the second century BCE, and 22 of them are open in the visitable section. You go down a flight of steps into each one and look in through a transparent door that keeps the temperature and humidity stable. The tombs have names from their paintings: the Leopards, Hunting and Fishing, the Jugglers, the Blue Demons. Look for the colours and the movement of the dancers and musicians; the painted tombs of Tarquinia explains what the scenes meant.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Tarquinia if the paintings are the reason you are going: nothing in Rome gives you the same thing, and Etruscan painting survives almost only in tombs like these. Choose Cerveteri if you have less time, since it is closer to Rome, or if you are more interested in how the Etruscans built and lived. If you saw the Sarcophagus of the Spouses at Villa Giulia, Cerveteri is where it came from.
Can you do both in one day? By car, yes, with an early start; by public transport, choose one.
What about the museums?
Each town has a national archaeological museum, covered by the same site ticket as its necropolis. Tarquinia’s is in Palazzo Vitelleschi, in the historic centre; on its second floor, the paintings removed from the tombs are reassembled in a renovated room where you can step inside the reconstructed chambers, and until 15 November 2026 the same floor hosts an exhibition of Etruscan tomb painting from Tarquinia and Orvieto. If you have to choose between a museum and a necropolis, choose the necropolis: the objects of Cerveteri and Tarquinia are also in Rome, at Villa Giulia and in the Vatican Museums.
How do you get there from Rome?
Both towns are on the railway line that runs north from Rome along the coast towards Civitavecchia. From the stations, a local bus or a taxi takes you to the necropolises, which are outside the towns; buses are not frequent, so check the Trenitalia and COTRAL timetables before you go, and the return too. By car the trip is simpler, and it is the only realistic way to see both sites in a day.
What can you skip?
Skip a summer visit in the middle of the day: both necropolises are in the open with little shade. Skip trying to enter every tomb at Cerveteri; a dozen well chosen ones tell the story. And skip Mondays, when everything is closed.
Cerveteri and Tarquinia in brief
Banditaccia necropolis and museum, Cerveteri
- Ticket
- €13 for the necropolis and the museum, valid 30 days; €21 for all four sites of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, valid 4 months; €2 for EU citizens aged 18-25
- Booking
- Optional
- Hours
- Tuesday to Sunday. Necropolis: 9:00-18:30 until 24 October 2026 (last entry 17:30), 9:00-17:00 from 25 October (last entry 16:00). Museum: 9:00-19:30 (last entry 18:30)
- Free
- Under 18; first Sunday of the month
- Time
- 2-3 hours for the necropolis, 1 hour for the museum
- Note
- May close in bad weather; parts may be temporarily closed for works
Monterozzi necropolis and museum, Tarquinia
- Ticket
- €13 for the necropolis and the museum, valid 30 days; €21 for all four sites, valid 4 months; €2 for EU citizens aged 18-25
- Booking
- Optional
- Hours
- Tuesday to Sunday. Necropolis: same hours as Cerveteri. Museum, Palazzo Vitelleschi: 9:00-19:30 (last entry 18:30)
- Free
- Under 18; first Sunday of the month
- Time
- 2 hours for the necropolis, 1 hour for the museum
- Note
- 22 painted tombs open, seen through glass doors; in the museum, the room of the detached tomb paintings on the second floor, with an exhibition until 15 November 2026
- Verified
- October 2026, on the official site of the Parco archeologico di Cerveteri e Tarquinia. Prices and hours change: check before you go.
Questions
Is Tarquinia or Cerveteri better?
Tarquinia for painting, Cerveteri for architecture and the feeling of a city of the dead. Cerveteri is closer to Rome.
Can you see Cerveteri and Tarquinia in one day?
By car, yes, with an early start. By public transport, choose one.
Are the Tarquinia tombs open?
Yes: 22 painted tombs are open in the visitable section, seen through transparent doors.
Sources
- Parco archeologico di Cerveteri e Tarquinia (PACT), “Orari, tariffe e abbonamenti”, “Necropoli dei Monterozzi”, “Avviso lavori in corso” (October 2026).
- Ministero della Cultura, “Necropoli della Banditaccia” (2026).
- UNESCO, “Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia” (as checked for the History guides).
