How to get to the Catacombs of San Callisto
Ready to go underground?Every tour here ends up on the same staff-led walk. Pick the one whose journey you want.
Compare the sixThe four bus routes
These come from the catacombs’ own directions page. Every one of them pairs a metro or bus leg with a walk at the end.
| Route | Get off at | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Metro B to Circo Massimo (Terme Caracalla / Porta Capena), then bus 118 | Catacombe di San Callisto | About 2 minutes to the gate |
| Metro A to San Giovanni, then bus 218 | Fosse Ardeatine | About 5 minutes on foot |
| Metro A to Arco di Travertino, then bus 660 | Appia Pignatelli | A short walk |
| Bus 714 | Navigatori | 1 km on foot |
The 118 from Circo Massimo is the one I would use, and the one most readers of this site should use. It drops you closest, and Circo Massimo is easy to reach from almost anywhere in the centre. I am not going to print a frequency for the 118 or the 218, because no official source I can find publishes one. Assume you may wait, and leave slack on either side of a timed entry. For the fare, check ATAC’s current price rather than a figure on a travel site — it is a standard Rome bus ticket and it is not worth guessing at. The whole budget, including that gap, is laid out on the cost page.
Aim to be at the gate well before a departure rather than exactly on one. Groups leave every thirty minutes, the ticket office shuts at 16:50, and the last tours go at 12:00 and 17:00. Turning up at 16:55 for the 17:00 does not work.
Driving, and the car ban that is changing right now
The Appia Antica has long been closed to private cars on Sundays and public holidays. From 19 September 2026 a new camera-enforced zone, the ZTLT Appia Antica, begins pre-operation testing: Saturdays and Sundays, 07:00 to 19:00, every weekend except August, with a 30 km/h limit. Bicycles, public transport, coaches and vehicles serving disabled people pass freely. That was published by Roma Mobilità on 19 August 2026, and the park’s own pages have not caught up with it, so expect contradictory information elsewhere for a while.
The catacombs publish their own notice about it: the transit of private vehicles on the Appia Antica on public holidays is prohibited, reserved groups are allowed to pass, and you should have your San Callisto reservation to hand. In practice, if you were planning to drive yourself out on a Saturday or a Sunday, plan something else. A bicycle is exempt, which is part of why the e-bike day works so well out here.
Walking between the sites once you are out there
The catacombs describe their own position as between the church of Quo Vadis and the Basilica of San Sebastiano. The walking times below I routed over OpenStreetMap myself — nobody publishes them officially, so treat them as approximate rather than as timetable.
| From San Callisto to | On foot |
|---|---|
| Catacombs of Domitilla | About 9 minutes |
| Catacombs of San Sebastiano | About 10 minutes |
| Circus of Maxentius | About 13 minutes |
| Domine Quo Vadis church | About 15 minutes |
| Tomb of Cecilia Metella | About 17 minutes |
A private San Callisto road links San Callisto to San Sebastiano on foot and by bike, avoiding the traffic on the first stretch of the Appia. Its gate follows catacomb hours, 10:00 to 17:30, closed on Wednesdays, and it has been open to the public since May 2021. The ancient basalt paving and the properly traffic-limited stretch of the road begin at the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, which is the part people picture when they picture the Appian Way. All of that sits inside the Appia Antica Regional Park — 4,580 hectares, established in 1988, over 16 km of the ancient road, free and always open. The road was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2024. Which catacomb to pair with which is on the best-catacomb page.
When a transfer is worth paying for
Here is the honest version. If you are able-bodied, not in a hurry and comfortable with a city bus, take the 118. It costs a bus fare, it drops you two minutes from the gate, and the forty minutes you get underground is identical to the forty minutes bought by everyone else. I say that without hedging: the cheap way works.
A transfer earns its money in three situations. You are travelling with someone for whom a kilometre of unfamiliar pavement is a real obstacle. You have a fixed slot and cannot absorb a missed connection. Or you want a language that the gate may not have on the day — the coach transfer runs in six including Polish, where the catacombs guarantee five.
The coach from central Rome is from €49 at the time of writing for two hours, with an optional Capuchin Crypt add-on and an optional Trevi underground add-on; if you do both, the earliest crypt entry is 14:45. It is rated 4.3 from 2,282 reviews, the lowest rating on this site, and its reviews overwhelmingly praise the driver rather than anything underground. That is not a scandal — it tells you precisely what the product is. Roxane, who went on 7 September 2026, describes an Italian guide taking the group to the site and Geoffroy guiding underground in French, which is the catacombs’ staff doing the actual tour. Its Wednesday departures go to Domitilla instead, in the operator’s own words.
The private driver is from €79 for two hours with hotel pickup and drop-off. It rates 5.0 from four ratings, and four ratings is not evidence of anything. Both are set out properly on the transfer page.
What a transfer is not worth is a premium for being driven and nothing else. A reviewer of a golf-cart tour this site does not sell put it better than I can: “Bottom line it was just a ride to the catacombs and back. No privet tour or anything like expected. He drove us and brought tickets to official tour (that was amazing) with another large group… Could have takes a Uber/taxi and pay at least half price for the same experience. The driver was very nice.” That is the failure mode. Pay for a transfer if you need the transfer, or pay for a day on the road; do not pay a premium for a taxi.
The tours that collect you
Transfer includedRome: Catacombs Guided Tour with Transfer & Capuchin Option
Private driverRome: Catacombs Guided Tour with Private Driver
Appian WayRome: Catacomb of St. Callixtus and Appian Way Guided Tour
Frequently asked questions
Is there a metro to the Catacombs of San Callisto?
No. There is no metro station near the catacombs and every public-transport route needs a bus leg. Metro B to Circo Massimo then bus 118 is the standard route and leaves you about two minutes from the gate. What happens once you are inside.
Which bus goes to the catacombs?
Bus 118 from Circo Massimo stops at Catacombe di San Callisto, about two minutes from the gate. Bus 218 from San Giovanni stops at Fosse Ardeatine, about five minutes away. The 660 from Arco di Travertino stops at Appia Pignatelli, and the 714 leaves you a kilometre on foot at Navigatori.
Can I drive to the Catacombs of San Callisto?
On weekdays, yes. At weekends, increasingly not: private cars have long been barred from the Appia Antica on Sundays and public holidays, and from 19 September 2026 a camera-enforced zone covers Saturdays and Sundays from 07:00 to 19:00, every weekend except August, with a 30 km/h limit. Bicycles, buses, coaches and vehicles serving disabled people are exempt.
Is it worth paying for a tour with transfer?
It is worth it if you need it — limited mobility, a tight schedule, or a language the gate may not have that day. It is not worth it as a premium taxi, because the underground guiding is the catacombs’ own either way. The coach is from €49 at the time of writing against a bus fare. The full price ladder.
How far is San Callisto from the other catacombs?
Close. Domitilla is about nine minutes’ walk and San Sebastiano about ten, along a private San Callisto road that avoids the traffic and follows catacomb opening hours. The Circus of Maxentius is about thirteen minutes and the Tomb of Cecilia Metella about seventeen. The tours built around that walk.