Matera Sassi Tours

Most first-time visitors book a two-hour guided walk that goes inside a furnished cave house and a rock-cut church. The one we feature is the Matera: Sassi Tour with Cave House and Rupestrian Church run by Martulli Viaggi: two hours on foot, $33 per person for the English tour, and rated 4.7 from 7,953 GetYourGuide reviews, the most-reviewed Matera tour on this site (our breakdown). The price includes entry to the Casa Grotta Narrante cave house and the rock church of Sant’Antonio Abate, so you pay nothing at the door.

Tour prices here are in US dollars per person on GetYourGuide, checked October 2026; entry prices at the sites are in euros.

What the Sassi are

UNESCO lists the area as “The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera”, inscribed in 1993. The Sassi are two districts of cave dwellings, churches and workshops cut into the limestone on either side of a rocky spur. Sasso Caveoso faces south and rises in terraces like the seating of a theater, and it is the district best known for rock churches and cave houses. Between them stands the Civita, topped by the 13th-century Romanesque Cathedral. UNESCO names the Civita as the first inhabited nucleus and says the area was first occupied in the Palaeolithic, with continuous occupation over several millennia.

Across the Gravina gorge lies the Murgia Materana plateau, the park half of the listing; the park authority counts about 150 rock-cut places of worship in Matera and its territory.

The 20th century emptied the Sassi. Carlo Levi’s 1945 memoir Christ Stopped at Eboli described the poor hygiene of the cave homes, and the districts were once called the “shame of Italy”. The 1952 law known as the Legge Colombo began the evacuation, which ran until 1965, and well over ten thousand people were moved to new districts such as La Martella, Venusio and Picciano. Residents started returning from the 1980s, and in 2019 Matera was European Capital of Culture.

What a guide gets you into

You can walk the Sassi alone: the streets are public and free. What a guide adds is the interiors and the context. The three rock churches run by the Oltre l’Arte cooperative (Santa Lucia alle Malve, Santa Maria de Idris with San Giovanni in Monterrone, and San Pietro Barisano) are booked by date and time, at €4.50 each or €10 for all three, and visitors with an authorized guide pay a reduced rate.

Most two-hour walks include one cave house and one church in the price. The Passi nei Sassi rock-church walk ($39, 4.7 from 1,568 reviews) includes Santa Maria de Idris, San Giovanni in Monterrone and the Museum of Peasant Civilization (our breakdown). The Matera City Tour walk ($34, 4.8 from 575) includes a furnished cave house or a frescoed rock church, with groups of 2 to 25 (our breakdown).

Group size is a common complaint. A few reviewers of the larger walks found the guide hard to hear, and some struggled with a guide’s English. The Seekers walk keeps groups to 16, runs in English only and uses a radio guide when more than 10 people join, for $34.

Tour formats and who each suits

A private guide suits families, slow walkers and anyone who wants to set the pace. Private tours are priced for the whole group, about $280 to $350 depending on the date and group size. Our Matera private tour page compares them.

A tuk-tuk suits travelers who cannot face the stairs or have under an hour. The Panoramic Tuk-Tuk Tour takes 45 minutes for $39, carries just your group of up to five, and includes entry to the Casa Grotta Narrante. It is rated 4.2 from 400 reviews, lower than the walks. The Matera tuk-tuk tour page covers it alongside the Ape Calessino, Vespa and cabriolet options.

The open-top eco bus asks the least effort of any format here: the Eco-Bus Open Top Tour lasts 90 minutes for $22 and stops for 40 minutes at Piazza San Pietro Caveoso, rated 4.6 from 1,267 reviews. See the open-top bus page.

For the classic view back across the gorge, the Murgia Timone sunset tour ($47, 2.5 hours) drives you to the Belvedere di Murgia Timone and includes park admission and two rock churches. The Matera sunset tour page explains the options.

Staying in Bari? The Apulia Smart Tour bus excursion costs $37 for the bus alone with no guide, or $84 with guides. Our Matera tour from Bari page compares the day trips. To add the trulli town of Alberobello to the same day, look at the Matera and Alberobello tour from Bari: the guided version costs $58 and takes 10 hours.

Stairs, shoes and what to wear

The old town is a staircase. Walking tours usually start in the upper town and drop into the Sassi on stepped lanes, and whatever you walk down you climb back up. The Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario museum describes constant ups and downs as typical of all the Sassi.

Most walking tours list themselves as not suitable for people with mobility impairments, and several do not allow strollers. Wear closed shoes with good grip; the Seekers walk bars high heels, and one reviewer found the stone slippery in the rain. For churches, dress as you would for any Italian church, with shoulders and knees covered. In summer, carry water and sun protection.

What is ticketed

The lanes and viewpoints on the Sassi side are free. The paid sites are the rock churches, the cave-house museums, the Cathedral route (€4 with the diocesan museum), the Palombaro Lungo cistern, MUSMA, and the trails on the Murgia plateau, which now need a paid park ticket. The Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario costs €8 from April 2026. That is a different venue from the Casa Grotta Narrante on the featured walk, and each tour names its own cave house. Our Matera Sassi tickets guide lists every price and which tours include which entries.

When to go

Spring (April and May) and autumn (late September and October) are mild. July and August are hot: average highs at the Matera weather station were about 31°C (88°F) in 1961 to 1990, and afternoon walking on the stone lanes is hot, so book a morning slot. On 2 July, the Festa della Bruna, all Oltre l’Arte churches close and the Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario opens only in the morning. On Sundays the Cathedral route is closed to visitors from 10:00 to 12:30. The best time to visit Matera guide goes month by month.

Where to stay

Stay in or beside the Sassi and you can walk to the meeting points, mostly around Via Alessandro Volta, Via Don Minzoni and Piazza Vittorio Veneto. If you are driving, the Sassi limited-traffic zone is permit-only from 10:00 to 20:30 for most of the year and until midnight from 1 July to 15 September, and hotels register guests’ plates. Our where to stay in Matera guide compares the areas.

Choosing between them

If you are still weighing two tours, our guide to which Matera Sassi tour to book sets all 26 side by side with a pick for each kind of traveler.

When your dates are fixed, check availability for the featured walk; it cancels free up to 24 hours ahead.