Matera Sunset Tours

The classic sunset in Matera is the view back at the Sassi from the Belvedere di Murgia Timone, on the plateau across the Gravina gorge. You can’t walk there from the old town in a few minutes, and the Murgia park now charges for access, so the simplest way is the Matera Murgia Timone Belvedere Sunset Guided Tour & Transfer. It costs $47 per person, lasts 2.5 hours and is rated 4.7 from 250 GetYourGuide reviews. The price covers a shared transfer each way, the park tickets for the belvedere and the Murgia Timone area, two rock-cut churches and a licensed guide.

The tour ends at sunset, so its start time changes through the year. In late June the sun sets around 20:28; in December it goes down around 16:30. Book the slot for your date and check the time on the booking page.

Quick picks

• The belvedere with park tickets and churches included: the $47 Murgia Timone tour, 4.7 from 250 reviews.
• A smaller-group walk in the park: From Matera: Murgia Materana Park and Sassi Tour at Sunset, $45 per person, up to 20 people, 4.6 from 115 reviews (our breakdown).
• The suspension bridge on foot: Matera: Sassi, Murgia, and Tibetan Bridge Trip, $124, a hike with steep and exposed stretches. It has 13 reviews (all 5.0) and is not for anyone under 16 or over 65.
• A daytime walk first: the two-hour Sassi tour with a cave house and a rock church, $33, the most-reviewed Matera tour on this site (4.7 from 7,953 reviews).

The view from Murgia Timone

Murgia Timone is the plateau facing the Sassi across the ravine cut by the Gravina stream. From the belvedere you see the whole old town at once, the stepped cave houses of the two Sassi with the Civita and the cathedral on top, and as the light goes the town’s lights come on across the gorge. Mel Gibson filmed Golgotha and the Sermon on the Mount at this viewpoint for The Passion of the Christ, and the tour stops at the spot on the way. Our film locations guide has the other scenes shot in Matera.

The belvedere is part of the Murgia Materana park, protected land of about 8,000 hectares that the park authority says holds about 150 rock-cut places of worship. The Murgia Timone tour takes you into two of them. The park describes San Falcione as one of the oldest churches on the Murgia, and the listing says both churches keep Byzantine frescoes. You also walk through the Villaggio Trincerato, the traces of a Neolithic village on the plateau.

Getting across the gorge

The belvedere sits across the gorge from the old town, and both sunset tours include the ride there. The Murgia Timone tour uses a shared bus or coach for about 15 minutes each way from the Martulli Viaggi office. The Passi nei Sassi walk leaves from Via Don Giovanni Minzoni 13 with about 20 minutes each way. You spend two hours on foot on the park’s paths, so wear closed shoes with grip. The Murgia Timone listing does not allow high heels or open-toed shoes, and it is not suitable for people with mobility impairments, wheelchair users or visually impaired people.

Park tickets: what you pay without a tour

The park authority now sells access tickets on visitparcomurgia.it. The Murgia Timone ticket (the belvedere area, the Jazzo Gattini visitor center, the trail network, San Falcione and a shuttle to the belvedere) costs roughly EUR 7 to 10, depending on the season. The ticket for Sentiero 406, the trail from Porta Pistola in the Sassi across the suspension bridge, costs roughly EUR 10 to 15, and hiking shoes are compulsory; sandals and flip-flops are turned away. Both prices are shown inconsistently on the park’s own pages, so check before you go.

On the $47 tour these park tickets are in the price, with the two churches. The $45 Passi nei Sassi walk lists admission to rock churches and caves, but its listing does not name the park ticket, so ask the operator if that matters to you. Our tickets and prices guide covers every paid site in town.

If you plan your own sunset on the plateau, check the park’s ticket hours first. From 16 September to 30 November the window is 9:00 to 18:00, and from 1 December to the end of February it is 10:00 to 16:30, which is around sunset or earlier. In spring (9:00 to 21:00) and summer (8:00 to 20:30) you have time to stay for the light.

The suspension bridge

Sentiero 406 runs about 6 km from Porta Pistola to Jazzo Gattini and crosses the Gravina on a suspension bridge the park puts at about 70 meters long. The guided version is the $124 Tibetan bridge trip above, with park and bridge admission included; it does not run in rain, and its listing excludes people afraid of heights.

Sunset times through the year

These are sunset times for Matera on the 21st of each month in 2026, worked out from the sun’s position and good to about two minutes. Italy goes back to winter time on 25 October 2026, which moves sunset an hour earlier on the clock.

On a 2.5-hour tour that ends at sunset, expect to set off a little over two hours before these times. In late July that means a start around 18:00, after the hottest part of the day. Our best time to visit guide covers the seasons in full.

Two sunset tours side by side

The $47 Murgia Timone tour and the $45 Passi nei Sassi walk cover the same ground for nearly the same price. Pick the Murgia Timone tour if you want the park tickets, two named churches and the belvedere spelled out in the listing, and it has more than twice as many reviews. Pick the Passi nei Sassi walk if a cap of 20 people matters more to you. Its one low-star review said the walk had only two stops and showed little beyond a city tour, and one reviewer on the Murgia Timone tour found the English group disorganized, with waiting at the start and an unclear finish.

The Sassi after dark

After the tour you are back in the upper town as the lights come on. The free viewpoints on the Sassi side stay open: the Belvedere Luigi Guerricchio, a small terrace behind three arches off Piazza Vittorio Veneto, looks over Sasso Barisano and the cathedral, and Piazzetta Pascoli beside Palazzo Lanfranchi looks out over the Sassi too. The lanes are public and need no ticket, but the stone can be slippery in the evening, so keep the same shoes on.

If you are staying in Bari, the Matera Night Tour: Altamura and the Sassi di Matera under the stars ($112) leaves at 6:00 p.m. with a driver, stops in Altamura and gives you about three hours on your own in Matera, with no guide. It has only five reviews so far. For a guided walk in town before your sunset, the James Bond tour and the daytime walks on the homepage list their start times on the booking page, and the tuk-tuk tours are the low-effort option if the stairs have worn you out.

Pick your date, look up its sunset, then check availability for the Murgia Timone tour.