Herculaneum or Pompeii

It has been a while since I went to either, but we did both my last visit and I really enjoyed Herculaneum. As it was more ash than fire, there is more intact buildings in Herculaneum. Much smaller and the landscape is very different. In the middle of the 'new' town. They had to clear the hillside away to expose what used to be the shore.
I now these days you can do Pompeii as a day trip, I would think it would still be rushed. Herculaneum, however, certainly can be done enroute to somewhere else (Sorrento to Rome for example) or as a day trip.

Yes! Totally! If you enjoyed Pompeii, I think you would get a lot from Herculaneum. In many ways, it is better preserved than Pompeii. Specifically, many of the buildings retain their upper stories as well as their roofs and other delicate architectural details. As it is below street level, you also get a birds eye view of the entire site, which you don’t get with Pompeii. The audio guide is excellent. While Pompeii wows you with its scale, there’s a lot of identical dwellings you walk past. In Herculaneum, it feels like every building has a tale to tell.

Sightseeing-wise, it’s a bit easier too. I went in late afternoon, there were few visitors and zero tour groups. It’s an easy walk from the Circumvesuviana as well. Where a few hours is about all you can handle at Pompeii, a few hours is all you need here. In short, I found both sites excellent in their own ways, and I felt they seeing both was especially worthwhile.

Herculaneum is, I think, a more interesting site than Pompeii. Rather than being buried in ash it was buried in the pyroclastic flow. The excavated area is much smaller than Pompeii, but most of the buildings that have been excavated are more complete. Most of the remains are private homes, shops and baths. No theatres or civic areas. Also a lot of the frescos and mosaics remain in situ and have not been transported to the museum in Naples.

Most of the site remains buried under the modern city of Ercolano. Entrance to the site is down a long ramp and exit is through a tunnel dug through the flow. I think you get a much better feel for the devastation caused by the volcano at Herculaneum than at Pompeii.

Also Herculaneum is less frequently visited so you can enjoy the site without the hordes. Yes, it is well worth a visit.

I prefered Herculaneum to Pompeii. Pompeii was impressive size wise but Herculaneum was better preserved and more interesting. If you've already been to Pompeii than Herculanuem is the logical choice. If I were to choose between the two then Herculaneum wins every time.

I'm not sure that I agree about Herculaneum being better than Pompeii, but it's very different. It's much more compact and better preserved. More convenient to the train, too, FWIW.

You asked "Is it much different?". Absolutely. In my opinion you really need to go in order to have a more complete understanding of the results of the eruption.

I agree that if you have seen Pompeii you should definitely visit Herculaneum. The sites are quite different and, as mentioned, the audio guide is excellent. I toured the site earlier this week and enjoyed it more than a previous visit to Pompeii.

Thanks all! Herculaneum it is!

Note that Herculaneum is a considerable steep downhill walk (15-minutes) from the Circumvesuviana station. There is only vending-machine food inside the attraction, and like Pompeii, you cannot reenter the site on the same day's ticket. So plan your lunch around the normal Italian restaurant hours. We had a very nice pizza just a block uphill from the site.

As Rick writes in his book, there must have been a Synagogue in Pompeii, but it has not been found yet. And it may never be, because it could be under an established part of the modern city. I don't think anyone in this particular thread said that "you can see ALL of Herculaneum in an afternoon", but if they had, I would have amended it to "ALL of the EXCAVATED part of ... ". You are not seeing an entire city.

Especially because there is a small museum exhibit touring the US (last seen at Smith College, Northampton MA) on the Roman villas at Oplontis, you might also consider the three "minor" ancient sites in this area. We only got to "Villa Poppea"/Oplontis, which is very close to its Circumvesuviana station. It's only a one or two hour vist, but it's artistically quite important. I suggest it for families with a guest who can't physically handle the distance or sun of the two biggies. It does have steps down to the pit, but they are wide and manageable for someone with a cane. Portable toilets only.

Purely because of the 18th century portrait of Lady Hamilton as the Cumaean Sybil, I would like to see the cave of that Sybil. Note also that (not Roman times ... ) the Palace of Caserta is another important daytrip in this area.