How to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum

Pompeii is a gigantic archaeological site that can be 'sampled' on a 4-hour brisk walk or on a full-day visit (9 to 6 with breaks). It is good to take a map at the visitor center and somehow plan your time (whatever that might be) before you just start walking, as some of the most famous sights are quite apart from each other.

Herculaneum is much smaller and can be visited well in three hours.

Guides are not needed at either place, audio-guides are very good and helpful, though. Large groups could make the visiting experience worse than going solo.

Both sites are easily accessible ty EVA suburban trains. This gives you flexibility to say in other nearby towns that most would consider more enticing, such as Vico Equense, Sorrento; or you could stay in Napoli itself (just some 35 away by train).

The town of Pompeii itself looks a bit rundown, and its hotels look very dated from pics and site reviews. Please, note there are three entrances to Pompeii archeological sites.

Pompei city is not the most attractive overnight location - at least not in my long-ago memory of staying in a cheap campground near the gates, though better accommodation than that is certainly available.

Rick likes Sorrento as a home base with a good mix of public transport in multiple directions, if you're staying a few days and also want to visit Amalfi and/or Capri, for instance. From Sorrento, the Circumvesuviana train take 30 minutes to Pompeii and slightly further to Herculaneum. Sorrento offers pleasant strolling and lots of tourist services.

Most tourists don't spend a whole day at either Pompeii or Herculaneum. But if your feet don't give out, you could either spend a whole day exploring all the nooks and crannies of Pompeii, or you could visit both sites with a break for lunch. Consider Rick's free, downloadable audio tour for Pompeii

Almost no one stays in or by Pompeii to see the ancient site. Note that there is a modern city called Pompeii that sits on unexcavated parts of the ancient city. You need to distinguish between signs for (and train tickets to) "Pompeii Scavi" (i.e. excavation) and "Pompeii". For example, the long-distance trains to Salerno stop at three stops named Pompeii, but none of them is closer than a mile to the ancient city.

The vast majority of visitors come for the day from either Naples or Sorrento, using the Circumvesuviana (a gritty, hot, crowded local commuter rail service that originates at the same station where the long-distance trains come into Naples.) Probably the next largest group visit Pompeii as part of a daytime travel day, with 2 to 4 hours at the ancient site. All three entrances have reliable luggage storage. For those using car-and-driver transportation, the driver holds their luggage, but of course there is a charge or allowance for his waiting time. Some people come from Salerno, and take a cab, or hike in the heat from the Trenitalia station.

Note that a 5-site, 3-day ticket is sold that includes 3 more, much smaller ancient sites. A traveling museum exhibit just a few years ago covered objects from Villa Oplontis, one of them. Only one admission to each site is included. You cannot re-enter any site after you exit. Pompeii is the only one that has food service inside the site, which is the most likely re-entry issue. Herculaneum is a steep 15-minute walk downhill from the Circumvesuviana station. Pompeii is right across the street from the Circumvesuviana station.

You can never know which individual "villas" or other tiny parts of these sites may happen to be closed for conservation or other reasons. There's plenty to see at each place, so unless you are working on your own PhD. thesis about certain villas, it wouldn't be a big problem.

Many of the frescoes and sculptures in Pompeii have been removed to the museum in Naples, and replaced with replicas.

We stayed in Sorrento and used the Circumvesuviana train. I didn’t find it all that bad to use except once when it was very crowded. Don’t worry about it being “ gritty” because it’s not all that bad. The worse part is that it can be crowded and frequented by pickpockets. There is another train that runs less frequently called the Campania (?) I think. It’s nicer, and we did take it once during our stay.

We took a Walks of Italy tour in Pompeii and it was wonderful. We did a late afternoon tour and were the only two on the tour. Please do some form of tour, either audio or with a guide. You will get so much more out of the site! I’ve not made it yet to Herculaneum.

I would schedule at least 3 hours for Pompeii. You can do more if you have the time.

What is the rest of your itinerary? It's hard to advise without those details, but Herculaneum does not take all day like I consider Pompeii to, being smaller. Knowing nothing else about your plans, I'd say stay in Naples, but if you are planning on incorporating the Amalfi Coast, let us know.

Thank you for your informative replies. Although, the replies ranged from 3 hours to all day at Pompeii. Are there places to rest if we get tired....since we are not allowed re-entry. I am traveling with a history buff who will want to stay more than 3 hours and 2 others that don't want to walk that much.
We are driving from Val d'orcia --south of Sienna --It is 4 to 5 hours to the sites. We will need to stay overnight somewhere. I will take advice from the replies and not stay near Pompeii.

I am still leaning towards hiring a private guide for the 4 of us. I know some of you advised against that but I thought that if we found a well recommended guide and divided the cost by 4, it would be worth it for at least 2+ hours of the visit.
Again, thank you for your help.

There's a cafeteria in Pompeii, but I wouldn't want to spend hours just hanging around. There are spots where you can just sit for a while - like the theatre. Since you'll have a car, maybe find a place to stay in Pompeii for the night and let your archaeology buff stay as long as s/he wants and take a taxi to the hotel. Both sights have audio guides that are interesting.

Count me as one of those people that prefer a real guide to an audio guide. A good guide will bring the pile of rubble to life. I tend to find the audio guides a bit dry.

Hey, it is a HUGE piece of new information that you are driving five hours before spending every moment until dusk closing time at Pompeii. You need to give some more itinerary details to get the best advice. When I said not to stay in modern Pompeii I was assuming you planned to visit Naples or Sorrento or Amalfi Coast or, even, Paestum.

It is questionable whether anyone should drive five hours the morning before they visit Pompeii (in what month?) But (and you have NOT stated where you marathon drive on the next day!) if you have no plans to visit Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast or Naples, you could reasonably stay in modern Pompeii.

Note that this also was not an inquiry about a one day-runout to Pompeii from a hotel in Rome. That is yet another (regrettable) special case. There are always special cases. It is particularly important, now, to know if your archaeologist is going to insist on going to all five "Pompeii ticket" sites, or whether he will (quite properly) insist on seeing the remote and distant Paestum temples. All this affects advice about sleeping near Pompeii.

Who knows what the hotels are like now, but 20 years ago in June we did indeed stay in a very, very basic hotel that was in the city of Pompei within close walking distance of one gate to the ruins of Pompeii.

We drove from Orvieto after lunch, stayed the night at the Pompei hotel, entered the ruins when the gate opened the next morning, spent most of the day until it got too hot and crowded, spent another night at that hotel, saw Herculaneum first thing the next morning (well worth it!), and then drove to where the ferry goes to Sicily. This was with my 75-year-old mother and our 8-year-old son.

Would we do this same trip now? No. But it seemed just fine at the time. If people really want to see Pompeii, like we did, it's an option.

Find out what the nearby hotels are like these days --- sometimes you have to stay in less than charming places, such as airport hotels.

Since you are driving, figure getting there noon or just after, I would plan at the minimum two nights, maybe three. With a car, you have more flexibility for a hotel, however both Naples and the Amalfi coast are not car friendly, Sorrento would work. I would verify that any hotel also has private parking. You did not mention the Arch. Museum in Naples, if going to both Pompeii and Herculaneum interests you, then do not miss the museum...all the good stuff went there. Each demands at least a half day, Pompeii could take more, but to be honest, after four hours, you burn out a bit, especially if it is hot and you are taking in Herculaneum as well.

Is re-entry not allowed? It was a few years ago when we came across an entry/exit area that was, I believe, near the Villa of Mysteries. The guards manning the turnstiles/gate said we could exit and re-enter; there were a few restaurants very close by to choose from for a lunch break. We were astounded by Pompeii and spent the entire day....something we hadn’t expected. I count it as one of the most fascinating places I have ever visited, and we also visited Herculaneum. Safe travels.

Denny, certainly our experience in 2014 was NO Re-Entry. But I will agree that the gate by the Villa of the Mysteries is an ... outlier ... . It's not always properly staffed and may not always be open. But the ability to re-enter there should not represent a new rule! We made our final exit there, simply to save the tedious Roman Road walking all the way back to Porta Marina. We also got to see a motel or two on the (modern) road outside the Scavi. But we walked right to the Scavi/Villa Mistiri (ironical typeface) Circumvesuviana stop.

I know this sounds peculiar. But I will specifically confirm that in 2014 I ASKED the turnstile guard/aide (who punched my ticket because the electronic scan was broken? To cancel the word Pompeii on the ticket?) at the Porta Marina entrance, and she made it extremely clear that re-entry was not allowed. I was told the same thing (that week) at Herculaneum. And we had, in fact, the 3-day, 5-site tickets that might ... (but did not) convey Executive Tour status!

We stayed in Sorrento and used the Circumvesuviana train. I didn’t find it all that bad to use except once when it was very crowded. Don’t worry about it being “ gritty” because it’s not all that bad.

We too stayed in Sorrento and explored Pompeii and Herculaneum from there (Pompeii being a lot longer day). I found the Circumvesviana train to be uncomfortable and dirty, not particularly gritty however my mum, when she travelled with my dad, was faced by a young man masturbating in front of her, an experience she would probably describe as somewhat stronger than gritty!

Pina Esposito is one of Rick's recommended guides for Pompei and Hercolano. She was fantastic for me and my wife. The time was much better spent. She picked us up at our hotel in Naples at 8 am, drove to Ercolano, Pompeii, and another recently renovated farmhouse; had lunch, and were back by 5 pm.
I find almost all the audio guides at the museums in italy to be poorly translated, somewhat slow, and just not good.