Is it worth a short visit to Herculaneum?

We visited Herculaneum in April 2022, not sure if you consider that "recently". We spent about 2 hours there, including time in the museum. We didn't feel rushed.

I can't opine on whether or not you need to buy tickets in advance since we had purchased Campania Artecards.

Herculaneum is very worthwhile imo.

Well. it’s been 11 years, but our visit was very, very worthwhile. We visited Pompeii on a separate day, and Herculaneum has a different feel. If you can even see just one of them, by all means, see it. Being smaller than Pompeii, a couple of hours would still make for a substantial visit.

We just paid at the entrance, but that was so long ago, and so many places now need advance booking, I can’t say what will work now. I do hope you can see Herculaneum.

We saw Herculaneum several days after seeing Pompeii and it was completely worth it. We spent 2-3 hours there. Highly recommended.

Note that Herculaneum is a downhill walk from the Circumvesuviana, and has no food inside.

I have actually done Herculaneum during my past 2 trips instead of Pompeii because of the vastness of Pompeii and the compactness of Herculaneum (I didn't want to be looking at ruins ALL DAY). You can do Herculaneum without a guide, and I feel like 2-3 hours is just enough. They have little guidebooks for free (or at least last time I went they were free) that were helpful. They did run out of the English ones, so I grabbed an Italian one and my friend grabbed a Spanish one, and we made do :) If you had a more comprehensive guidebook it would be even better.

A yes to your question. We were there 2 yrs ago. Have have visited both. Very worth it and don’t need a whole day! It’s just so interesting!

Yes, absolutely go for it. It’s a fascinating site and a couple hours is all you need. Only x-factor is the time to walk down there and waiting on the Circumvesuvia. If you’re on a tight schedule this could pose a problem. That train doesn’t exactly run like clockwork.

Yes it will be worth it, in my opinion. Two or three hours should be enough time to do it justice without being rushed. Don't think you'll regret going there, but you might regret not going there.

I have been to both and thought Herculaneum was better!!

Thanks to all! We will definitely be adding to our itinerary!

Agree with all of above. Please book your time slot ahead of time if possible. We last went to Herculaneum in 2019, and our last Italy trip was Oct 2022. We are going again on March 4th. They now seem to be limiting entrance to a certain number of people at many sites, so booking ahead when possible could save you some time.

Thank you to Drmarybw for the last response. You indicated that you will be at Herculaneum in the next couple of days. I am wondering if you were able to reserve a time slot/book tickets ahead as you suggested we do and if so, where you purchased those tickets. So far, I have not been able to connect with the official web site and I don't know if it is wise to do it through any other ticket sellers. I'll keep trying the website but if you bought tickets some other way, I'd be grateful to know how. Thanks again and have a great visit!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/herculaneum-and-pompeii-questions

Update! Herculaneum website back up and running perfectly this morning! Was able to purchase tickets online for a particular date and time, as well as reserve headphones for the audio tour. Thanks to all for your advice!