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Paestum - Lines? Advance Tix?

Trying to figure our our day from Pisciotta (on the Cilento coast, south of Salerno and Paestum) up to Naples - by car (rented).

We want to take in ...

  • Castellabatte or Santa Maria di Castellabate,
  • Paestum, and
  • Tenuta Vanullo (Buffalo cheese farm), near Paestum - for which we have an 11:00 a.m. tour rez.

What I cannot tell is whether we need to make a rez. for the archaeological site at Paestum. This looks like a fairly long day of driving, close to 4 hours. And, it looks like we will have to backtrack from Paestum and Tenuta Vanullo so we can then enjoy Castellabate in mid-day sunshine (hopefully) and for lunch, there. (My original thought was to tour the cheese farm in the afternoon and not backtrack, but the farm and the buffalo aparently have their own daily schedules.)

And so my question, do we need to book in advance 8:30 or 9 am tix, or can we keep it loose and just show up? How crowded will it be on a Wednesday in late April?

Posted by
1637 posts

I was at Paestum last June and there were no lines.

Posted by
795 posts

There may be 1 person in front of you if you arrive when the 10 people from the train have walked down the road to the site, but if you arrive before any normal train would, you might be all alone :) I think I was there on a Sunday in late April 5 years ago and there were possibly 100 people at the site total.....but it is so big you wouldn't notice even that...

wow, Castellabate! That looks neat!

Posted by
575 posts

I was there in October and just walked up, bought a ticket and walked right in. It's a HUGE site and was not crowded at all.

Posted by
705 posts

If April 24th it could be busier than other Wednesdays because the next day is a holiday.

Posted by
7883 posts

We walked quickly down the lane from the train stop, and there wasn’t a line. That was September 2022. The only place full were the options for lunch after we sat down. We had a nice lunch of fresh salads and an appetizer of the buffalo cheese.

Posted by
50 posts

Not crowded when I went either, about 10 years ago.

When you go, be sure to order a sandwich from the pizza and sandwich place on the south end. We just wanted a little cold sandwich for lunch, but they didn't have premade ones at hand, so they first cooked the bread in the pizza oven and then put on fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil. Unbelievably tasty!