Pompeii Advice?

Archaeology lovers often spend 4-6 hours at Pompeii to include the Villa of the Mysteries and the House of Vettii. Yet another villa, the House of Thiasus, recently opened to a very limited number of visitors with advance reservations as the archaeologists continue their work.
There’s a cafe at Pompeii. and you also can bring your own snacks.

Be sure to bring hats, sunscreen and water bottles.

This is a good question. I'm a history buff, too, with two humanities degrees focused on literature, history and philosophy.

In September 2022, I visited Pompeii for about three hours: It wasn't enough, as I wanted more time to wander. I wish I had had at least two more hours. Indeed, I could have spent an entire day at Pompeii because it was so fascinating.

I have always had the ability to withstand heat, but I felt it during my September visit. There was a place within the site to get drinks and small eats.

Keep in mind that you might also want to see the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, which houses virtually all of the artifacts from Pompeii. (It's about 20 miles between Pompeii and Naples.) I did not go to the museum and regretted it in part because my brother and I came down from Rome on the fast train and had to go back, deciding to have dinner at what's reputedly the world's first pizzeria before our return trip. We ended up not having pizza because the line was out the door and around the block. We should have gone to the museum, even if it was for 1.5 hours before going back to Rome.

Because you cannot reuse same day tickets (i.e. you cannot re-enter if you go out for lunch), you are going to the air-conditioned, glorified cafeteria restaurant inside the excavation. That also give you a break from the sun. No, you are not going to a gourmet, two-hour, slow-food, artisanal lunch. But that's not appropriate in this day.

You might get better advice if you say where you are coming from and going to, on either side of the tour. You might ask if the tour includes the Villa of The Mysteries, which is quite a long walk, although quite a big attraction. And discuss what the less historically inclined individuals will do if two others want to keep looking.

For me Pompeii is a full day and they have a very nice place to eat in the center of the ruins. I've been several times and I would still give it a full day, the place is a city not four buildings and some photos of what used to be there. J

As well as hats, bring a small umbrella or parasol for your own shade.
Walking shoes that breathe.
I would also bring a really small spray bottle so you can mist yourself with water now and again when you are in a hot place like Pompeii.
It’s amazing how refreshing it is.

Regardless of your levels of interest I think about 4 hours is a reasonable limit for most people. The good news is the majority or highlights are roughly in the section near the entrance and forum. The amphitheater is further in and frankly you can see Roman amphitheaters all over. Between there and the forum are a lot of basic ruins that account for a good percentage of the site. I’m taking walls and not much else that you would not have encountered by that point. And that’s all good. If you’ve done it right and gone first thing, at four hours you’ll be heading out as the peak midday heat and crowds arrive.

I think a better, deeper and more rewarding alternative than more time in Pompeii is to head to Herculaneum after a good midday break. The two sites are very different from each other, and Herculaneum has surviving features that Pompeii does not. Bonus, Herculaneum is open until dusk which can be quite late in season.

For the scholars among your group, I highly recommend Mary Beard’s “Fires of Vesuvius” for some great background and perspective on Pompeii and it’s unique place in history (it was unique before the eruption too.)

Regarding lunch, there are several vendors outside the gates selling food. We purchased good paninis and drinks and took them inside. The lone lunch building inside the park had long lines, but did offer inside eating, providing a break from the sun. There is not much shade anywhere in Pompeii.
Have a great trip!

I don't have personal experience, but I believe that you are required to consume your own food only in designated picnic-type areas. These are outdoors, so from May to September, it could be a very hot lunch. It is not permitted to sit on a wall or embankment and eat from a bag beside you, while in an historic area.

The next question is whether the crowded indoor cafeteria has a "No outside food" sign?

We are planning a day trip to Pompeii from Naples at the end of October. We will be coming from a cruise ship for the day. We are planning to take the train to the Archaeology Park. My question is... should we purchase entry tickets ahead of time or will we be ok to purchase at the park? We want to make sure we can get in when we arrive. We were unsure if you had to have an entry time and if they were limiting how many could enter. We planned to visit the Park in the morning for about 3 hours and then head back to Naples for the afternoon. I was there many years ago, and I feel like it is quite different now. If we have to purchase our tickets, where do you suggest we purchase? We want to do the park on our own with audio.

We booked with Gaetano 4 times and we're very happy each time! His son Ciro did our tour a few weeks ago and he was great! Highly recommend them. https://Pompeiitourguide.com

Update: We decided on a 2.5-ish hour tour with Gaetano and two additional hours on our own, which turned out to the perfect amount of time for us. Our tour with Gaetano exceeded our expectations; he is magnificent! He truly brought Pompeii to life, kept us comfortable and in the shade (unlike other tours we observed), and he obviously truly cares about the place. He met us shortly after 9:00 at the main gate (Porta Marina), he had our tickets, and we were well inside with our tour underway soon after. He carefully structures his tours to cover something of everything, but doesn't waste time waiting in lines, e.g., at the brothel. Before we parted ways - I think it was just before noon - he made sure we knew how to get to a few places we wanted to investigate on our own. From there we headed to the food facility. We got sandwiches for lunch and they were reasonably good. There was enough seating outdoors for all (we never went inside) and most of it was in at least a little shade. We then checked out a few more spots, and about 1:45 texted our prearranged driver and asked him to pick us up at the Piazza Anfiteatro entrance. at 2:00. It couldn't have gone more smoothly! I might have stayed a little longer, but we were all a bit worn out at that point and I'm really happy with the experience. All four of us agreed it was the best day of our trip!

Thank you for posting your update, it sound like it was a great. Where did you start/end your day, Naples? How did you arrange a driver? and was it just for your return or both ways? Was your time with Gaetano just the 4 of you or were there others?

We're trying to decide if we should do a day trip from Amalfi (or another town on the AC) or whether we should adjust our accommodations to include 2 nights in Salerno (gives us best bus access to Bari which is our next stop). We are a couple, 65, 73, moderate shape, used to walking several miles a day, traveling in late October.

We were based in Sorrento and used Aldo Limos who were fantastic. (For more info, check out the review I posted a couple days ago on Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187782-d1915544-Reviews-Aldo_Limos-Sorrento_Province_of_Naples_Campania.html) They are based out of Sorrento but go all over the Naples/Amalfi Coast area even to Rome. We used them at least six different times during our visit (round trips counting as one time). For Pompeii, we had them pick us up at our hotel at 8:00 and arrived at Pompeii around 9:00 (but it can take longer). We had coordinated in advance with Gaetano who asked that our driver ("Happy Tony") call him when we left Sorrento, which worked great, as Tony knew exactly where Gaetano would be waiting. We had reserved our return ride to Sorrento with a 2:00 p.m. pick up, but Chris in the office at Aldo Limos (she's incredibly helpful and super-organized) had said they could probably flex a little on that if we needed a 20-30 minutes more or less. Tony stayed in the Naples area all day, and when he dropped us off he told us to just text him about 10 minutes before we were ready to leave and tell him which gate we were at. This worked brilliantly, as around 1:45 we were nowhere near the main gate and had Tony pick us up at the completely uncrowded Piazza Anfiteatro gate. Then he drove us back to Sorrento, which took maybe a little over an hour. The whole thing went incredibly smoothly!

There was one day when we had a change of plans due to some severe weather forcast and needed a pick up that we did not have pre-booked. Aldo Limos offered a solution but we needed to get back to Sorrento from Naples before they could come get us. So for that we used Positano Taxi Transfers (had been recommended by a friend) who also worked out extremely well. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g194863-d23912652-Reviews-Positano_Taxi_Transfers-Positano_Amalfi_Coast_Province_of_Salerno_Campania.html

Looks like it's an hour drive from Amalfi to Pompeii but only 30-ish minutes from Salerno, so that might make more sense for visiting Pompeii.

We had Gaetano all to ourselves; I think he only does private, pre-booked tours. I wouldn't want to do it any other way. His son, Ciro, is also a guide - we met him briefly at the site - and his tours also get rave reviews. They are 3rd and 4th generation Pompeii guides and live in the modern Pompei town. (I also posted a review of them on Trip Advisor!)

Hope this helps - have a great trip!