Pompeii

Not counting transportation, you need 15 minutes in line for tickets, and a minimum of two hours for a basic look at the important highlights. Some visitors are glad to spend four hours or more. Either buy a book or hire a guide to navigate this vast site. Sun protection and water are essential. There is basic hot food inside the site. You cannot leave and reenter the site on the same ticket.

We like this stuff, and easily spent 8 hours at Pompeii. Our visit was in May, about five years ago so heat was not an issue but it usually doesn't deter us anyway. We felt we did a very adequate job with the map and comprehensive booklet that came with our admission. At some point in our meandering we came across a manned turnstile...maybe near the Villa of Mysteries?...the guards told us we could exit and return on our ticket. We popped out for a nice meal at a little restaurant with lemon trees, vine covered patio, the whole nine yards ( there may have a few places to eat if I recall). The guards simply waved us in when we returned. Whether this policy has changed or perhaps we just got lucky, I don't know. We have seen a lot of ruins, but we both rank Pompeii as one of the truly most fascinating places we have ever visited. Safe travels!

If you're a history nut you can easily spend the whole day there. The site is quite large and it takes a while to walk around it. You need at least a half day in my opinion. I spent 6 hours when I went there many years ago and did not have time to see everything I wanted to.

I'll also throw in a recommendation to consider Herculaneum. That site is spectacular and only takes about 2+ hours for a decent visit. Only a small portion of the site has been excavated, but the buildings are remarkably intact and some of the original furniture, etc. remains.

We spent most of the day. Arrived mid morning and left late afternoon. We hired a private guide at the door for a two hour, highlight type of tour. We didn't look at anything on the tour in great detail but made notes on the map so that we could circle back for a detailed look on our own. The food service inside is ok for a quick snack, restrooms and water. The area is massive and completely exposed so it can be very hot. Can you see it in two hours? Sure but why? I am sure we could have left after the two hour tour but it is very interesting (if you like this type of stuff) to poke around in hidden corners.

We spent 2 nights in the town of Pompeii so that we could have the whole middle day in the ruins. It worked well for us, we found everything that we wanted to see and had time to poke around. Read the book "Pompeii" by Robert Harris, it's historical fiction and we went around and found many of the buildings that were noted in the book. It made it very interesting for us to picture what life was really like for the inhabitants and how they lived and died. What an interesting day!

Have a Great Trip!

We spent an entire day and were not done when we had to leave at the end of the day...although we are the kind of people who like to look at every inch, every plaque, every cool mosaic and carved stone. Can't wait to go back and continue exploring someday. When we went we knew that the excavated city was large but had no idea HOW large it really is. If you have limited time take a while and pinpoint what you most want to see, otherwise you might miss something because there really is a lot!

Thank you for all the advice!