Train options Rome to Ercolano

The Circumvesuviana stops right there

ln,

Where will you be before that? As you noted, you'll need to take the high speed train to Napoli Centrale, and walk downstairs to the Garibaldi station (which is where the Circumvesuviana departs from). Note that the Circumvesuviana has several lines, so be sure to board the correct train. As I recall, Ercolano is on the line that goes to Sorrento, and the station you'll disembark at is Ercolano Scavi.

You may find this helpful - https://www.rometoolkit.com/whattodo/pompeii_ercolano.html .

Ken is correct. From the train, you'll have about a 10 minute walk downhill to the site

Ah, well that’s the thing - according to my map, the walk from the Portici-Ercolano station is even shorter, but it looks like it could be kind of bleak, really busy roads, etc., so I was wondering whether anyone has done it.

Are you visiting the Excavations of Herculaneum or the moderna day Town of Ercolano? 99.9% of tourists headed to the archeological site use the Circumvesuviana because that stop is closer to the site entrance.

The station of Portici-Ercolano serves both Portici and Ercolano and It's really close to none of them.

As others have said, Erculano Scavi is what you need.

The walk from the Circumvesuviana stop has wide sidewalks, one touristy attraction, and a few restaurants serving only during meal hours. These are important because there is no food inside the Herculaneum excavation. And you can’t go back in if you come out for lunch, This is the correct train stop. Don’t forget to buy your return ticket when you buy the outbound Circumvesuviana ticket, to save time.

As noted, the Circumvesuviana is downstairs by escalator right in the same building where you get off the train from Rome. You might wish to read some of the many discussions here about a same day runout from Rome to Pompeii, because the timing and costs are similar.

Ok, Circumvesuviana it is. Thanks!

It will be a long day trip from Rome, so try to catch an early train to Naples--there's one leaving around 7:30 a.m. The Circumvesuviana is a grungy commuter train that often has pickpockets targeting tourists, so be on guard and wear your money belt. If you are traveling between mid-March and December, there is a special train called the Campania Express that stops at Ercolano (and Pompeii) designed for tourists. It runs on the same tracks as the Circumvesuviana. It's more secure and has air-conditioning, but it's more expensive and only runs 4-5 times a day.

Just to clarify - my plan so far is to fly into Rome, take the train to Ercolano, spend the night, see the ruins, then go to Salerno for four nights, so it’s not actually a day trip from Rome. I realize that theoretically it might make more sense to fly to Naples, but the timing doesn’t work out well.

Be sure to post if you want to discuss the routing from Herculaneum to Salerno.

BTW, I don't object to your using the proper Italian word for the town, but it can, accidentally, increase the danger of mistaking a MODERN Herculaneum address or location for the small ancient excavation, or scavi.

Thanks, Tim. I’ve been going on the assumption that getting to Salerno would entail taking a Trenitalia train from the Portici-Ercolano station, but am open to other suggestions. Also, I have been using ‘Ercolano’ to refer to the modern town, and ‘Herculaneum’ to refer to the ancient ruins. Is that correct?

Instead of spending the night in Ercolano, you could stay in Naples near the train station. I stayed (several nights) at Sweet Sleep, Via Alessandro Poerio 14. It's a short walk to the train station. Take the Circumvesuviana to the scavi, then back to Naples and get the fast train to Salerno. From Garibaldi to the Scavi is a 17 minute ride. You can leave you stuff at the hotel or at the left luggage in Napoli Centrale. The train from Portici-Ercolano to Salerno takes over an hour. The trains from Naples take less than 45 minutes.

Staying in Naples will also allow you to have a good dinner and visit the archaeology museum (a wow).

No, I think that Ercolano is always the correct word for "Herculaneum". It does not embody " ... scavi" or anything else. That's why I suggested that you reconsider your usage. This is true for the word "Pompeii" as well. That's why, for example, the Circumvesuviana has a stop called "Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri". There's not much else there. And, interestingly, the closest "thing" to that named stop is the Porta Marina entrance to the ancient site. But they chose not to put it in the stop name. The Villa dei Misteri entrance is over 1/4 mile away from the train stop. But the (frequently closed) villa is a monument of classical Art History, so I suppose that's why they mention it.

Because a large proportion of signs you see in Campania will be written entirely in Italian, you can mislead yourself by fixating on such an arbitrary personal choice.

I like Chani's suggestion just above. As a big-city native who uses public transit all the time in the US, I would suggest that when you are using public transportation, it's not useful to fixate on total mileage or ticket fares. The issues are TIME and EASE. And with public transit, TIME includes walking-time and waiting-time!

Your OP does not suggest that you have luggage with you. I mention that because if you check your bags at one entrance of Pompeii, it doesn't deliver them to a different exit you might care to use!

I’m not planning to go to Pompeii. Also, I noticed that in Dario’s post above, he uses the names the same way I have been.