The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried a whole stretch of the Roman coast south of Naples, and the Circumvesuviana railway now runs past all of it: Herculaneum at Ercolano, the villas of Oplontis at Torre Annunziata, Pompeii, and the hilltop villas of Stabiae at Castellammare. The volcano itself stands over them, with a path to the rim of its crater.
Pompeii is a whole city and takes a day; Italy's list covers how to plan it and its ticket rules. This page covers the rest: the smaller, better preserved Herculaneum and the victims found on its ancient beach, the luxury villas around Pompeii that most visitors never reach, the climb to the crater, and the wine grown on the volcano's slopes.
Villa dei Misteri, outside Porta Ercolano, Pompeii
1 hour on top of PompeiiTimed entry
A continuous fresco on a deep red ground wraps all four walls of one room, and no one agrees on what it means.
What it is
Outside Pompeii's walls, about 400 metres beyond the Herculaneum Gate along the road lined with tombs, stands a villa that came through the eruption almost intact. In one room, a continuous fresco painted around 70 to 60 BC wraps all four walls on a deep red ground: women, satyrs and the god Dionysus in scenes usually read as a bride's initiation into the Dionysian mysteries, though no one agrees on its meaning. A restoration finished in 2015 used lasers to strip off the wax and oil applied in the early 1900s, which had darkened the red. The villa also keeps its wine press.
How to do it
It is not on the basic Pompeii Express ticket: buy Pompei+, which includes it, or add the suburban villas route for €8 at Porta Ercolano, by card.
Good to know
Last entry there is 15:30 in winter and 17:30 in summer.
Time needed
1 hour on top of Pompeii
Best time
Before the last entry at Porta Ercolano, 15:30 in winter
Face the boat sheds of Herculaneum's ancient beach
Parco Archeologico di Ercolano, Corso Resina
2 to 3 hours with the townBook ahead
Twelve stone vaults on the old shoreline, a beach where about 340 people died in an instant, and a charred Roman boat.
What it is
In 1980 to 1982, digging on what was Herculaneum's beach, at the foot of the town walls, archaeologists found more than 55 skeletons on the sand and in the first six of the stone vaults that opened onto the shore, and the work of the 1990s brought the total in the area to about 340. The men mostly died on the beach and the women and children in the vaults, where they had sheltered, killed in an instant by a surge of gas and ash at around 500 °C. In the same years the excavators found a charred Roman boat over nine metres long, probably sent to help the townspeople; it is in its own pavilion, the Padiglione della Barca.
How to do it
The vaults, twelve in all, still face the old shoreline at the bottom of the site.
Good to know
Check on the day whether the pavilion is open.
Time needed
2 to 3 hours with the town
Best time
The 8:30 opening, before Vesuvius in the afternoon
Walk up to the crater rim of Vesuvius on a booked slot
Gran Cono path, Quota 1000, Ercolano
2 to 3 hours from Quota 1000Timed entry
An easy round trip of about 4 kilometres up to about 1,170 metres on the volcano, booked in 10-minute slots.
What it is
The path to the crater, trail 5, Il Gran Cono, starts at the Quota 1000 square on the Ercolano side of the volcano and climbs to about 1,170 metres; the full loop of the rim is closed for safety works, so for now the walk ends at the Capannuccia.
How to do it
The round trip is about 4 kilometres, rated easy, in roughly two to two and a half hours; wear proper shoes. Tickets, from about €10, are sold only online on the park's official seller, in slots every 10 minutes released 30 days ahead; ten last-minute tickets per slot go on sale 30 minutes before, on the Wi-Fi at the entrance. There is no parking at Quota 1000: leave the car at Quota 800 and walk 30 minutes or take the €1 shuttle.
Good to know
The path closes on days of orange weather alerts, and there are no toilets at the top.
Time needed
2 to 3 hours from Quota 1000
Best time
A clear morning; last entry 15:00 in winter, 18:00 in July and August
Walk the painted rooms of Poppaea's villa at Oplontis
Villa di Poppea, Via Sepolcri, Torre Annunziata
1 to 1 and a half hoursNo booking needed
A vast Roman villa about 10 metres below the modern streets, with painted columns and views that open its rooms into imaginary space.
What it is
In the middle of Torre Annunziata, a stop on the Circumvesuviana, a vast Roman villa lies about 10 metres below the modern streets. Built in the mid 1st century BC and enlarged under the early emperors, it has more than a hundred rooms, and an inscription on an amphora suggests it belonged to Poppaea Sabina, the wife of Nero. Its walls carry Second Style paintings from around 60 to 50 BC: painted columns, doorways and views that open the rooms into imaginary space, and a hall named after its peacock. Outside lies a swimming pool about 60 metres long.
How to do it
A ticket costs €8, or it is included in the three-day Pompeii Plus, €30.
Good to know
It opens 9:00 to 19:00 in summer and to 17:00 in winter, last entry an hour before, closed on Tuesdays.
Two great Roman leisure villas above Castellammare, free to visit, one with a 36-metre pool in its peristyle.
What it is
Above Castellammare di Stabia, the Romans built great villas for leisure, and two of them can be visited free. Villa Arianna, the oldest, begun in the 2nd century BC, takes its name from a painting of Dionysus finding Ariadne; its famous fresco of Flora, the Primavera, is now in the Naples museum. Villa San Marco, one of the largest villas found in Campania, has a great peristyle around a pool 36 metres long, and was being renovated when Vesuvius erupted. Pliny the Elder died at Stabiae, having sailed across the bay to help.
How to do it
Take the Circumvesuviana to Castellammare di Stabia and then EAV bus line 2.
Good to know
Both open 9:00 to 19:00 in summer and to 17:00 in winter, last entry an hour before, closed on Tuesdays.
See where Roman wine was made at Villa Regina in Boscoreale
Villa Regina and Antiquarium, Boscoreale
1 hourNo booking needed
The farm that fed Pompeii, with 18 huge clay jars still set in the ground of its wine cellar.
What it is
Pompeii shows how Romans lived in town; Villa Regina, at Boscoreale on the lower slopes of Vesuvius north of Pompeii, shows the farm that fed it. It is a small working villa, its rooms set on three sides of a courtyard with a wide portico, and its wine cellar still holds 18 dolia, the huge clay jars set in the ground where the wine fermented. Casts preserve the shape of its wooden doors and window fittings. Next to it, the Antiquarium, opened in 1991, explains life and farming in the Vesuvian countryside in Roman times.
How to do it
Both are included in the Pompei+ ticket, with the park's shuttle from Pompeii, or cost €8 on their own.
Good to know
They open 9:00 to 19:00 in summer and to 17:00 in winter, with last entry an hour before closing.
Vineyards of Vesuvius, Trecase, Boscoreale and Ercolano
About 1 and a half hoursBook ahead
Vines on the volcanic soil that buried Pompeii, and a wine named for the tears of Christ, often poured by the growers themselves.
What it is
The volcanic soil that buried Pompeii also makes the lower slopes of Vesuvius fertile, and they are covered in vineyards. The local wine is Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, the tears of Christ, named after a legend that Christ wept over Lucifer's fall and vines grew where his tears landed. The whites are made mainly from Coda di Volpe, called Caprettone here, and Falanghina; the reds from Piedirosso.
How to do it
Small family wineries in Trecase, Boscoreale and Ercolano, some inside the national park, offer tastings of three or four wines, often led by the growers, in Italian or English, for about an hour and a half. Without a car, a wine tour from Pompeii or Naples is the simplest way.
Good to know
Book ahead by phone or on the winery's site.
Time needed
About 1 and a half hours
Best time
Late afternoon after Pompeii, or at the September harvest
Santuario della Beata Vergine del Rosario, Piazza Bartolo Longo, Pompei
45 minutesNo booking needed
A lift up a bell tower about 80 metres high to a terrace over the domes, the excavations and Vesuvius.
What it is
The ruins are one Pompeii; the other is the modern town of Pompei, which grew up in the late 19th century around a pilgrimage church. Bartolo Longo and Marianna Farnararo De Fusco began the Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Rosary on 8 May 1876, after a painting of the Madonna arrived in 1875, and it became a major basilica in 1901. The bell tower, finished in 1925 and about 80 metres high, has a lift to a terrace that looks over the domes, the town, the excavations and Vesuvius.
How to do it
It stands in the modern town by the Pompei Santuario station, on the side of the Piazza Anfiteatro entrance to the ruins, so it fits after a day in the site.
Good to know
Twice a year, at noon on 8 May and on the first Sunday of October, the square fills for the Supplica, a prayer recited before the image.
Walk Pompeii slowly, from Porta Marina to the amphitheatre
Pompeii
A full day, or 4 hours for the coreBook ahead
A whole Roman town to walk, from the Forum under Vesuvius along Via dell'Abbondanza, past bakeries and street counters, to the amphitheatre.
What it is
Pompeii is a whole Roman town, so pick an entrance and a direction before you arrive. A slow day runs Forum and Basilica, then east along Via dell'Abbondanza past bakeries and street counters to the amphitheatre. Pompeii+ adds the Villa of the Mysteries beyond Porta Ercolano, last entry 15:30 in winter.
How to do it
On the Circumvesuviana Napoli to Sorrento line, get off at Pompei Scavi Villa dei Misteri and enter at Porta Marina, which puts the Forum and Vesuvius in front of you first; the Pompei Santuario stop on the Poggiomarino line serves Piazza Anfiteatro at the far end.
Good to know
Tickets allow one entry only, so carry water and lunch, and leave anything bigger than 30x30x15 cm at left luggage. Do not try to see every house: check the park's list of open buildings that morning, because the houses rotate.
In the Garden of the Fugitives, casts of 13 victims lie where the ash caught them; plan your Pompeii ticket so you reach it fresh.
What it is
The scene people remember is the Garden of the Fugitives, just inside the Nocera Gate, where casts of 13 victims lie where the ash caught them. Prices changed on 12 January 2026: Pompeii Express, €20, covers the ancient city; Pompeii+, €25, adds the suburban villas and a shuttle. EU citizens aged 18 to 24 pay €2.
How to do it
Since November 2024 every Pompeii ticket carries the visitor's name and the site admits at most 20,000 people a day. From 16 March to 14 October entries are also split into a morning window (9:00 to 13:00) and an afternoon one (13:00 to 17:30), so buy from vivaticket, the official seller, with your window in mind. Winter hours run 9:00 to 17:00, last entry 15:30.
Good to know
The garden sits at the far east end, so go before you tire. The first Sunday of the month is free.
From Napoli Garibaldi, the Circumvesuviana line to Sorrento stops at Ercolano Scavi for Herculaneum, Torre Annunziata for Oplontis, Pompei Scavi Villa dei Misteri for Pompeii, and Castellammare di Stabia for Stabiae. The Campania Express, a tourist train on the same line, runs four times a day each way from March with guaranteed seats and stops only at the main sites.
Tickets
Pompeii and its satellite sites are one park. Pompeii Express costs €20, Pompei+ €25 adds the Villa of the Mysteries, the Villa of Diomedes and Villa Regina at Boscoreale with the shuttle, and a three-day Pompeii Plus at €30 adds Oplontis and Stabiae. EU citizens aged 18 to 24 pay €2. Herculaneum is a separate park with its own ticket.
How many days
In must30's view, two at least: a full day for Pompeii and a second for Herculaneum in the morning and Vesuvius in the afternoon. Add a third for Oplontis, Stabiae and Boscoreale, which are quiet even in August, and a winery visit on the slopes of the volcano.
When to go
October to April is cooler and calmer; the sites have almost no shade and summer afternoons are hard work. Pompeii's winter hours run from 15 October to 15 March, 9:00 to 17:00 with last entry at 15:30. Oplontis, Stabiae and Boscoreale close on Tuesdays; Pompeii and Herculaneum close only on 25 December and 1 January.
Questions travellers ask
Pompeii or Herculaneum?
Both if you can. Pompeii is a whole city and the more famous, but it is huge and crowded. Herculaneum is smaller, takes two or three hours and is better preserved, with wooden beams, upper floors and, on its ancient beach, the skeletons of people who died trying to escape.
Can you see Pompeii and Herculaneum in one day?
It is possible, with an early start at Herculaneum and Pompeii from midday, but both suffer. In must30's view, give Pompeii a full day and pair Herculaneum with the walk up Vesuvius, which starts from the Ercolano side of the volcano.
Do you need to book the Vesuvius crater walk?
Yes. Tickets for the Gran Cono path are sold only online on the park's official seller, in 10-minute slots released 30 days ahead. A few last-minute tickets go on sale 30 minutes before each slot on the Wi-Fi by the entrance. The path closes on days of orange weather alerts.
Is Pompeii+ worth it over Pompeii Express?
If you want the Villa of the Mysteries, yes: Pompei+ costs €25 and adds the suburban villas and Villa Regina at Boscoreale with the shuttle. Express holders can still add the villas route for €8 at Porta Ercolano, by card only.
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