Pompeii, a whole city frozen in AD 79.

Pompeii is enormous: do not try to see all of it. Enter by Porta Marina, walk through the forum and the main streets and choose a few houses open that day; the park publishes each day which ones can be visited.

Why go and who it suits

No other place shows so well how an ordinary Roman city lived: the bakeries with their ovens, the counters of the taverns, the election graffiti on the façades, the stepping stones for crossing the street without treading in mud. It suits anyone with curiosity, from teenagers who have studied Vesuvius in class to people travelling through the history of art.

It suits less anyone who cannot stand the heat or walking on stone: it is kilometres of uneven paving, with little shade. With small children it works if you shorten the visit and make it a treasure hunt: the amphitheatre, a bakery, a dog painted in a mosaic.

Which ticket to buy

For a first visit the Pompeii Express, at €20, is enough, giving access to the ancient city. The Pompeii Plus, at €25, adds the suburban villas, the Villa Regina at Boscoreale with its Antiquarium and the Pompeii Artebus shuttle that links them. If you are going to spend more days in the area, there is a €30 three-day ticket that adds Oplontis, the villas of Stabiae and their museum, with one entry per site.

The ticket is single-entry: if you leave, you cannot re-enter with the same ticket. EU citizens aged 18 to 24 pay €2 on the tickets that indicate it. The park announces a new fare system from 1 January 2027, so check the price if you are travelling next year.

When to go

From October to April there are fewer people and less heat, but the days are short: in winter hours, from 15 October to 15 March, the last entry is at 15:30. In summer, from 16 March to 14 October, it opens from 9:00 to 19:00 and the last entry is at 17:30. It is closed on 25 December and 1 January.

In July and August, enter at nine and leave before two, or enter late in the afternoon. On the first Sunday of each month entry is free, but it is the busiest day: if you do not mind paying, avoid it.

What it costs in total

Allow about €20 for entry, the return train from Naples and, if you want it, the audio guide: €9 for one adult or €14 for two, at the ticket desks at Porta Marina, Piazza Esedra and the amphitheatre, leaving ID as a deposit. The park's themed tours, lasting an hour and a half, cost €8 plus the entry.

Facilities inside

There are toilets at the three entrances, at the theatre, at the Casina dell'Aquila, at the Villa dei Misteri and next to the Antiquarium. The left-luggage, paid, is at Porta Marina and Piazza Anfiteatro: use it, because bags larger than 30 × 30 × 15 cm are not allowed in. Next to the forum, in Vicolo degli Augustali, there is a first-aid point.

If it rains

Pompeii can be seen in the rain, although the paving is slippery and there is almost nowhere to shelter. If it pours, swap the day for the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, where the mosaics and frescoes taken from Pompeii are, or for Herculaneum, smaller and easier to see in two hours.