40.82° N · 14.43° E · Naples
From the car park at 1,000 m, a volcanic-ash trail zigzags up to the crater rim, at about 1,170 m, with the Gulf of Naples below. The ticket is bought only on the park's website and sells out in season.
Part of Naples
Step by step
It is sold only at vesuviopark.vivaticket.it, in 10-minute slots that are released 30 days ahead. Thirty minutes before each slot a few last-minute tickets are released.
By public transport: train to Pompei and EAV bus to Vesuvius. By car: park at the 800 m car park and walk up for 30 minutes or take the Comune di Ercolano shuttle, €1 each way.
At 1,118 m is the hut where entry is checked and the visit with the park guide begins. Show your ticket and ID.
About 2 km in zigzags over volcanic ash to the Capannuccia, at 1,170 m. The full ring is closed for safety works.
View of the crater, the fumaroles and the gulf. You go down the same way, always keeping to the right. The visit must end at most one hour after the last entry.
It is the park's trail number 5 and the only one that reaches the crater. It is not technical, but it is steep and the surface is loose. Above 1,000 m a park guide accompanies each group.
Looking into the crater of the volcano that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79 is one of those things that is better understood standing there than in a book. From the rim you see the bottom of the cone, a few fumaroles and, on a clear day, the whole Gulf of Naples, from Capri to the Sorrento peninsula.
It is a short climb and suitable for almost anyone who walks without difficulty: about 2 km each way along a wide track of ash and lapilli. Children under 6 get in free accompanied by an adult, and from that age many children manage it without difficulty. What tires you is the slope and the sliding surface, not the distance. It is not for pushchairs or wheelchairs.
By car. You cannot park at the 1,000 m piazzale. The car park is at 800 m, on the SP144 provincial road next to the Observatory, and is run by the Comune di Ercolano. The park advises paying for parking only after you have your trail ticket. From there you walk up for about 30 minutes (1.8 km) or take the municipal shuttle, €1 each way and about four minutes.
By train and bus from Pompeii. The simplest option without a car is Trenitalia's Vesuvio Link: an integrated ticket with the train to Pompei station and the EAV bus that leaves from Piazza Anfiteatro, ten minutes' walk away. The bus leg costs €2.40 each way, added to the train, and it runs every day of the year. An EAV bus also stops near the Circumvesuviana Pompei Villa dei Misteri station.
From Herculaneum. With the Circumvesuviana to Ercolano Scavi, the way up to the volcano is by taxi or private shuttles.
The last entry changes with the month: at 15:00 from November to February, at 16:00 in March and October, at 17:00 from April to June and in September, and at 18:00 in July and August. It opens at 9:00.
The first slots of the morning are the quietest and, in summer, the coolest. The clean air after a weather front gives the best views; the summer haze dulls them. In winter it is considerably colder up there than in Naples.
The general ticket costs €10 and the reduced one €8 (residents of the park's municipalities and under-25s with ID), plus booking fees. Add parking and the shuttle if you go by car, or the Vesuvio Link ticket if you go by train. A morning at the volcano comes to about €20 per person without a car.
With an orange or higher weather alert from the regional Civil Protection, the park closes the trail and automatically refunds the amount to your card. If the day is thick with cloud, the crater is still visible, but the gulf is not. As an alternative, Herculaneum is at the foot of the volcano and is a good visit in the rain.
Who it's for
What to bring
More to do
Itineraries
Tips
With an orange or higher alert the park does not sell tickets and closes the trail.
The trail starts in the municipality of Ercolano and the bus from Pompeii stops at the Observatory.
The online ticket is valid from two hours before to two hours after the slot, but the bus and the shuttle take time.
There are only ten tickets per slot, they are bought with the wifi at the entrance and are named.
Questions
The general ticket is €10 and the reduced one €8, plus booking fees: the park's website shows €11.68 and €9.55 with everything included.
Online only, at vesuviopark.vivaticket.it. The park warns against buying from resellers.
Low difficulty, although steep at times. It is about two and a half hours return.
Not at the 1,000 m piazzale. You park at 800 m and go up on foot or by shuttle.
Yes. Children under 6 get in free with an adult who proves their age with a document.
Above 1,000 m each group is accompanied by a park guide, included in the ticket.
The park warns that there are no public toilets at the 1,000 m piazzale for now. Go before you climb.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/campania/naples/things-to-do/vesuvius-crater-path
