How to visit Pompeii: everything you need to know to plan your trip in 2024

As soon as you arrived in Naples, after an interesting and relevant consultation with the experts of inStazione welcoming you at the central station, you immediately seized the opportunity to arrange a last minute guided tour to discover Pompeii and its evocative landscapes, places of historical and cultural charm capable of attracting 4 million visitors.

Did you know that the Pompeii excavations cover an area of over 400,000 square meters? A huge expansion for a Roman-age city, entirely buried in the fury of the volcanic eruption that devastated the lives of the inhabitants of this symbolic place of Campania. It would take perhaps three days to fully visit the entire archaeological site, between squares, temples, thermals baths, gyms and houses, however today many tourist services offer shorter routes and guided tours, lasting only a few hours, to carefully visit the ancient forum of Pompeii and some symbolic places of the ancient Mediterranean city.

In this article you will discover the attractions absolutely not to be missed on your guided visit to Pompeii, marked with the same references shown on the map you will receive free of charge at the Information Point at the excavations gate. Remember that for a top tourist experience, you can skip the line here and also at many other attractions in Naples and surroundings thanks to the advantages included in the Naples Pass, the tourist card to discover the best of the city.

Do you want to go back to the age of ancient Rome and its splendor for a few hours? If you are planning a trip to Naples and its surroundings then you absolutely must visit Pompeii, an extraordinary World Heritage Site loved by tourists from all over the world.

Thanks to the warm and professional assistance of the team of inStazione, also available remotely and multilingual (English, French, Spanish, German and even Japanese), as soon as you arrive in the city you will be able to know everything you need on how to visit Pompeii and make the most of this trip in the shadow of Vesuvius. You will be able to arrange your experience by choosing the most suitable options and packages for your needs, especially if you are organizing a last minute trip, with the possibility of taking advantage of interesting benefits to travel comfortably by bus or train and access the main attractions by skipping the line at the entrance.

Visiting the ancient ruins of the archaeological site of Pompeii is a real journey of a few hours through the streets and the typical city landscapes of the Mediterranean in Roman age, to discover the life of its inhabitants and the remains of the places that animated the ancient forum of this city. Among splendid villas enriched with mosaics, evocative temples and fascinating Roman thermal baths, don't miss the opportunity to visit some of the most iconic domus of Pompeii, such as Casa del Fauno, Casa del Poeta Tragico, Casa del Menandro and Casa di Orione.

However, if you have been feeling the call of your adventurous nature for some time now and are planning to experience an exciting day of discovery and culture, you definitely need to treat yourself with a guided tour to Pompeii. Starting from Naples you can easily organize your trip by exploring this suggestive archaeological park in one day, enjoying the advantages of a fantastic guided tour with all the comfort of the skip-the-line service at the entrance, an excellent solution to ensure the right dose of adventure in your itinerary in Naples.

If you are interested about how to visit Pompeii on your trip to Campania, then you will certainly want to know which is the best option are to reach this fascinating archaeological area at the foot of Vesuvius and experience a fantastic adventure.

Starting from Naples, it is possible to reach Pompeii by car, by train and by bus: we covered this topic in our complete guide on how to get to Pompeii and Herculaneum, a very useful tool for knowing how to get around this area easily. Following, a summary of the main information regarding transport that connects the capital of Campania to the ancient Roman city. However, it is always worth checking the information and timetables of public transport at information points, or relying on the practical advice of inStazione experts to find the right solution for you.

To go from Naples to Pompeii by car you need to drive the A3 Napoli-Salerno highway and exit at West Pompei, turn left, cross the bridge and look for a car park: from here the excavations are easily reachable.

Are you traveling by Circumvesuviana? The departure is from the Piazza Garibaldi station in Naples and continues on the Naples-Sorrento route to the Pompei Scavi Villa dei Misteri station, which is the closest stop to the archaeological excavations of Pompeii; once you get off, passing the two entrances of Porta Marina you will immediately get in the magical atmosphere of the ancient Roman ruins. Furthermore, every year, with the arrival of the summer, the Campania Express tourist train is activated starting from Piazza Garibaldi in Naples and reaching Pompeii, Herculaneum and Sorrento.

Do you prefer to travel by bus? From the central station of Naples, Piazza Garibaldi, a few buses depart regularly to directly connect the city with the archaeological excavation area.

Visiting the extraordinary archaeological excavations of Pompeii, perhaps thanks to the professionals of inStazione with a well-organized guided tour, is one of the most fascinating and exciting travel experiences for those who are passionate about ancient history, architecture and art, a real adventure discovering the largest and best preserved Roman site in the world (except Rome itself) with an area of 44 hectares full of exceptional attractions.

One of the most useful and interesting tools for best visiting Pompeii is My Pompeii, a smartphone app which allows visitors to have a digital map of the archaeological site at hand with all the indications and useful information relating to the main points of interest of the park. The app offers guided routes for walking in the Pompeian amphitheatre, discovering the great Palestra, visiting the Praedia of Giulia Felice and Via dell'Abbondanza, the main reference road of the archaeological area which leads to all the public and religious buildings of the Forum and the main domus, but also cross the Necropolis of Porta Nocera, the Orto dei Fuggiaschi, and finally reach the theater area. Also not to be missed on the tour are the Stabian Thermal Baths and Via del Vesuvio, where you can admire Casa di Leda e il Cigno and not far away Casa delle Nozze d’Argento.

Pompeii is the only archaeological site in the world capable of showing so clearly what life was like in a city of ancient Rome, full of life and culture, a scenario immortalized forever in history after the eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD, when a rain of ash and lava covered everything. A natural disaster difficult to imagine today, which however made the cancellation of the city an extraordinary historical testimony by perfectly preserving places, objects and treasures of these people: from the urban layout to the monumental buildings, from the homes of ordinary people to the magnificent apartments decorated with precious mosaics, Pompeii is a destination not to be missed when traveling in Campania.

If you are planning your one day trip near Naples and are looking for information on how to visit Pompeii, remember that the excavation area is open to the public every day (except December 25, January 1 and May 1 or any extra dates communicated by the site’s organization), from 9 am to 7 pm in the period April 1/October 31 and from 9 am to 5 pm in the period November 1/March 31. For further information on the specific timetables of each attraction and prices, check out the Pompeii Archaeological Park website.

To enjoy the beauty of the territory and have a memorable travel experience, we also recommend to explore the Vesuvius Park, a picturesque place where you can pamper your sight between the brilliant green of the Mediterranean nature and the spectacular blue of the Gulf of Naples.