A whole Roman town, stopped in AD 79 and dug out over three centuries. It is huge, hot and unforgettable; arrive at opening and work against the flow.
Vesuvius buried Pompeii under metres of ash and pumice in AD 79. The town lay forgotten until the 1700s; today 66 hectares are open, the most visited ruin in the world.
You walk real streets, rutted by cart wheels, past bakeries, bars, painted houses and graffiti. Highlights include the Forum under Vesuvius, the Via dell'Abbondanza, the restored House of the Vettii and the amphitheatre, the oldest that survives.
Since January 2026 the basic Pompei Express ticket is €20; Pompei+, about €25, adds the suburban villas, including the Villa of the Mysteries. Tickets are named and ID-checked, and visits are capped at 20,000 a day, with timed slots in high season.
Buy only from Vivaticket, the sole official seller. Everyone else is a reseller.
The groups go to the Forum first; you go the other way.
Enter at the east gate and start in the empty arena and the great palaestra beside it.
Shops, bars with counters, fountains and political graffiti painted on the walls.
The finest painted rooms in Pompeii, reopened after restoration.
The Temple of Jupiter framed by the volcano that buried it.
With Pompei+, finish at the villa's great red frieze.
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Circumvesuviana from Napoli Garibaldi to Pompei Scavi, about 35 minutes; the gate is opposite the station.
Book on Vivaticket in your own name; in high season pick a timed slot.
There is a café by the Forum; a picnic is better, eaten in the shade of the palaestra pines.
Naples practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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