If you’ve ever wondered what life was like for Roman citizens almost 2,000 years ago, there’s no better place to find out than Pompeii.
Located in the Bay of Naples in Italy, this ancient city was near-instantly buried in ash and pumice when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD—essentially freezing it in time.
Today, Pompeii is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. While Roman ruins can be found all across Italy and the Mediterranean, nowhere else have any been preserved like this.
In this guide, I’ll cover everything you need to know about visiting Pompeii —from how to get there and what to see, to practical tips that will help you make the most of your time.
Table of Contents
About Pompeii
Pompeii has been inhabited since at least the 8th century BCE by the Oscans, an Italic tribe that was later absorbed into the Roman Republic. By the time of its destruction, it had grown into a thriving city with a population between 10,000 to 20,0000 people.
Its location in the Bay of Naples was prime real estate for farming. Beyond the city walls, vineyards and olive groves dotted the mountainside, and the ruins of many of their wealthy villas have been found.
During this time Pompeii was located on the coast, and had its own harbour, but the volcanic eruption drastically changed the landscape and today the archeological site is a few hundred metres from the coastline.
Pompeii was far from the largest Roman city, but it was considerably wealthy and had all the public infrastructure that ancient Rome was known for, including public baths, theatres, temples, a public forum and a sewage and water system.
In almost every way it was your stereotypical Roman city. Except that, unbeknownst to its citizens, it was built at the base of an active volcano.
Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD in what would become one of the deadliest eruptions in human history.
For the first 18 hours the volcano spewed pumice and volcanic ash into the sky, blanketing the city in a several-metre high layer of ash and rock. Many people escaped during this time, but thousands remained when the final stage of the eruption came: the pyroclastic flows.
These fast moving waves of superheated gas, ash, and rock flowed down the mountain, instantly killing anyone who remained and burying the town. Life in the Bay of Naples moved on, and the city of Pompeii, along with some other surrounding settlements, remained buried for the next 1700 years.
Small parts of the city were unearthed over the centuries, but proper excavations began in the late 18th century and still continue in some areas today.
Among the most interesting (and haunting) discoveries are the preserved remains of the people who died during the eruption. When the city was smothered in superheated ash, it instantly killed and buried anyone who remained. Over time, the bodies decomposed, leaving holes in the ground in the exact shape of their final moment.
When these were dug up, archeologists filled these holes with plaster, essentially creating casts of the victims in the exact position they were in when they died. Many of these casts are on display around Pompeii, offering a human insight into this historical event that you can’t get at any other historical site in the world.
Best time to visit Pompeii
Like all tourist destinations in Italy, the number of other visitors you have to contend with at Pompeii changes heavily depending on the time of year. For the most part, there are 2 seasons:
- High Season – 1st April to 31st October
- Low Season – 1st November to 31st March
The high season is centred around the northern hemisphere summer, bringing warmer weather, longer days and extended opening hours. However, it also means more crowds, longer lines and a daily visitor limit (more on that below).
The low season offers a quieter experience. While Pompeii still sees plenty of visitors all year round, the crowds are much more manageable and there’s no need for a daily visitor cap. The catch, however, is the colder weather and higher likelihood of rain.
Personally, I visited in March, just before the high season began, and found it to be a great balance between the two. The weather was great, and while there were still plenty of other visitors it was never overwhelming.
How to reach Pompeii
Pompeii Archeological Site is located in the Bay of Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, and about 30km from the city of Naples.
Being among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, Pompeii is very easy to reach. If you’re staying in Naples, the most practical way to reach Pompeii is via train.
There are regular trains (roughly every 30min) running along the Circumvesuviana line from Napoli Garibaldi Station in downtown Naples all the way to Pompei Station, which is roughly a 5min walk from the entrance to the archeological site.
The train from Naples to Pompeii takes around 35 to 40min.
Alternatively, you can also catch the Napoli-Salerno bus from SITA Bus Station in downtown Naples. Just be sure to check that your bus stops at Pompeii, because not every bus on this line does.
Pompeii Opening Hours
During the high season (1st April to 31st October), Pompeii is open from 9am to 7pm.
During the low season (1st November to 31st March), Pompeii is open from 9am to 5pm.
The latest time you can enter the site is 90min before closing time.
Pompeii Tickets
Let’s talk about Pompeii tickets, because there’s a few things you need to know.
Firstly, there are 3 main types of tickets you can purchase, depending on how much you want to see:
- Pompeii Express – Only the ancient city of Pompeii, which is still an expansive site with many things to see, but doesn’t include any of the ‘villas’.
- Pompeii+ – Ancient city of Pompeii with the villas (Villa of Mysteries + Villa of Diomedes + Villa Regina in Boscoreale) and the Antiquarium.
- 3 Day Pass – Pompeii+ in addition to several other sites in the area near Pompeii, including Oplontis, Villa Arianna, Villa San Marco, Libero D’Orsi Museum and Boscoreale.
I highly recommend choosing at least the Pompeii+ ticket. It’s only an extra €4 and grants you access to some of the best preserved buildings in Pompeii. In my personal experience, the Villa of Mysteries alone is worth the extra price.
You can buy Pompeii tickets online from this website. While it may be a 3rd party website, this is the official ticket website for Pompeii, the one you’ll be sent to from the official Pompeii website.
Alternatively, you can also purchase your tickets from the ticket booth at the front entrance, although expect to spend some time waiting in line.
TIP: Avoid buying tickets from anywhere that isn’t the above mentioned website or the ticket booth at the entrance. Around Naples, and even at the Pompeii train station, you’ll see booths signed ‘Pompeii tickets’. These are either selling guided tours or simply scalping.
As of late 2024, to address the record number of tourists, Pompeii now has a daily visitor limit of 20,000. Once the limit is reached for the day, you won’t be able to enter.
If you’re visiting during the off-season you won’t really need to worry about this as it’s unlikely the limit will be reached. But if youre visiting during the high season, between 1st April to 31st October, I highly recommend you book online in advance using the above-mentioned website.
Pompeii Map
Things to see at Pompeii
The Pompeii Archeological Site is a big place and has a lot to see.
You could spend all day (or multiple days) exploring its streets, visiting its many domi (houses), temples, theatres and baths, and civic buildings.
The entire site is one big historical attraction, but to give you a better idea of some of the amazing sights you can see at Pompeii, here are some of the the highlights:
1) The Forum
One of the first areas you’ll come across after entering the archeological site is the Public Forum – the most important civic space in the city.
Like any Roman city, the Forum was the political, cultural, economic and religious centre. It was essentially the town square, and all the city’s most important buildings were situated around it, such as temples, public baths, government buildings and markets.
It was the go-to place for the Pompeii citizens, where people would do business, attend public speeches, worship and catch up on the latest news.
You could easily spend an hour or 2 walking around the Forum exploring all the surrounding buildings, such as the Temple of Apollo, Temple of Jupiter, the Macellum and the Municipal Offices.
The Public Forum is the best place to get a sense of what daily life was life for your average Pompeii citizen.
2) Stabian Baths
Another iconic civic building that the ancient Romans were known for were the public baths, and Pompeii had 5 of them.
These public buildings would take in water from the city’s aqueduct, and heat it using fires under the floors to create a thermal bath, creating a popular public space where people would bathe, socialise or just generally hang out.
Of all the public baths in Pompeii, the Stabian Baths were the oldest and largest. Originally it was a palaestra, an open area used as a gym, generally for wrestling, and it continued to remain so even after the baths were built.
In this sense, the Stabian Baths weren’t so unlike a modern day fitness club, where citizens would come to workout before using the thermal baths or ‘sweat rooms’ (essentially saunas).
The Stabian Baths are among the best preserved buildings in Pompeii, still retaining its roof, mosaic floors and stunning murals.
3) Amphitheatre
An ancient Roman city wouldn’t be complete without a theatre, and Pompeii had 3.
The largest of these was the Amphitheatre, found in the city’s south-east corner. This massive structure, one of the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatres in the world, could host up to 12,000 people. That’s enough to fit almost the entire population of Pompeii, and possibly visitors from the surrounding region too.
This arena was used for all kinds of shows, but the main type, judging by the many murals found on its walls, were the gladiatorial contests. Just like with Rome’s Colosseum, Pompeii’s citizens couldn’t get enough of watching people fight to the death.
When you visit Pompeii’s Amphitheatre, you can enter through the main gate, walk around the arena floor and get a sense of what a spectacle it must have been when the entire city was packed into this stadium to watch gladiators go at it.
4) Garden of the Fugitives
More than a thousand human remains were discovered at Pompeii when it was excavated, allowing archeologists to create casts of their bodies and capture their final moments.
These casts can be found all over the ancient city, but one of the best places to see them is at the Garden of the Fugitives.
Located against the southern wall of the city, the Garden of the Fugitives is made up of a few small houses, a vegetable garden and a small vineyard. It is assumed to have belonged to a wealthy merchant family.
The house and garden themselves are not that compelling relative to the rest of Pompeii, but it’s here that you can find the remains of 13 members of this family, including men, women and children, frozen in the exact positions they were when they died.
It’s a fascinating but haunting insight into the terrifying final moments experienced by Pompeii’s citizens. If you want to see cast bodies during your visit to Pompeii, make sure to stop by the Garden of the Fugitives.
5) Villa of the Mysteries
If you purchase the Pompeii+ ticket, you’ll also get access to the Urban Villas – grandiose homes of wealthy citizens located just outside the city walls.
There are multiple Villas that come included with the ticket, but the best by far is certainly the Villa of Mysteries.
Located just north of the city, next door to the Villa of Diomedes, the Villa of the Mysteries likely belonged to a wealthy wine-making family, who would have assumedly owned vineyards in the surrounding area.
It’s one of the best preserved structures in Pompeii, largely spared the destruction brought upon the rest of the city. It retained its walls, ceilings and the thing it’s most famous for: its frescoes.
These vivid and colourful frescoes depict a religious ceremony associated with Dionysus, the Roman god of wine, fertility, theatre and music. Basically the god of pleasure.
There’s some debate about what exactly the frescoes depict, but it’s assumed to be a ritual from the Dionysian cult in which a young woman is initiated into the cult in preparation for marriage.
The ceremony depicted in these frescoes is a raunchy affair, with no shortage of nudity. It offers a unique insight into ancient Roman attitudes towards sexuality and is worth the extra ticket price.
6) Great Theatre
The other main theatre in Pompeii, aside from the massive amphitheatre, is the Great Theatre (also known as the Large Theatre).
While the amphitheatre was used primarily for gladiatorial contests, the Great Theatre was Pompeii’s main venue for music and various types of plays (comedies, tragedies, etc.) – other popular Roman pastimes.
The Great Theatre, which could hold up to 5000 spectators, is located in Pompeii’s ‘theatre district’, situated next door to the Small Theatre and the Gladiator Barracks.
How Long to Spend at Pompeii?
The Pompeii archaeological site is a big place – it was an entire city afterall. So how long should you plan to spend there?
Well, the answer really depends on you, and how deep your interest goes, since there are multiple ticket types with optional add-ons.
If you purchase the most basic ticket, which includes only the ancient city, you’ll still want to plan for at least 5 to 6 hours. There’s a lot to see, and exploring all the streets, houses, temples and theatres will take up most of your day.
If you purchase the Pompeii+ ticket, you’ll also get access to the villas. As amazing as these are, they aren’t huge sites and should only add an extra hour or so to your day.
Then there’s the 3 Day Pass. This is for those who want to get the most out of their visit and see everything it has to offer. This ticket gets you access to the ancient city, the villas and some other related archeological sites in the area. As the name implies, it gives you 3 days to visit them all, and, if you want to see everything included in the ticket, you’ll likely need all 3.
At the minimum, expect your visit to Pompeii to be a full-day thing.
Naples Archeological Museum
When excavations began at Pompeii and the many other buried sites around the Bay of Naples, there were countless artefacts discovered.
The city was buried almost instantly after all, along with all the items found within, such as sculptures, mosaics, pottery, papyri, and a whole manner of everyday objects.
Some of these artefacts can be found around Pompeii but most of them have found a new home in the Naples Archeological Museum.
If you want to get the most out of your visit to Pompeii and learn more about the ancient city, I highly recommend you also visit the Naples Archaeological Museum, which has 2 entire floors dedicated to Pompeii and Herculaneum.
