Ruins Of Pompeii

In 2025, archaeologists working in Regio IX found a man in his mid-thirties outside Pompeii’s walls, holding a ceramic bowl above his head and clutching an oil lamp, still trying to light his way as Vesuvius killed him. That is what separates Pompeii from every other ruin you will ever visit. Everywhere else, history is at a distance. Here, it is still warm.

The eruption on August 24, 79 AD buried the city under four to six metres of volcanic ash and pumice in less than 24 hours, which is catastrophic by most reckonings but also, perversely, the best thing that ever happened to our knowledge of Roman daily life. The sealing was so complete that carbonised loaves of bread still sit in bakery ovens, graffiti still covers exterior walls, and the ruts carved by cart wheels are still pressed into the paving stones at street corners.

Booking Before You Land

The single biggest mistake people make at Pompeii is arriving without a ticket in July or August. Since 2024, all tickets are nominative, your name appears on the ticket and you need matching ID to enter. Daily capacity is capped at 20,000 visitors. The morning slot (9am to 1pm) allows up to 15,000 entries; the afternoon slot just 5,000. On popular summer weekends this sells out days in advance.

Book at pompeiisites.org, the official site. Standard adult admission runs around 18 euros. Opening hours for summer (April 1 to October 31) are 9am to 7pm, last entry at 5:30pm. Winter hours close earlier. First Sunday of every month is free entry, arrive at 8:45am if you go that route because the queues are formidable.

One rule that catches visitors: bags larger than 30 x 30 x 15 cm are not admitted. A free cloakroom is available at the main entrances. Comfortable shoes and a hat are not optional; the site covers 44 hectares of uneven stone paving under direct sun.

What to Prioritise

A full visit takes a minimum of four hours, more realistically a full day. Do not try to see everything; instead see three or four things properly.

The Garden of the Fugitives is where the plaster casts are concentrated, 13 figures, including children, huddled together in the positions they died in. The casts were made by injecting plaster into the voids left when bodies decomposed inside the hardened ash. This is the part of Pompeii that stops people in their tracks regardless of how prepared they thought they were.

The House of the Vettii reopened in January 2023 after two decades of restoration. What most guides mention is the erotic fresco at the entrance, a painting of Priapus weighing his own member on a set of scales. What guides do not dwell on is who owned this house: two freed slaves named Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus, who made their fortune selling wine and then built one of the most lavishly decorated private homes in the city. The restoration revealed Cupid friezes, mythological panels and the evidence of a small brothel operating in the servants’ quarters. The house’s lack of a tablinum (the reception room that was standard in Roman homes) is still unexplained. Book access in advance separately; it has limited daily admission within the main site.

The Villa of the Mysteries sits just outside the main excavated area and most visitors skip it because it requires a separate walk. This is a mistake. The villa contains a room-length fresco cycle depicting a woman’s initiation into the Dionysian mysteries, painted around 60-70 BC, almost a century before the eruption. Nearly life-sized figures in deep red and ochre wrap around three walls. Nobody has fully agreed on what the cycle depicts. That ambiguity after 2,000 years makes it the most compelling single artwork in the entire site.

The Forum is the logical starting point, the civic heart of the old city, with the columns of the Temple of Jupiter framing Vesuvius in the background. The volcano is still there, still active, and the view clarifies things in a way that no guidebook can.

The Amphitheatre in the eastern quarter holds 20,000 people and is one of the oldest surviving stone amphitheatres in the Roman world, built around 70 BC. It is far from the main entrance, which means it is usually quieter than the Forum area. Walk out there.

Where to Eat

Skip the cafeteria inside the site. It is overpriced and the food is mediocre. Instead, exit the main Porta Marina gate at lunchtime, eat in one of the restaurants on Via Sacra, and re-enter on the same day ticket, this is allowed.

For a proper meal, the serious eating is in Naples, 25 km north.

L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele in the Decumani district is the one everyone names, and the reputation holds. They make two pizzas: margherita and marinara. That is it. The queue moves faster than it looks. A pizza costs around 8 euros.

A Taverna do’ Re, tucked behind the Duomo, is a small room packed with locals where the spaghetti alle vongole arrives quickly, perfectly cooked, with tiny clams and a restrained hand on the garlic. It is the kind of place that has no English menu and does not need one.

Ristorante Il Garum in Piazza Monteoliveto is worth it if you want a sit-down meal with wine and fresh fish. The Greco di Tufo white pairs well with whatever they have from the boat that day.

Where to Stay

Stay in Naples, not in Pompeii town. Pompeii town itself has accommodation but almost nothing to do after the site closes. Naples has some of the best food in Italy, a genuinely underrated archaeological museum (more on that below), and a historic centre that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right.

The Chiaia neighbourhood is the most comfortable base: good restaurants, walkable streets, quieter than the centro storico. A solid three-star hotel there runs 80 to 130 euros a night depending on season.

If you want to be close to the site, Hotel Pompeii is a clean four-star option a short walk from the Porta Marina entrance, useful if you want to hit the site early before coach parties arrive.

The Naples Archaeological Museum

If you are spending a day in Naples anyway (you should be), the Museo Archeologico Nazionale is non-negotiable. Most of the frescoes, mosaics, and portable objects excavated from Pompeii ended up here rather than on-site. The Alexander Mosaic alone, a 20-square-metre floor piece depicting Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus, made from an estimated 1.5 million individual tesserae, justifies the trip. The museum also houses the Secret Cabinet, a collection of explicitly erotic art from Pompeii and Herculaneum that was considered too dangerous for general viewing until the 2000s. Admission is around 20 euros.

Getting to Pompeii

From Naples, the Circumvesuviana commuter train runs regularly from Napoli Garibaldi (Piazza Garibaldi) to Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri station, which deposits you directly at the main site entrance. The journey takes 35 to 40 minutes and costs about 3 euros each way. Trains run roughly every 30 minutes throughout the day.

By car, the A3 motorway has a Pompei exit; parking is available near the site but fills up fast in summer. Driving is rarely the better option if you are based in Naples.

If you are coming from Rome, high-speed Frecciarossa trains reach Naples Centrale in about 70 minutes. From there, switch to the Circumvesuviana.

One Overlooked Area

The Regio V section, reopened as part of the Great Pompeii Project since 2018, is where most active excavation is happening and where recent finds, including the 2025 escape victims, a private spa complex, and the stunning House of the Thiasos with its near-life-sized Dionysian friezes, have been made. Parts of it are accessible; the site map at the entrance will show what is open during your visit. Worth seeking out even if access is partial.

Arrive at the gates at 9am on a weekday in September or October. The morning light is best anyway, the crowds are manageable, and you will have the Garden of the Fugitives almost to yourself before the tour groups reach it.