How to take a day trip to Pompeii

Pompeii is a wonderful place to wander for a few hours.  Acres and acres of ruins are easily accessible to all travelers. You can see where the nearly 20,000 citizens cooked, shopped, and gathered together.  If you are heading south from Rome, consider spending a morning in Pompeii on the way to your next destination.

Timing: Like any popular location in Italy, it’s best to visit Pompeii in the morning, especially if you are visiting in the summer heat.  Most individuals will be satisfied with a 3-hour visit. Bring sunscreen and a water bottle- a trip to Pompeii is like a trip to the beach without the cool ocean breeze.

Official Website: If you search for Pompeii, you will have to scroll through tons of websites and blogs until you find the “real” site.  Here is the link to the Parco Archeologico di Pompei. The website is only available in English and Italian.

Cost:  adults: 20 € / citizens under 18- free 

You will see three options for tickets; if you just want to visit Pompeii, it will be 20 euros.

How to take the train to Pompeii:

• To visit Pompeii from Rome you can take the Freccia Rossa (fast train) to Naples (station: Napoli Centrale). 

• From Napoli Centrale, you then switch to the Circumvesuviana  (local line) and take the train out to Pompeii (30-35 minutes and 4 euros). 

• The train feels like a commuter rail in the U.S., but will likely lack air conditioning.  

• The local train runs twice every hour from Naples, so don’t worry if you miss your first connection.

• Use the Trentitalia website for planning and purchasing tickets. This website is translated into Italian, English, Dutch, and French.

Where do you store luggage while visiting Pompeii?

We were continuing on to Sorrento after our visit to Pompeii, so we brought everything with us and were able to store our luggage at the site before entering all the way.  We had 3 bags between the two of us (including one large, rolling suitcase) and had no issues with this free service.

Is there food available in Pompeii?

There are many places to eat outside of the ash-covered acres of land of Pompeii.  This is geared to tourists. You will not go hungry here; and once inside Pompeii, there is a small cafeteria near the main square.  On a hot summer day, you can grab a gelato to cool down and keep your blood sugar up.

How to navigate Pompeii:

Pompeii is large, so it may be best to have a plan on what you most want to see.  Maps and guides are available online in many languages online. Just like any city, Pompeii has signs posted for street names to help visitors navigate. 

Personally, I enjoyed wandering and exploring, but if you care greatly about the history and you are working without a tour guide, I recommend reading a bit before you arrive. Rick Steves also has a free audiobook that you can download at your hotel before heading out. 

Main Attractions in Pompeii: 

Forum & Teatro Grande: 

If you visit other ancient sites before you get to Pompeii, the theatres and forums will become familiar sites.  But when you consider that these survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, they become even more amazing.

Forum Baths: 

You can see where the citizens bathed the intersection between the Via del Foro and the Via di Nola.

House of the Faun: 

According to some sources, if you truly want to understand ancient aristocratic Romans, then this house provides better insight than the ruins in Rome.  You can still see the decorative floors and archways today. Most of the artwork from the House of the Faun and Pompeii in general has been removed and is on display in the Museo Archeologico Nationales di Napoli in nearby Naples.

Remains of Pompeii’s citizens: 

At least 2,000 people likely died in the eruption in A.D. 79, and Pompeii was left alone until 1748 when explorers rediscovered the city and its remains.  Casts have been created of dozens of bodies, including children and animals. While some casts are on display in the Civil Forum, the easiest place to view this collection is in a small room in a separate building. (I have not included images of this, but it was both heartbreaking and astonishing to see the former citizens preserved in the positions that they died in.)

The House of Pleasure:

Ok, so maybe we’re a little weird, but we really enjoyed looking at the “menu” of items that a pleasure-seeking individual could request.  And, we liked posing on the beds.

Related reading:

We visited Pompeii years ago. See what we’ve been up to since then.