Most of what goes wrong at Pompeii goes wrong before anyone sets foot inside.
People arrive at the wrong gate. They queue for an hour in August for a ticket they could have bought on a phone. They buy the standard entry and then discover the thing they most wanted to see needs a different one. They turn up at four in October and find last entry was half an hour ago.
None of it is complicated. It is just badly signposted from a distance.
The three entrances, and which one to use
Pompeii has three, and they are not interchangeable.
Porta Marina is the main one and the one most people should use. It is a two minute walk from the Pompei Scavi station on the Circumvesuviana, which is the line from Naples and Sorrento, so if you arrive by train this is simply where you come out. It puts you at the western end of the site, climbing slightly toward the Forum, which is the right way to see the city for the first time.
Piazza Esedra sits immediately alongside Porta Marina and functions as an overflow and group entrance. If the Porta Marina queue looks grim, look left.
Piazza Anfiteatro is at the opposite, eastern end, by the amphitheatre. It is the right choice if you are driving and parking on that side, if you are travelling with someone who cannot manage the climb from Porta Marina, or if you want to walk the site east to west against the flow of the coach parties. It is also the pickup point for the Vesuvius bus.
There is a fourth, Villa dei Misteri, near the suburban villa of the same name at the northwest edge, which is where the shuttle for the outlying villas runs from.
The practical advice: train arrivals use Porta Marina, drivers use Piazza Anfiteatro, and if you want the site at its emptiest, enter at Anfiteatro at opening and walk west while everyone else walks east.
The tickets
There are two, and choosing the wrong one is the most common mistake made at Pompeii.
Pompeii Express, around twenty euros, covers the ancient city. Just the ancient city. The suburban villas are not included, and that is the sentence people skim past.
Pompeii Plus, around twenty-five euros, covers the ancient city plus the suburban villas, which means the Villa of the Mysteries and the Villa of Diomedes, plus Villa Regina at Boscoreale with its antiquarium, plus the shuttle bus that connects them.
Five euros is the difference. The frieze in the Villa of the Mysteries is on the other side of it.
If you buy Express and change your mind on the day, you are not stranded: you can add the suburban villas for a further eight euros, bought at the start of the route at the Porta Ercolano entrance on the Street of the Tombs. It is card payment only and there is no other place to buy it. That does mean the villas cost you twenty-eight rather than twenty-five for having decided late.
Pompeii Plus is capped much lower than Express. Of the fifteen thousand morning admissions the park releases, only three thousand are Plus, and the afternoon split is two thousand of five thousand. If the frieze is a reason you are coming, book Plus well ahead and do not leave it to the week of.
The reduced rate is two euros, and it is narrower than most people expect: EU citizens aged eighteen to twenty-four, and non-EU nationals holding a qualifying Italian residence permit. It is not a general student rate. Under eighteens enter free, any nationality, with proof of age.
There is also a three-day pass at around thirty euros covering Pompeii Plus, Oplontis, Villa Arianna, Villa San Marco, the Stabiae museum and Boscoreale, and an annual MyPompeii card at forty-five euros which pays for itself on the third visit.
The park does not sell an audio-guide ticket or a guided-entry ticket. What it does sell are thematic itineraries, roughly ninety minutes each, at eight euros on top of your entrance. Everything else advertised as a Pompeii tour is a third-party operator, priced by that operator, and the ticket is bundled inside it. That is not a warning, only a distinction worth holding when you compare prices online and the numbers seem wildly inconsistent.
Tickets are nominative. Since the daily cap came in they carry the visitor’s name, so book with the name on the passport you will be carrying and expect it to be checked at the turnstile.
The first Sunday of every month is free for everyone, which sounds wonderful and is, in practice, the single busiest day to be there. If you value having a street to yourself, pay the twenty euros and go on a Tuesday.
Booking
Book online. Always, but especially between May and September.
The site takes up to twenty thousand people a day and in high summer it gets close. The gate queue on an August morning can run past an hour in full sun with no shade, which is a bad way to spend the coolest part of the day.
Booking online gets you a timed entry and a separate, much shorter line. It costs nothing extra beyond a small booking fee.
Book Pompeii Plus further ahead than standard entry, because the daily cap is far lower.
Opening hours, and the thing people get wrong
The hours change with the season and the last entry is what catches people out.
From mid-March to mid-October, the site opens at nine and closes at seven in the evening, with last entry at half past five.
From mid-October to mid-March, it opens at nine and closes at five, with last entry at half past three.
That winter last entry is the trap. Arriving at four in November feels reasonable and is half an hour too late.
Individual houses also rotate their opening, so the specific building you have travelled for may be shut on the day you come. The park publishes what is open; it is worth a look the night before rather than a disappointment at the door.
Arriving at nine
I want to make the case for this properly, because it is the highest-value decision available and it costs nothing.
At nine the gates open and the site is nearly empty. The light is low and raking, which is when the wheel ruts in the basalt actually read as ruts rather than as marks. The stone has not yet begun to throw heat back at you. The coach parties, which come from Naples and Sorrento and the cruise terminal, arrive from about half past ten.
By eleven the main streets are filling. By one it is properly full and the temperature has become the main character.
Two hours between nine and eleven are worth four hours between eleven and three. That is not an exaggeration and it is the whole trick.
What to bring through the gate
Water, and more than you think. There are drinking fountains through the site, which is a genuine relief, but the distances between them are longer than you expect.
Closed shoes with a real sole. The paving is original basalt, uneven, and entirely indifferent to sandals.
A hat, because there is almost no shade anywhere.
A downloaded map. Phone signal inside the site is unreliable and the paper map you are handed is not detailed enough to find a specific house.
Large bags go into a cloakroom near the entrance, so if you are coming with luggage between hotels, that is handled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to book Pompeii tickets in advance?
In summer, yes. The gate queue can exceed an hour in full sun and the site is capped around twenty thousand visitors a day. Booking online costs a small fee and gets you a much shorter line. In winter you can usually walk up, but Pompeii Plus should always be booked ahead because its daily cap is far lower.
Which entrance to Pompeii is best?
Porta Marina if you arrive by train, since it is two minutes from the Pompei Scavi station. Piazza Anfiteatro if you are driving, if you want an easier walk, or if you want to move through the site against the coach parties.
How much are Pompeii tickets?
Pompeii Express, covering the ancient city, is around twenty euros. Pompeii Plus, which adds the suburban villas including the Villa of the Mysteries plus Boscoreale and the shuttle, is around twenty-five. Under eighteens are free, EU citizens aged eighteen to twenty-four pay two euros, and entry is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, which is consequently the most crowded day of the month.
What time does Pompeii open and close?
Nine in the morning year round. Closing is seven in the evening from mid-March to mid-October with last entry at half past five, and five in the afternoon from mid-October to mid-March with last entry at half past three. That winter last entry catches a lot of people out.
Is Pompeii Plus worth it?
If you want to see the Villa of the Mysteries and its frieze, it is the only way to do it, so yes. If you are content with the main site, standard entry is plenty for a first visit. Either way, book Plus early because admissions are capped well below the main site.
Read also: How Long Do You Need in Pompeii? | Pompeii With a Guide, or on Your Own? | The Ancient Ruins of Pompeii: Everything You Need to Know
