Mistakes everyone makes in Pompeii
Mistakes at Pompeii are rarely expensive, but they spoil the day: the named ticket, a late arrival, an underestimated scale and wrong expectations of the houses.
- The ticket
- In your name, needs an ID
- Last entry
- Depends on the season: year-round
- Size
- Between 64 and 67 hectares
Most mistakes at Pompeii happen before the first house: a ticket in your name, arriving after noon, and the assumption that the town is smaller than it is. Only then come the stops that do not run the way a guidebook says.
A ticket without an ID
The Pompeii ticket is issued in your name and an ID is shown with it. Someone who buys it for one traveller and sends another in is left outside the gate, after a train ride. The price is €20, but here the mistake is paid for in time.
Arriving in the afternoon
Last entry comes before closing: year-round, shorter winter hours (16 Mar–14 Oct: 9–19, last entry 17:30; 15 Oct–15 Mar: 9–17, last entry 15:30). Someone arriving at two in the afternoon in winter has barely an hour and a half to last entry, and it is a long way from the Forum to the Villa of the Mysteries. So take an early train from Naples and count the visit from opening.
The town is bigger than it looks
Pompeii covered between 64 and 67 hectares, and two-thirds of it has been excavated. Once you step out on a street after the Forum, the whole site does not fit into one view. It works better to choose six stops in advance and add the rest next time.
Expecting everything to be open
Since 14 June the Amphitheatre can be seen only from the southern entrance. At the Stabian Baths only the men's section is open. No stop is closed, but that is why the Amphitheatre is seen from that side, with no hour set aside for the seating, and the baths do not count as a whole.
Pompeii instead of Herculaneum, or the reverse
The same Vesuvius buried both towns, and both are a trip from Naples, but they are not the same journey. Pompeii is larger and takes more time, while Herculaneum is smaller. With one day, pick one rather than cramming in both.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Can someone else use my Pompeii ticket?
No. The ticket is issued in a name and an ID is shown with it, so buy it for the person who actually enters.
How bad is it to arrive in the afternoon?
Quite bad, because last entry comes before closing: year-round, shorter winter hours (16 Mar–14 Oct: 9–19, last entry 17:30; 15 Oct–15 Mar: 9–17, last entry 15:30). In winter there is barely an hour and a half left to last entry.
Is the Amphitheatre closed?
No, but since 14 June it can be seen only from the southern entrance.
Ready for Pompeii?
Where to next
Pompeii in 1 day
→The train from Naples, the Forum, Lupanar and baths as soon as they open, the Garden of the Fugitives and…
Positano · 13 km
→A town built on a slope that shouldn't work, and somehow does
How well does Pompeii suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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