Pompeii and Vesuvius: Doing the Ruins Right

Pompeii is bigger than you think

Pompeii covers 44 hectares - roughly the size of 60 football fields. Walking it randomly means seeing the same empty streets twice and missing the highlights. The key is a plan (or a guide): the forum, the baths, the amphitheater, the best preserved houses, and the casts of the victims that make the tragedy human.

Tickets and timing

Buy tickets online in advance - the entrance queues in summer are brutal. Arrive at 9am when it opens; by 11 the tour groups arrive. The 'skip the line with guide' option is worth it here more than almost anywhere: a good guide turns stones into a story. Allow 3–4 hours minimum; you'll still only see a fraction.

• ✦Book online: mandatory in summer
• ✦Arrive at opening: 9am, before the crowds
• ✦Duration: 3–4 hours minimum
• ✦Guide: worth it - the story matters here

Vesuvius: worth the climb

The crater trail is a 20-minute walk up a gravel path - doable for most, hot in summer, and the view from the top (crater on one side, the Bay of Naples on the other) is genuinely moving. The buses from Pompeii or Herculaneum take you to the trailhead. Bring water and proper shoes; it's a volcano, not a mall.

The day that works

The classic smart plan: Pompeii in the morning (cool, less crowded), lunch in a vineyard or a local trattoria on the slopes, Vesuvius in the late afternoon (the heat eases, the light turns golden). Finish at a wine tasting on the Vesuvius slopes - the same soil that buried Pompeii grows the best grapes in Campania. We arrange the whole day with a private driver so you never wait for a bus.