Pompeii Tours & Tickets: Prices, Guides & Day Trips from Rome or Naples in 2026

Pompeii is the most complete Roman city anywhere — streets, bakeries, brothels, frescoed villas, and plaster casts of the people Vesuvius killed in 79 AD. It is also a huge, shadeless archaeological site that rewards planning. Here is how tickets, tours, and transport work as of 2026.

Tickets and prices (as of 2026)

Option	Approx. price	Notes
Pompeii Express entry	EUR 18 + fee	The main city — enough for most visitors
Pompeii+ ticket	EUR 22	Adds Villa of the Mysteries and suburban villas
Licensed guide (2h, group)	EUR 35–50	On top of entry; small groups bookable online
Pompeii + Vesuvius half-day tour	EUR 80–120	From Naples/Sorrento, transport included
Full day trip from Rome	EUR 100–150	12-hour day, train or coach

Official tickets are sold at ticketone.it / pompeiisites.org. Since 2024 the park caps daily visitors at 20,000 with personalised tickets, so summer entries should be booked at least a few days ahead. Under-18s enter free; EU citizens 18–25 pay approximately EUR 2.

Opening hours

April–October: 9am–7pm (last entry 5:30pm). November–March: 9am–5pm (last entry 3:30pm). Closed 1 January and 25 December (as of 2026 — confirm on pompeiisites.org). The Antiquarium museum near Porta Marina is included and worth 30 minutes for the casts and gold jewellery.

Getting there

• From Naples: Circumvesuviana train from Napoli Garibaldi to Pompei Scavi – Villa dei Misteri, ~35 minutes, under EUR 4. The station is 50m from the Porta Marina entrance. The Campania Express tourist train runs the same route with guaranteed seats for around EUR 8 in season.
• From Sorrento: Same line in the opposite direction, ~30 minutes.
• From Rome: High-speed train to Naples (~70 minutes, from EUR 20–45 booked ahead), then Circumvesuviana. Realistically a 10–12 hour day — organised day tours with door-to-door coach are the low-stress option and usually include a guide.

How to plan your visit

• Arrive at opening or after 2:30pm. Tour-bus waves dominate 10:30am–2pm. Early morning in summer also beats the heat — the site has almost no shade, and August afternoons regularly exceed 33°C.
• Allow 3–4 hours minimum. The greatest hits — Forum, Stabian Baths, House of the Vettii, Lupanar, the amphitheatre, Garden of the Fugitives — cover about 4km of original Roman paving. Wear proper shoes; the stones are polished and uneven.
• Bring water. Fountains around the site refill bottles; the on-site café is mediocre and queued.
• Use Porta Marina or Piazza Anfiteatro entrances strategically. Most groups enter at Porta Marina, so entering at Piazza Anfiteatro and walking the route in reverse halves your crowd exposure.
• Adding Vesuvius: the crater rim walk takes about an hour from the car park (entry approximately EUR 12 as of 2026, timed slots) and combines well with Pompeii on a half-day tour. The road closes in bad weather.

When to go across the year

Pompeii is a different site by season. April–May and October are the sweet spot: mild walking weather, long opening hours, and gardens in leaf without August’s crowds or heat. June–August demands the 9am entry, a hat, and two litres of water per person — the lava-stone streets radiate heat well into the evening. November–March brings the shortest hours (last entry 3:30pm) but also the emptiest forum you will ever photograph; rain makes the stepping stones slick, so save it for a dry day if your schedule allows. Weekday visits beat weekends year-round, and Italian public holidays — especially around Easter and 1 May — produce the densest crowds of the calendar.

Pompeii or Herculaneum?

Herculaneum, one Circumvesuviana stop toward Naples, is smaller, better preserved (carbonised wood, upper floors intact), and far less crowded — entry approximately EUR 16 as of 2026. If you have two days, do both; with one day and a first visit, Pompeii’s scale wins.

For the full historical background — what happened on the day of the eruption and how the casts were made — see our Pompeii history guide. Basing yourself nearby? Our Naples things to do guide and southern Italy itinerary put Pompeii in a wider route.

Our recommendation

Stay in Naples or Sorrento and do Pompeii independently with a pre-booked 9am entry plus a 2-hour licensed guide — about EUR 55–65 all-in and vastly better than coach-tour pacing. From Rome, accept the organised day tour: the EUR 120ish price buys you back three hours of connection logistics.