Herculaneum is the short trip almost nobody puts on the list and the one that works best of all: twenty minutes by train from Porta Nolana, €2.60 each way, €16 for the ticket according to ercolano.cultura.gov.it. That comes to €21.20 per person and four hours door to door, with the afternoon included in the price. A guided tour with tickets included starts at €40 and gives you the reading the signs never manage.
The real question is not “how do I get to Herculaneum”, it is “Pompeii or Herculaneum if I only have one day”. The short answer: Pompeii if you have never seen it, Herculaneum if you have. The long one is in the table below, with tickets, timings and preservation side by side.
The day, hour by hour
Porta Nolana: Unico NA2 ticket €2.60, platform for the Torre Annunziata and Poggiomarino trains
Stopping train: twenty minutes, get off at Ercolano Scavi
From the station you walk down via IV Novembre towards corso Resina, downhill all the way
Turnstiles: start with the Casa dello Scheletro and the Terme centrali, the densest area
Decumano Massimo, Casa del Tramezzo di Legno, Casa dei Cervi and Casa del Rilievo di Telefo
Terrace of Marcus Nonius Balbus and the boat sheds on the ancient beach: this is where people waited to escape
Antiquarium and Boat Pavilion, both indoors: useful if it rains or if the sun is fierce
Back up to the station, twenty minutes of real climbing: allow for it
Train from Ercolano Scavi, at Porta Nolana by 12:47. Afternoon free in Naples
How to get to Herculaneum from Naples
The line is EAV’s Circumvesuviana, from Napoli Porta Nolana or Napoli Piazza Garibaldi (same platform, two minutes apart). The stop is Ercolano Scavi: not Portici-Ercolano, which is a state railway station on a different road.
The useful trains are the stopping services on the line for Torre Annunziata and Poggiomarino: they call at Ercolano Scavi and take exactly twenty minutes. They leave in pairs roughly every half hour: 5:50 and 5:57, 6:26 and 6:33, 7:02 and 7:09, 7:38 and 7:45, 8:14, 8:50 and 8:57, and so on. Some of the fast Sorrento-line trains stop there too: the 5:36 arrives at 5:54, the 6:48 at 7:05, the 7:24 at 7:41, the 9:13 at 9:30.
Coming back the ride takes nineteen minutes: from Ercolano Scavi trains leave at 12:28, 13:04, 13:40, 14:16, 14:52, 15:28, 16:04, 16:40, 17:16, 17:52 and on until 22:40. EAV timetables change a couple of times a year, so check the PDF for the line before you set off.
The ticket is the Unico Campania NA2 at €2.60 each way, so €5.20 return. You buy it at the station or in a tabaccheria; the Campania Artecard covers the journey, and the card still has to be activated. The Campania Express, the tourist train with guaranteed seats, is currently suspended until further notice: do not count on it.
From the station to the excavations
From the exit at Ercolano Scavi take via IV Novembre and walk down towards the sea: ten minutes, downhill all the way, to the entrance bridge on corso Resina. On the way back the same street is uphill and costs you double: allow twenty minutes and do not plan to catch a train to the minute. With a pushchair, or if walking is difficult, take a taxi from the station to the entrance bridge, or use the municipal car park on viale dei Papiri Ercolanesi if you drive.
On the same via IV Novembre, at number 44, is the MAV, the virtual archaeological museum: digital reconstructions of the houses as they were before the AD 79 eruption. It costs €11 full and €9 up to age 13 according to museomav.it, opens 10–18, and you pick the date and time when you buy. There is no left luggage.
What the day costs
By public transport
- Circumvesuviana Porta Nolana–Ercolano Scavi, returnunicocampania.it
- €5.20 · 20 min each way
- Parco Archeologico di Ercolano ticketercolano.cultura.gov.it
- €16 full · €2 for those aged 18 to 24
- MAV, the virtual museum (optional)museomav.it
- €11 full · €9 up to age 13
- Total per person
- €21.20 without the MAV · 4 hours door to door
The guided Herculaneum tour with tickets included starts at €40: the gap on the €21.20 you spend alone buys two or three hours with a guide on a site where the signs explain little and the rota of open houses changes from week to week.
Pompeii or Herculaneum: the table that decides
| Herculaneum | Pompeii | |
|---|---|---|
| Full ticket | €16 | €20 (Pompei express), €25 (Pompei+) |
| Train from Naples | 20 min, €2.60 | 35–40 min, €3.30 |
| Booking | Not needed | Named ticket, time bands in summer |
| Suggested visit time | About 2 hours | A full half day |
| Closing days | 25 December only | 25 December and 1 January |
| What you see better | Wood, upper floors, mosaics in place | Urban scale, forums, amphitheatre, frescoes |
| Crowds | Low even in August | High from March to October |
| With children | Short route, it holds | Long distances, needs a strategy |
The point is not the ranking, it is the mechanics of the eruption. Pompeii was buried under lapilli falling from above: the roofs caved in, the upper floors vanished, the wood was lost. Herculaneum was overrun by pyroclastic flows that filled the rooms like concrete: the beams are charred but still there, you can make out beds and doors, the second floors are standing. And at Herculaneum you walk below the level of the modern town, inside a pit twenty metres deep: it feels like a dig, not a park.
The flip side: Herculaneum is a district, not a city. You can count the excavated insulae, the circuit closes in two hours, and anyone who turns up expecting Pompeii in a day leaves feeling short-changed. Which is why our rule is blunt: Pompeii first, Herculaneum after.
What you see at Herculaneum and how long it takes
The park itself suggests about two hours. Here is how to spend them instead of wandering.
First thirty minutes — the baths block. From the ticket office you go down onto the bridge and enter from the north side. Casa dello Scheletro, Casa d’Argo, then the Terme centrali: changing rooms, calidarium, the mosaic floor with the triton. It is the densest corner of the whole site.
Thirty minutes to an hour and a quarter — the Decumano Massimo. The main street, wide and still paved, with its shops and thermopolia. Off it open the Casa del Tramezzo di Legno, whose original wooden partition still hangs on its hinges, and the Casa del Rilievo di Telefo. On the seaward side, the Casa dei Cervi with its garden and the sculptures of dogs tearing at deer.
Last forty-five minutes — the ancient shoreline. You drop down to the terrace of Marcus Nonius Balbus and the fornici, the boat sheds facing what used to be the beach. More than three hundred skeletons of people waiting to be taken off were found inside them. It is the place that stays with you, and it deserves time rather than a sprint at the end.
Finish at the Antiquarium and the Boat Pavilion, both under cover, where the organic finds are kept: bread, rope, textiles, the upturned boat. The Villa dei Papiri is currently closed for excavation and accessibility works, until further notice.
Two practical points from the official FAQ: there is nowhere to eat inside (only vending machines at the entrance bridge) and bags are capped at 35x30x15 cm, with free storage for anything larger. Under-12s must be accompanied.
One detail that changes the day: the sun. The excavation pit is exposed and has no shade until the baths, and in the middle hours from June to September it turns into an oven. If you set off late, reverse the route and start with the Antiquarium.
Who should pick what
Tickets, hours and free days
Official information · Parco Archeologico di Ercolano
- Address
- Corso Resina, Ercolano; entry from the bridge, exit also from via dei Papiri Ercolanesi
- Opening hours
- 8:30–19:30 from 16/03 to 14/10, last entry 18:00; 8:30–17:00 from 15/10 to 15/03, last entry 15:30
- Official price
- €16 full, €2 for those aged 18 to 24, free under 18
- Closed
- 25 December. Free on the first Sunday of the month and on 25 April, 2 June, 4 November
- Official site
- ercolano.cultura.gov.it
From the official website: double-check before you go.
No time bands, no named tickets, no daily cap: Herculaneum is one of the few sites in Campania where you turn up and go in. You show the QR code at the turnstile from your phone, and keep it, because it is needed for the registration.
The free days are the first Sunday of each month plus 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. On those days the ticket cannot be booked online: you collect it at the ticket office on the day. Arrive by 9:30 or you will find a queue on the bridge. On first Sundays the same rule applies across half of Campania: if the plan was Herculaneum plus a museum in Naples, that day the museum will be exactly as full as the excavations.
On the partner platforms the Herculaneum entry ticket shows at €19.50, three euros fifty above the official price: what you pay for is the convenience of having it on your phone the night before and free cancellation, not faster access. If you are staying in central Naples, the Herculaneum ticket office is not a problem that needs solving. Partner prices are checked regularly.
Paying more does make sense for a guide: Herculaneum has minimal signage and a rota of open houses that keeps changing. A two- or three-hour guided tour with the ticket included starts at €40 and settles both. If you hold the Campania Artecard, note that its Herculaneum page still lists an out-of-date full price: the park’s own site is the reference.
Same product, platforms compared
Prices refreshed from the GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Headout feeds.
| Platform | Price | Rating | Duration | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GetYourGuideFrom Naples: Herculaneum Guided Tour with Tickets Included | €40 Lowest price | ★ 4.6 (311) | 3 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
| TiqetsHerculaneum: Entry Ticket + Guided Tour | €44.50 | ★ 4.8 (305) | — | — | Book on Tiqets |
The combinations that work: Vesuvius, the MAV, Pompeii
Herculaneum is the only point on the gulf from which the Gran Cono of Vesuvius can be reached without changing station: the shuttle leaves from the forecourt in front of Ercolano Scavi, thirty minutes of climbing up to quota 1000, return transfer around €12 online according to vesuvioexpress.it, with departures every 30–60 minutes from 9. The crater ticket, on the other hand, is sold online only on vesuviopark.vivaticket.it: €10 plus booking fee, fifty entries every ten minutes. Always bought in advance. All the detail is in Vesuvius in a day.
Do-it-yourself variant
Porta Nolana, NA2 ticket: same departure as the basic plan
Herculaneum excavations: two hours flat, only the central block and the terrace
Station forecourt: Vesuvio Express shuttle up to quota 1000, thirty minutes of climbing
Gran Cono: time slot already bought online, about an hour around the crater
The shuttle drops you back at Ercolano Scavi
Train to Naples: at Porta Nolana around 15
If you have children instead, or half a rainy day, the pairing is excavations plus MAV: two hours in the pit, forty minutes of digital reconstructions on the way back up. It works well in the 6–11 age range, as explained in Naples with kids.
Third option: seeing Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same day, with transport and both tickets in a single package and an archaeologist along. That is seven hours, the pace is tight and there is no going back for photographs: the people who come out happy are the ones who wanted the overall picture, not the detail. On your own the same pairing runs on the Ercolano–Pompei train, Unico AC2 ticket €2.40, but you have to accept two compressed visits; the full plan is in Pompeii and Vesuvius in one day.
Guides and operators: who really works at Herculaneum
Herculaneum has nothing like Pompeii’s ecosystem of operators. The guides you find on the platforms are largely the same ones who work the bigger site: read our profile of Enjoy Pompeii before you book, because the quality of the storytelling counts for more than the platform’s brand. For the climb to the crater the local reference is Around Vesuvio.
On transport, the reliability of the Circumvesuviana is the real risk in the day: crowded trains, delays and strikes are not rare. What to expect, and which services are guaranteed during a strike, is in our profile of the Circumvesuviana. If you buy the site tickets on a single platform, check the refund conditions first: they vary from seller to seller and none of them gets you in ahead of anybody else.
The park runs no guided visits of its own: whoever shows you round is always an outside operator, and the exact meeting point is on your voucher. Two clues that separate a good guide from a minder: whether they talk about the mechanics of the eruption — pyroclastic flows, not a rain of ash — and whether they take you to the fornici with time to stand still. Anyone who rushes to the Casa dei Cervi and wraps up in fifty minutes has sold you a ticket, not a tour.
In two lines
Herculaneum is worth twenty minutes on the train and €21.20 if you have already seen Pompeii, if you are travelling with children, or if you have half a day rather than a whole one. It does not replace Pompeii: it completes it, and it does so by showing you the wood, the beds and the second floors that no longer exist at Pompeii. Take the 8:14 stopping train, walk out of the turnstiles at 11:50 and by 12:47 you are back at Porta Nolana with a whole afternoon to spend between the MANN and the old centre. If you want a guide, book it ahead: you will not find one on the spot. Every other day trip, with times, budgets and verdicts side by side, is in the day trips table.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to go to Herculaneum from Naples?
€5.20 for the Circumvesuviana return plus €16 for the ticket: €21.20 per person. With a guide it starts at €40, ticket included.
How much time do you need to visit Herculaneum?
The park itself suggests about two hours. With the Antiquarium and a few pauses you reach two and a half; the journey brings the total to four hours from Naples.
Pompeii or Herculaneum?
If it is your first time, Pompeii: it is the only ancient city you can walk end to end. If you have already seen Pompeii, Herculaneum gives you charred wood, upper floors and mosaics still in place.
Do you have to book the Herculaneum ticket?
No, there are no named time slots as at Pompeii. On free-entry days the ticket cannot be booked online and has to be collected at the ticket office on the day.
Is Herculaneum closed on Tuesdays?
No, it opens every day and closes only on 25 December. Tuesday is the closing day for Stabiae and Oplontis, the MANN and the Reggia di Caserta instead.
Can you combine Herculaneum with Vesuvius on the same day?
Yes: the shuttle for quota 1000 leaves from the forecourt of Ercolano Scavi station, about thirty minutes of climbing. The Gran Cono ticket is sold online only, with a time slot.
Are the Herculaneum excavations hard work?
The route inside is short but runs on ancient paving and ramps, and the way back to the station is uphill. There is nowhere to buy food inside: put a bottle of water in the rucksack, which has to fit within 35x30x15 cm.
Official sources
Read next
- PompeiiPompeii from Naples: €26.60 on your own or a tour from €45.50. Train, time bands, named ticket and the hour-by-hour plan. Check availability.
- VesuviusVesuvius from Naples: €28.88 on your own or a shuttle with entry from €39. Three routes, hours month by month, online slot only. Check availability.
- Pompeii and VesuviusPompeii and Vesuvius in a day: €43.88 on your own or a tour from €48.75. The 808 bus, crater slots, two hour-by-hour plans. Check dates.
- MANNOfficial ticket €20, closed Tuesday: a room-by-room route through the Archaeological Museum of Naples and what is open now. Check tours and tickets.
- Day tripsEvery day trip from Naples compared: how long it takes, how you get there, what it costs on your own and with a tour. Pick one in two minutes.
- Getting aroundMetro, Circumvesuviana, ferries, Alibus and high-speed rail: lines, stations, minutes, fares and last useful services. Check tickets and transfers.