What a Pompeii day trip from Naples costs and how long it takes
Two numbers settle most of the doubts about a Pompeii day trip from Naples. On your own: €26.60 per person, that is €6.60 for the Circumvesuviana return and €20 for the Pompei express ticket, according to pompeiisites.org. With a tour: from €45.50 for the Pompeii Guided Day Trip with Fast-Track Entry - from Naples, which covers guide, entry and transfer. Partner prices are checked regularly.
The real difference is not the price, it is the two hours of admin the tour takes off your hands: the named ticket, the time bands, the train to catch, the queue at the gate. If you have already seen Pompeii, or you like deciding on the spot how long to sit in the Anfiteatro, the train wins. If it is your first time, a guide changes the meaning of what you are looking at.
The day, hour by hour
Porta Nolana: NA3 ticket €3.30, platform for the Sorrento line
Fast direct train; at Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri by 8:37
Porta Marina, a few minutes uphill on foot: turnstile with the named ticket on your phone
Forum, Temple of Apollo, Basilica: the most photographed part stays empty until 10
Terme Stabiane and Casa del Fauno, then down towards the Lupanare
Via dell’Abbondanza heading east: Casa di Menandro, Orto dei Fuggiaschi
Anfiteatro and Palestra Grande; the ticket covers one entry only, so bring water and a sandwich
Antiquarium from the Piazza Esedra gate: included in the ticket and almost nobody does it
Out of the gate and lunch on via Plinio or in piazza Bartolo Longo
Pompei Scavi: train to Naples, Porta Nolana at 16:38
If you have overrun: last comfortable service at 17:17, Porta Nolana at 17:50
How to get to Pompeii from Naples
The line is EAV’s Circumvesuviana, direction Sorrento. Trains leave from Napoli Porta Nolana (the terminus, where you get a seat) or from Napoli Piazza Garibaldi, three minutes later, under the central station. Get off at Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri: that is the right stop, not “Pompei Santuario”, which is on the other line and on the far side of the modern town.
The ticket is the Unico Campania NA3 at €3.30 each way: buy it at the counter, from the machines, in a tabaccheria, or through the Urbi and Telepass apps. Validate it before boarding. The current timetable lists 29 services a day: the useful departures from Porta Nolana are 7:24, 8:05, 8:41, 9:13, 9:53 and then roughly every 36 minutes, and the ride takes 32 to 38 minutes. Coming back from Pompei Scavi there are trains at 16:05 (Porta Nolana 16:38), 16:42, 17:17 (17:50) and on until 22:40.
From the train to the park ticket office is under four hundred metres, slightly uphill, along a street lined with stalls and private luggage stores. The park has no car park of its own at the excavations, so if you drive, aim for Piazza Anfiteatro and one of the private car parks around it: in high season the queue to get out in the evening is worse than the one to get in.
Four practical warnings. The trains are old and full in summer: board at Porta Nolana, not Garibaldi, if you want a seat for 35 minutes. The Campania Express, the air-conditioned tourist train with guaranteed seats, is currently suspended until further notice: do not count on it, and do not buy tickets from anyone reselling it. If EAV strikes, look for the runs marked with a G, the guaranteed ones: the Sorrento line timetable has twelve of them, well spread out, so Pompeii stays reachable even on a strike day. And install the GoEAV app for the real state of the line, because delays of ten or fifteen minutes are normal and the printed timetable will not tell you.
If you would rather have nothing to do with any of this, the Naples: Round-Trip Shuttle Bus to Pompeii costs from €21.50, leaves from the centre and still leaves you free once you are there: it is a transfer, not a tour. For the full picture of transport, passes and apps, see the page on getting around Naples.
What the day costs
By public transport
- Circumvesuviana Porta Nolana–Pompei Scavi, returnunicocampania.it
- €6.60 · NA3 €3.30 each way, 32–38 min
- Pompei express ticket (ancient city only)pompeiisites.org
- €20 full · €2 EU citizens aged 18–24
- Total per person
- €26.60 · 6 hours door to door
- Pompei+ option with Villa dei Misteripompeiisites.org
- €25 instead of €20, or an €8 cashless top-up at Porta Ercolano
With a tour
The guided tour from €45.50 adds around €19: you pay for the guide, the transport from central Naples and the fact that the operator deals with the named ticket. For two people the gap is almost €40, so judge it on the time you save rather than on the price.
What to see and how long it really takes
The excavated area covers 44 hectares and you walk on uneven ancient paving: shoes count for more than a guide. With four hours inside the park you cover a complete route without rushing.
- Forum, Temple of Apollo, Basilica — 45 minutes. The wide view with Vesuvius behind it only works before 10, then the coaches land.
- Terme Stabiane and Casa del Fauno — 40 minutes. The baths explain how people lived better than any villa does.
- Lupanare, Casa dei Vettii, Casa di Menandro — one hour. The best interiors, with short but real queues.
- Via dell’Abbondanza to the Anfiteatro — 45 minutes of walking alone, gently downhill.
- Anfiteatro and Palestra Grande — 30 minutes. The oldest surviving Roman stone amphitheatre, and the only place where you can sit in the shade.
- Antiquarium — 30 minutes from the Piazza Esedra gate, included in the ticket. This is where the casts of the victims of the AD 79 eruption make sense.
What nobody tells you is that there is almost no shade inside the excavations and very few useful water points beyond the public fountains: in July and August the stretch between the Anfiteatro and the Forum at two in the afternoon is punishing for anybody. The step-free route “Pompei per tutti” starts from Piazza Anfiteatro and, thanks to the Antiquarium lift, also lets you come back out at Piazza Esedra: it is the only workable option with a wheelchair or a rigid pushchair, because the rest of the site is ancient stone paving.
The list of buildings open to visitors changes week by week: the park publishes it on its own site and it is worth a look the evening before, because two of the houses you wanted to see could be closed for restoration. If you want to arrive prepared, half a day at the MANN before Pompeii is worth more than any audio guide: the frescoes and mosaics from the houses you are about to walk through are all there.
Who should pick what
Tickets, time bands and the reality of the gate
The Pompeii ticket is named and carries the visitor’s name: you buy it online on vivaticket.it, the only official advance channel, and it arrives as a PDF to show at the turnstile. Physical ticket offices exist only inside the archaeological area, at Porta Marina, Piazza Esedra and Piazza Anfiteatro, so if you turn up without a ticket you queue twice.
The park applies a cap of 20,000 visitors a day. From 16 March to 14 October entries are split into bands: a maximum of 15,000 between 9 and 13 (12,000 Pompei express and 3,000 Pompei+) and a maximum of 5,000 between 13 and 17:30. In practice the morning band sells out on spring weekends and in August, the early-afternoon one almost never.
Official information · Parco Archeologico di Pompei
- Address
- Porta Marina, Piazza Esedra and Piazza Anfiteatro entrances, Pompei (NA)
- Opening hours
- 9–19, last entry 17:30 (16 March–14 October); 9–17, last entry 15:30 (15 October–15 March)
- Official price
- Pompei express €20 · Pompei+ €25 · €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 24
- Closed
- 25 December and 1 January, unless the park announces otherwise
- Access limits
- 20,000 entries a day, named ticket, time bands in summer
- Official site
- pompeiisites.org
From the official website: double-check before you go.
Pompei express at €20 covers the ancient city and nothing else. Pompei+ at €25 adds Villa dei Misteri, Villa di Diomede and Villa Regina at Boscoreale with its Antiquarium, plus the Pompeii Artebus shuttle. If you already hold the €20 ticket and change your mind about the villas, you can top it up with €8 cashless right at the Porta Ercolano gate. EU citizens aged 18 to 24 pay €2, and entry is free on the first Sunday of every month, which is also the worst day to come.
On the partner channels tickets cost more than the official price but arrive with an audio guide or a digital guide and free cancellation: that makes sense if you want a single booking for the whole trip. The comparison is below.
Same product, platforms compared
Prices refreshed from the GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Headout feeds.
| Platform | Price | Rating | Duration | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GetYourGuidePompeii: Skip-the-Line Entry Ticket with Audio Guide | €20.01 Lowest price | ★ 4.0 (2,170) | 2 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
| TiqetsPompeii: Flexible Entrance Ticket | €27 | ★ 3.9 (111) | — | — | Book on Tiqets |
| TiqetsPompeii: Entrance Tickets | €27.50 | ★ 3.6 (717) | — | — | Book on Tiqets |
| GetYourGuidePompeii: Skip-the-Line Entry Ticket with Digital Guide | €31.05 | ★ 4.1 (1,398) | 2 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
And this is the comparison on guided tours with transport, where differences in length matter as much as differences in price.
Same product, platforms compared
Prices refreshed from the GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Headout feeds.
| Platform | Price | Rating | Duration | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GetYourGuidePompeii Guided Day Trip with Fast-Track Entry - from Naples | €45.50 Lowest price | ★ 4.5 (5,552) | 3 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
| GetYourGuideFrom Naples: Pompeii Guided Tour, Skip-the-Line & Transport | €48.75 | ★ 4.7 (1,593) | 3 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
| TiqetsPompeii: Guided Tour with an Archaeologist | €49.50 | ★ 4.6 (3,536) | — | — | Book on Tiqets |
| GetYourGuideFrom Naples: Tour of Pompeii with ticket, guide, and transfer included | €52.50 | ★ 4.7 (2,353) | 3 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
The day and the hour that change the visit
Pompeii has no weekly closing day, so the only variable is the crowd. The worst days are the first Sundays of the month, when entry is free and the 20,000 places run out, and weekends from April to June. Tuesdays work well, partly because Oplontis, Stabiae and the Museo Archeologico di Stabia are closed and organised groups concentrate on the ancient city at predictable hours: early morning and early afternoon.
On opening hours: in the summer band the park runs 9–19 with last entry at 17:30, in the winter one 9–17 with last entry at 15:30. Going in at opening is the most obvious piece of advice and also the most effective, because the coaches from Naples, Sorrento and the cruise ships arrive between 10 and 11. The second good moment is after 15:30 in summer: the light is better, the Anfiteatro empties and you still have a good hour and a half before closing.
Combinations and what is nearby
Pompeii on its own fills an honest day, but three combinations work better than the rest.
| Combination | Total time | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pompeii + Vesuvius | 10–11 hours | The EAV 808 bus leaves from the Piazza Anfiteatro terminus: see the detailed plan |
| Pompeii + Herculaneum | 8 hours | Two opposite sites: sprawling ruin against sheer preservation, with Herculaneum smaller and far more intact |
| Pompeii + MANN, over two days | half + one | Museum first, excavations after: the order that makes Pompeii readable |
If it is Vesuvius on its own that interests you, the climb to the crater is a half day in itself and is set out on the page about Vesuvius in a day.
The local operators in Pompeii
Away from the platforms, Pompeii is worked by a small circle of guides and tiny agencies that sell through Google Maps, WhatsApp or a two-page website. They are worth knowing because the groups are smaller and the guide is almost always the person you exchanged messages with. We have profiled Tours of Pompeii with Lello, who combines the excavations with the Amalfi Coast, Enjoy Pompeii and Private Tours of Pompeii on the private side, and Pompeii Grand Tour on the Vesuvius combinations. In every case ask three things in writing: whether the guide is licensed by the Regione Campania, whether the entry ticket is included or you buy it yourself, and whether the price is per person or per group. The exact meeting point is on your voucher; if it is not there, ask before you pay.
In short
A Pompeii day trip from Naples is the easiest excursion in Campania: the train from Porta Nolana, €26.60 all in, four hours inside the excavations and back by 17. The two decisions to take before you leave are the named ticket with its time band and whether you want a guide; the rest you sort out on the spot. If you want the day already packaged, start from the tour with fast-track entry and transfer.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to go to Pompeii from Naples?
€26.60 per person: €6.60 for the Circumvesuviana return (NA3 €3.30 each way) and €20 for the Pompei express ticket. A guided tour with transport from the centre starts at €45.50.
How long does the train from Naples to Pompeii take?
Between 32 and 38 minutes from Porta Nolana to Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri, according to the EAV timetable for the Naples–Sorrento line. Garibaldi is the stop after Porta Nolana: take three minutes off from there.
Do you have to book the Pompeii ticket?
Yes. The ticket is named and carries the visitor’s name, the park caps entries at 20,000 a day and in summer it splits access into time bands. Buy it online on vivaticket.it before you set off: the physical ticket offices are all inside the archaeological area.
Can you leave and go back in at Pompeii on the same ticket?
No. The ticket covers a single entry and does not allow re-entry. Bring water and something to eat, or plan lunch for the end of the visit.
How much time do you need to visit Pompeii?
Three hours for the Forum–baths–Via dell’Abbondanza–Anfiteatro route, four or five if you add the Antiquarium and the smaller houses. Under two hours makes no sense: the area covers 44 hectares and you walk on uneven ancient paving.
Which is the best entrance for the Pompeii excavations?
Porta Marina, because it is a few minutes from Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri station and leads straight into the Forum. Piazza Anfiteatro is better if you arrive by car or want to come out on the side where the bus for Vesuvius leaves; the step-free route “Pompei per tutti” also starts at Piazza Anfiteatro.
Is Pompeii open on 15 August?
Yes. The park lists 25 December and 1 January as its only closing days, unless it announces otherwise. Entry is free on the first Sunday of every month, which is also the most crowded day of the year.
Is the Campania Artecard worth it for Pompeii?
If Pompeii is all you are doing, no. The Campania 3 giorni pass from €41 covers two sites of your choice, among them the Pompeii excavations with the Pompei express ticket and the MANN: it pays off if in three days you add up at least two large sites plus regional transport.
Official sources
Read next
- 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.
- 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.
- HerculaneumHerculaneum in half a day: 20-minute train, €16 ticket, 4 hours door to door. The table for choosing Pompeii or Herculaneum, and the tours worth it.
- 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.
- Getting aroundMetro, Circumvesuviana, ferries, Alibus and high-speed rail: lines, stations, minutes, fares and last useful services. Check tickets and transfers.