Naples to Pompeii and Herculaneum: trains, tickets and one-day timing

Both ruined towns are an easy trip from Naples, and the Circumvesuviana suburban railway is the simplest way to reach them. Herculaneum is closer and compact, so it takes about two hours. Pompeii is farther and much larger, and it needs half a day or more. A single day can hold both if you reach Herculaneum when it opens and book an afternoon slot at Pompeii. The Naples travel guide covers the city, and the Italy overview shows where the Bay of Naples fits in a longer trip.

This page is the logistics page: which train, which stop, what the current hours and ticket rules are and in what order to see the sites. For a decision between the two on character alone, read Pompeii or Herculaneum. For what to look at once you are inside Pompeii, see what to see in Pompeii. For the booking rules in detail, see Pompeii tickets and how to visit.

Skip both on a day of heavy rain or extreme heat if you have a flexible schedule. The ruins are open air, shade is scarce and wet stone is slippery. Spring and autumn are best, and in midsummer only the first hours of the day are comfortable.

The Circumvesuviana is a commuter railway operated by EAV. It starts at Napoli Garibaldi, in the station complex under Napoli Centrale, and runs along the bay to Sorrento. Both ruins are on that Sorrento line. Trains run roughly every 30 minutes through the day, and the current timetable is on the EAV site. For Herculaneum, get off at Ercolano Scavi, about 15 to 20 minutes from Garibaldi, and walk downhill for a few minutes to the entrance. For Pompeii, get off at Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri, about 35 to 40 minutes from Garibaldi, beside the Porta Marina gate. Not every train stops at every station, so read the board before you board.

Buy a ticket at the machine or the ticket office, and keep it until you exit. The trains are crowded in the morning and late afternoon, so stand near the doors, keep your bag in front of you and do not leave a phone on a seat. Pickpocketing on this line is a known problem, and a zipped cross-body bag is the best defense. Leave a margin on the return: delays and strikes happen, and a last train you cannot catch is a bad evening.

There was also a reserved-seat tourist service, the Campania Express. Italian press reported in August 2026 that EAV would suspend it from 1 October 2026 and use its trains on the regular line, which would mean a train about every 30 minutes to Sorrento. This comes from press reports, not from a notice read on the EAV site, so treat it as reported and check eavsrl.it before you rely on either service. The other option is a Trenitalia regional train from Naples Centrale to Pompei on the Naples to Salerno line, which stops in the modern town, a longer walk from the gates. See Italy by train off-peak for how to read regional timetables. For a short local ride, single tickets beat any pass.

Pompeii sells named tickets for a time slot, with a daily limit of 20,000 entries. The park's pages list two windows: a morning window from 9am to 1pm, which takes up to 15,000 entries in the long season, and an afternoon window from 1pm to 5:30pm, which takes up to 5,000. A ticket cannot be used to leave and re-enter. Buy on the official channel, not from a reseller with a markup, and carry the ID that matches the name on the ticket.

The Pompeii-only ticket is listed at €20 from 12 January 2026, and a version that adds the suburban villas is listed at €25. Entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, which is also the most crowded day, so most visitors do better paying on a quiet weekday. See the official Pompeii ticket and timetable page for the current table.

Herculaneum works differently. It is open every day except 1 January and 25 December, from 8:30am to 7:30pm from 16 March to 14 October with last entry at 6pm, and from 8:30am to 5pm from 15 October to 15 March with last entry at 3:30pm. A full ticket is €16, entry is free on the first Sunday of the month and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November, and there is no slot to book for a normal visit. On free days you cannot book online and queues are long.

The official Herculaneum ticket page lists reduced fares and notes that the Villa dei Papiri and the ancient theater are closed for maintenance, so do not plan around them. Prices and hours change, so confirm on the day you buy.

Do Herculaneum first. It opens at 8:30am, it is compact and an early start there keeps you ahead of the tour groups. Aim for the 8:10 to 8:30am train window from Garibaldi, spend about two hours walking the streets, the baths and the old shoreline, and finish by 10:45am. Walk back up to the station and ride a few stops to Pompei Scavi, which takes about 20 minutes.

Eat lunch in the modern town, not on site, because Pompeii allows eating only in designated places. Take the afternoon slot, which opens at 1pm, and plan on three hours inside, using the shorter loop in what to see in Pompeii. In the long season the park closes at 7pm, but last entry is 5:30pm and some houses narrow their access near closing, so there is no benefit to a very late slot. The afternoon window also takes far fewer people than the morning window, which is a reason to prefer it on a busy day, though the heat from 1pm to 4pm is a real cost in July and August.

The reverse order, Pompeii in the morning and Herculaneum in the afternoon, fails in summer: you spend the first half of the day in the hottest, largest site and reach Herculaneum with tired legs and a last entry of 6pm. If you can spare two days, do one site each day and you will enjoy both more. In winter, last entries are earlier at both sites, so subtract about two hours from every time in this plan.

From Rome it is possible but long. A fast train to Naples Centrale takes roughly 1 hour 10 minutes to 1.5 hours, then you transfer to the Circumvesuviana at Garibaldi. That makes a day trip a very early start for one site. Stay a night in Naples if you can, and choose either site, not both. Use Italy by train off-peak to price the Rome leg.

From Sorrento you ride the same Circumvesuviana line in the other direction, and Pompei Scavi is about 30 to 40 minutes away. If you are choosing between Naples and Sorrento as your base for the ruins, Sorrento or Naples as a base works through the trade-offs. From Naples airport, the Alibus shuttle runs to the central station area, which is where you pick up the Circumvesuviana, so you can drop your bags and be at Herculaneum within the morning.

Go solo if you like to wander, enjoy research and want to control your time. The train and the tickets cost little, and you can skip areas you do not care about. You must book the slot, read ahead and plan for the heat.

Take a guided tour if you want context, have limited time or dislike planning. A good guide turns streets into stories, and some tours include entry or a combined visit to both sites. Compare group size, what is included and whether the tour covers entry, because prices vary widely. A hybrid also works: ride the train yourself and hire a guide at the gate for the first hour.

Keep a plan B. If rain sets in, the National Archaeological Museum in Naples holds many of the finds from both sites, but it is closed on Tuesdays, so check the day. The same is true of the Sansevero Chapel with the Veiled Christ. If a strike cancels the Circumvesuviana, a Trenitalia regional train to Pompei or a taxi can rescue a fixed slot, so check strike notices before you travel.

Set up your phone before you go, since mobile tickets and live train times matter. An eSIM for Italy covers data, and a travel insurance policy covers theft, medical care and delays. If you sleep near the station, see where to stay in Naples for the best bases for an early train.