What to see in Pompeii: a self-guided route and what to skip

You cannot see all of Pompeii in one visit, and you should not try. The city covers a large area with dozens of streets, and a loop of the forum, the House of the Faun, the shops and baths along Via dell'Abbondanza, the Garden of the Fugitives and the amphitheater takes about 3 to 4 hours. That loop gives you public life, a grand house, working streets and the human cost of the eruption. The Pompeii travel guide has the wider picture, and the Italy guide shows how the Bay of Naples fits a longer route.

For how to book the slot and what a ticket costs, read Pompeii tickets and how to visit. For how to get there from the city, see Naples to Pompeii and Herculaneum. The one thing to know first is that the park publishes a list of open buildings by area, and it changes. Houses close for conservation or open in rotation, so any route, including this one, is a plan to adapt rather than a fixed itinerary.

The park has three public entrances: Porta Marina, Piazza Esedra and Piazza Anfiteatro. Porta Marina is on the western side next to the Pompei Scavi train stop, and it drops you close to the forum. Piazza Anfiteatro is at the far south-eastern end, beside the amphitheater, and it is the entrance with the accessible route the park calls Pompeii for all. A good plan is to enter at one end and leave at the other, so you never backtrack, and to confirm which gate your slot uses before you leave the station.

The site opens at 9am. From 16 March to 14 October the last entry is 5:30pm and the park closes at 7pm. From 15 October to 15 March last entry is 3:30pm and closing is 5pm. Some buildings keep shorter hours than the park itself, and access to some houses is reduced from around 6pm in the long season, so aim to be at your best houses by early afternoon. The Villa of the Mysteries, for example, is listed with its own hours and a last entry earlier than the main gate.

Read the park's open buildings page the evening before, and check the service notices on the official Pompeii site on the day. The list tells you whether the House of the Faun, the Lupanar and the Villa of the Mysteries are open and when, and it saves you a long walk to a locked door.

Start at Porta Marina and climb the ramp into the city. Head for the forum, the long rectangular open space that served as the civic center. Around it you will see the remains of the Temple of Apollo, the basilica where law cases were heard and the platform where speakers stood. Spend 30 to 40 minutes here, because the layout makes sense of everything else. Look north and Vesuvius fills the frame behind the Temple of Jupiter, which is the photograph most people came for.

From the forum, walk north-west toward the House of the Faun, one of the largest private houses in the city, named for the bronze statue found in its garden court. The house shows the scale of wealth in a Roman town, with two atria and a pair of colonnaded gardens. Give it 20 minutes. Then drop back toward Via dell'Abbondanza, the main street running east to west, and follow it east. This is the stretch where Pompeii feels like a real town: shop counters with sunken storage jars, a bakery with its mill stones, the Stabian baths and street fountains with worn stone edges.

If the Lupanar is open, it sits in a small lane off the streets near the center and is the brothel that draws queues, so go early or skip it on a busy day. Continue east toward the Garden of the Fugitives, where plaster casts show people at the moment they died. It is a quiet, sobering place, and it is the one stop on this loop where most visitors fall silent. Finish at the amphitheater, which is among the oldest surviving Roman amphitheaters, and leave by Piazza Anfiteatro.

Pace yourself. The loop is mostly flat, but the stone paving is uneven, and the raised stepping stones in the road were spaced for cart wheels, not for modern shoes. In July and August do the exposed stretch along Via dell'Abbondanza before noon, and keep the forum and the shaded interiors for the middle of the day. If you start in an afternoon slot, reverse the loop so you reach the amphitheater first and finish in the center.

The Villa of the Mysteries sits outside the city walls to the north-west, a ten to fifteen minute walk beyond the Herculaneum Gate. It holds a famous room of large figures painted on a deep red background, and many visitors rank it above any house inside the walls. The park lists it on its open-buildings page with a 9:15 start and a last entry shortly before 6:30pm in the long season, so it closes earlier than the main gate.

Add it if you have a morning slot and you are fit for a longer day, or if you arrive on the Circumvesuviana at Pompei Scavi, since the stop is named for the villa and you can visit before or after the main loop. Skip it if you are on a short slot, if the heat is severe or if you are traveling with young children, because the walk out and back adds time in full sun. A good compromise is to see it first at opening, when the paths are cool, and then enter the main site.

Skip the idea of seeing every house. Many are empty rooms with a faded fresco that needs a guide to explain, and the fatigue builds fast on stone. Skip the far corners of the site if you are on a 90 minute visit. Skip the Lupanar queue if it runs longer than ten minutes. The brothel is a small building, and the time is better spent in a larger house.

Skip Pompeii in the middle of a hot summer afternoon if you can. The site has almost no shade, and from late morning to mid-afternoon in July and August you will feel the heat reflected from the paving. A very late slot is also a poor trade, because access to some houses narrows toward closing. In winter, short days and wet stone make it a different visit: quieter, and best on a dry day. If you want the frescoes without the walk, the National Archaeological Museum in Naples holds many of the best paintings and mosaics from the site, and it is covered in how many days in Naples.

Several park rules affect how you plan the day. Bags are limited to 30 x 30 x 15 cm, and larger items go to the left luggage service. Eating is allowed only in designated places, so you cannot picnic on the stones. Dogs are allowed only if they weigh no more than 10 kg and stand no taller than 40 cm, they must be on a lead and they must be carried inside buildings. Drones are forbidden without authorization.

Guided groups also have rules: groups of more than 15 people must use a whisper or earphone system, and the park sets a maximum group size. That is another reason to prefer small-group tours. Read the full regulations for visitors on the park's site, because details such as the conduct rules are listed there.

The first mistake is arriving without a plan and wandering until you are tired. Choose your houses on the open list, then walk in a loop. The second is bringing a daypack, which fails the bag check and costs you time at the left luggage desk. The third is taking an afternoon slot in August and expecting to see the whole site before the heat peaks.

The fourth is expecting everything to be labeled. Many streets have little signage, so an audio guide or a guide for the first hour can add a lot. The fifth is skipping the museum. If you can, see the finds in Naples either the day before or the day after, because the frescoes are far easier to read once you have walked the rooms where they were found. If you are weighing a second ancient site, Pompeii or Herculaneum sets out the choice.

Villas such as Oplontis, part of the same park network, are quieter and suit a second day. The park lists most of its satellite sites as closed on Tuesdays, so check the day before you travel. Before you go, compare travel insurance for heat illness and medical care, and add an eSIM so you can show a mobile ticket at the turnstile.