Pompeii Guides — Planning Tips & What to Know
Planning tips, comparisons, and what to know before walking Pompeii with a working archaeologist.
How Long Do You Need at Pompeii?
Most visitors need 2–4 hours at Pompeii — 2–3 for highlights, 4–5 for a thorough visit, a full day for everything. How to plan your time and make a short visit count.
Read guide →Is Pompeii Worth It? What Reddit Really Says
What Reddit really thinks of Pompeii — the scale, the heat, the crowds, whether you need a guide, and who should skip it. Real visitor verdicts: go-if / skip-if.
Read guide →Pompeii Opening Hours (2026)
Pompeii is open daily except Jan 1, May 1 and Dec 25. Summer 09:00–19:00 (last entry 17:30), winter 09:00–17:00 (last entry 15:30). Plus the best time of day and the 2026 timed-slot rules.
Read guide →Best Time to Visit Pompeii: August Is Quieter Than May
The newest visitor counts anyone has for Pompeii: May drew 516,923, August 421,255. August isn’t the crowd problem — it’s the 33°C one. Month by month.
Read guide →Pompeii with Kids — Free Entry Under 18, Accessible Routes & the Lupanar Question
Pompeii with kids — under-18s enter free with ID, the 3.5 km accessible route turns the site stroller-passable, plus the Lupanar parental discretion framework by age and a 90-minute toddler itinerary.
Read guide →How to Get to Pompeii — From Naples, Sorrento, Rome & Cruise Ports
How to get to Pompeii in 2026 — Circumvesuviana from Naples or Sorrento, Frecciarossa from Rome, parking near Porta Marina, and the one station mistake that costs travellers an hour.
Read guide →Pompeii Guided vs Self-Guided — Cost, Depth, and Who Should Pick Each
Guided vs self-guided Pompeii: the 2026 cost math, what the new signage actually covers, and the three things even great audio guides cannot transmit.
Read guide →Pompeii in One Day — The Honest Itinerary for a Single Visit
How to see Pompeii in one day — 4-5 hour highlights route with realistic distances per stop, plus Vesuvius or Herculaneum afternoon add-on modules and the three-site trap to avoid.
Read guide →Pompeii vs Herculaneum — Two Cities, Two Eruptions, Two Visits
Pompeii preserves the moment of death; Herculaneum preserves the moment of life. The 2026 comparison: tickets, crowds, size, the 79 AD October date shift, and the Vesuvius Challenge scroll breakthroughs.
Read guide →What to Expect at Pompeii — The Practical Pre-Visit Briefing
What every Pompeii visitor wishes they knew before arriving — the 30×30×15 cm bag rule, free water fountains, 19 shaded rest spots, the new accessible walkway, and the MyPompeii app.
Read guide →Looking to book? See the featured Pompeii archaeologist tour →