The best time to visit the Herculaneum excavations is early morning to buy the cheapest tickets onsite and to enjoy a pleasant quiet visit to the archaeological site in Ercolano near Pompeii and Naples. Online tickets and group tours also allow for skip-the-line entry.
The excavations of Herculaneum are usually less crowded than Pompeii but it is still sensible to arrive early in the morning, or late afternoon, when ticket queues are shorter and the site quieter. The cheapest tickets for the Herculaneum are sold onsite. The Campania Arte Card is a great savings deal with skip-the-line benefits at busy times. Online tickets always have a slight surcharge but ensure priority entry on busy days. Specific time slot reservations are currently used for some tickets.
Guided tours allow for seeing the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii on the same day. Admission is free for children under 18. Getting to Ercolano Scavi Vesuvio is easy as train transportation to Herculaneum is cheap and frequent from Naples.
2025: the train line to Herculaneum changed — many guidebooks still have outdated information.
Cheapest Tickets to Visit the Herculaneum Ruins
The cheapest tickets for the excavations of Herculaneum (Scavi di Ercolano) are sold at the ticket windows directly at the archaeological site. Arrive early at opening time, or buy online in advance — on busy days often worth the inevitable surcharge. Time-slot reservations are currently used for tickets bought directly at Herculaneum or the Coop website.
Reseller tickets without time slots are valid and skip the line for the whole calendar day, which is handy for more flexible travel. Visitors using the Campania Arte card may enter without time-slot reservations. (I personally always book a timeslot if available for free).
Basic admission tickets for the Herculaneum in 2025 are:
- €16 for adults
- €2 for young EU nationals aged 18 to 24 (EU, EFTA, and Uruguay but not the UK)
- Free for all children under 18 (no longer free for visitors over 65)
- Free for all on the first Sunday of the month. (It may be unpleasantly busy — queue at the gate, no reservations possible.)
- Annual tickets are good deals, especially for families, if planning to visit more than once in a year — buy directly at the park.
Most visitors to Herculaneum need to pick up a ticket at the ticket window, including exchanging online vouchers or mobile tickets at the priority access queue. However, an increasing number of QR codes may be scanned directly too. (A paper printout is sensible, especially if booking an audio guide.)
Herculaneum often does not operate a clear fast-lane skip-the-queue ticket window but visitors with online tickets or the Campania Arte Card (in 2025 only available as a mobile phone app) may go to the front of the queue – although booking a free time slot is even more sensible.
Priority entrance tickets to Herculaneum come at a small price premium — money well spent at busy times. Admission without time-slots are generally easy early morning, late afternoon, or outside the high season.
Download a Map and Mini Guide
TIP: Information inside the site is often limited. An audio guide is a good idea. Pick up the map and information booklet at the information stand near the ticket window. The maps are not available once past the ticket checkpoint and re-entries are not allowed. These maps often run out — download a map or get a good guidebook before visiting if not using an audio guide.
The official map and guide are available at the official Herculaneum website. For not really any obvious reason, the English miniguide (Mini guida in Inglese) and other languages are only downloadable from the Italian version of the website. These maps and guides are far more comprehensive than the “mini” in the name might suggest!)
Excavations of Herculaneum Opening Hours
The Excavations of Herculaneum (Scavi di Ercolano) are open daily:
- mid-March to mid-October: 8:30 to 19:30
- mid-October to mid-March: 8:30 to 17:00
Last admissions are 90 minutes before closing. Many sights are already closed long before the official closing time of the park. The archaeological area must be vacated around half an hour before the stated closing time.
The Excavations of Herculaneum are closed only on 1 January and 25 December.
The Herculaneum was closed on Wednesdays in recent years but is currently open every day of the week with 25 December and 1 January the only closed days.
How long does a visit to the Herculaneum takes? Expect to spend around two hours at the archaeological site of Herculaneum. It is is easy to stay longer but even a rushed visit would take more than an hour.
Best Times to Buy Tickets and Visit the Excavations of Herculaneum
The best times to visit the excavations of the Herculaneum are early morning or late afternoon. Directly at opening time ticket queues are short and the site generally remains peaceful for at least the first hour.
Similarly, arriving around two and a half hours before closing time will see the ruins either quiet or getting progressively more peaceful. The park is usually busiest between 11:00 and 14:00.
The archaeological site of Herculaneum is busier on weekends and during school holidays and best avoided on the first Sunday of each month when admission is gratis. (The number of visitors allowed in is more limited than at Pompeii.)
Tips on Visiting the Herculaneum Excavations
The excavations of Herculaneum are much smaller than Pompeii. Visitors enjoy an overview of the complete site while walking from the main entrance gate to the ticket window.
Around 40 houses are described – not all will be open. Information in the archaeological area is rather limited — take a good guide.
Guided tours to Herculaneum rarely exceed two hours and much less walking is required than at Pompeii.
Also in contrast to Pompeii, many buildings at Herculaneum have roofs making afternoon shade more common.
Food and drinking options at Herculaneum are truly dismal. Once off the modern paved area, no water or toilets are available in the excavated ruins area.
Day-Trips and Guided Tours to Herculaneum
It is easy to reach and explore Herculaneum alone but guided tours are available. A good guide certainly could add value by pointing out elements otherwise easily missed.
For families and small groups, a private tour may be sensible. It may even work out cheaper and has the benefit of not having to wait for others to take selfies, etc. Kids-friendly family tours are also available.
Pre-booked guides could sort out tickets in advance while available guides may also hang out at the ticket windows for spontaneous bookings. As at other major Italian archaeological sites, all guides at Herculaneum are state-certified and thus knowledgeable and not making up the story as they go along.
Transportation to Herculaneum
Herculaneum is easily reached from the Ercolano station on the Circumvesuviana commuter train from Naples, Pompeii, or Sorrento. Traveling time is only 20 minutes from Napoli Garibaldi on at least twice-hourly trains but more complicated than previously if traveling from Pompei or Sorrento.
→ See Transportation to Herculaneum for more details.
Seeing Pompeii and Herculaneum on the Same Day Tickets
The Herculaneum and Pompeii archaeological parks use completely different ticket systems. There is no official combination tickets. Resellers often give small discounts if buying tickets for both (or more sights) in the same transaction.
The Campania Arte Carte is accepted at both Herculaneum and Pompeii (Express ticket only!).
Visiting both Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same day is tough on feet and legs but this largely depends on physical condition, the weather, and how extensively Pompeii is explored. It may be sensible to see Pompeii first. Visiting the Herculaneum requires far less walking and distances are shorter once inside the archaeological site.
Many day trips from Naples and Sorrento combine Pompeii and Herculaneum on a single-day tour. Be careful of too cheap tours that do not include admission or offer no guide at the archaeological sites.
For small groups and families, it may be sensible – and often even cheaper – to book a private tour. Using public transportation and meeting the guide at Pompeii rather than in Naples also saves money.
Train Transportation Between Herculaneum and Pompeii
2025: the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum are no longer on the same train line. It is now more complicated and time-consuming to see these two popular sights on the same day when using public transportation (but a good option on guided tours). Many guidebooks have outdated information and still list Ercolano-Scavi as a stop on all trains heading for Pompei Scavi (and Sorrento).
Trains from Naples to Pompeii or Herculaneum are frequent but the Ercolano-Scavi-Vesuvio and Pompei-Scavi-Villa-dei-Misteri stations are now on different lines. Travelers from Pompeii (or Sorrento) to the Herculaneum usually must change trains.
The following train options are available for travel between the Herculaneum and Pompeii archaeological sites:
- For travel between Ercolano-Scavi-Vesuvio and Pompei-Scavi-Villa-dei-Misteri (or Sorrento) stations, the expensive Campania Express trains remain an option but are realistically only available twice a day for sightseeing purposes. The more realistic option is the Circumvesuviana commuter train but except for early morning and evenings, a train change is now required. The best option is to change at Torre Annunziata-Oplonti station but sometimes it may be better to backtrack via Naples Garibaldi.
- A further option from Pompeii to Ercolano-Scavi station is to use the L4 Napoli-Poggiomarino Circumvesuviana commuter train from Pompei-Santuario station, which is a 5 to 10-minute walk from the Amphitheatre exit of the Pompeii archaeological site. This station is on the opposite side of the park from the Pompei-Scavi-Villa-Misteri station. Check maps and timetables in advance, as this is not the main tourist route.
However, given the ease of transportation, travelers staying in Naples may prefer to visit on separate days. Ercolano is only 20 minutes by train from Garibaldi station.
For More on Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Naples in 2025:
- Save with the Campania Arte Card on Sightseeing Ticket and Transportation — in 2025 only available as a mobile phone app — buy the Campania Arte Card online.
- Pompeii Excavations Archaeological Site: Top Tips on Visiting Pompeii, Buying Tickets and Booking Tours & Cheap Transportation to Pompeii. Note: New Pompeii Ticket system in 2025!
- Herculaneum Archaeological Site (Ercolano): Tips on Buying Tickets and When to Visit & Cheap Transportation to Herculaneum (Note in 2025: trains have changed — many guidebooks still have old information!)
- Day Trip from Rome: How to Visit Pompeii by Train from Rome
- Visit the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples – home to the Farnese sculptures (including Hercules at Rest and the Farnese Bull) and the best artworks, mosaics, and frescoes from the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
- Book Tours to Pompeii, Herculaneum, or both at Get Your Guide.
- Buy Italian train tickets in English at Trainline — however, often not possible for the commuter train to Ercolano or Pompeii — easy to buy at the station or use the Campania Arte Card.