Herculaneum Archaeological Park

If Pompeii is the panorama, Herculaneum is the close-up. The two towns died in the same eruption of AD 79 but in different ways: Pompeii was buried by falling ash and pumice, while Herculaneum, closer to the volcano on the coast, was engulfed by pyroclastic surges and then sealed under some twenty metres of volcanic material that hardened like rock. That deeper, denser burial preserved what Pompeii lost — upper floors, balconies, roof beams, wooden doors, a carbonised wooden partition screen, even food and furniture. Walking its grid of streets, you look down into a town that sits well below the modern city of Ercolano, its excavated blocks framed by apartment buildings and, beyond, the cone of Vesuvius. The site is compact, which is its great advantage: in two or three hours you can see the essentials without the forced march Pompeii demands. Highlights include the House of the Wooden Partition, the House of Neptune and Amphitrite with its glittering mosaic of the sea god and his wife, the Samnite House, the College of the Augustales, the beautifully preserved baths with their marble benches and mosaic floors, and the shops where storage jars still stand on the counters. Down at the old shoreline, the arched boathouses (fornici) held the skeletons of some three hundred people who fled to the beach and waited for rescue that never came — one of the most affecting places in Italy. Herculaneum was a wealthier, more refined town than Pompeii, home to villas like the Villa of the Papyri with its carbonised library, and the quality of decoration shows it. It is also blessedly calmer: tour groups favour Pompeii, so even in high season Herculaneum often feels like a discovery.

Getting there could not be easier. Take the Circumvesuviana from Naples Garibaldi toward Sorrento and get off at Ercolano Scavi, about fifteen to twenty minutes away; walk straight downhill along the main street for about ten minutes to the entrance on Corso Resina. The park opens in the morning and closes in the late afternoon, with last entry mid-afternoon and visitors asked to leave the excavations shortly before closing; it also keeps a weekly closing day, so check the official site before you go. Special free days are announced through the year — 1 and 4 November 2026 were two of them — and the first Sunday of the month is normally free too. Tickets are modestly priced compared with Pompeii, and entry with an audio guide, a guided tour, or as part of a Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius pass is available from resellers like Tiqets.

How to see it: start at the viewing terrace by the entrance ramp, where the whole excavated town spreads below you and you can grasp the depth of the burial. Then go down through the tunnel to the ancient shoreline and the boathouses first, before working up through the streets. Look up as much as down — at the timber lintels, upper-floor balconies and wall paintings that survive at height here and almost nowhere else. The Herculaneum Conservation Project, a long-running public-private partnership, has made the site one of the best-cared-for in Italy, and the houses that are open are generally in excellent condition. Some houses open on rotation or for special visits, such as the Suburban Baths, which have been opened for scheduled visits; check what is on during your dates.

Pompeii or Herculaneum? If you have only one half-day, first-timers usually choose Pompeii for its scale and fame; but travellers who dislike crowds, are short on time or energy, have young children, or simply want to see Roman houses in astonishing detail often prefer Herculaneum, and many who visit both rate it higher. It pairs beautifully with Vesuvius, which rises directly behind Ercolano: shuttles and buses run up the mountain from the town and the station. Near the station, the MAV virtual archaeological museum offers a multimedia reconstruction of the eruption that children tend to love, and combined tickets exist.