Pompeii: the 20,000 cap and the 4 ticket types

Pompeii admits a maximum of 20,000¹ visitors a day on named tickets checked against ID, a rule in force since November 15, 2024.

20,000 a day, and your name on the ticket

Since November 15, 2024 the archaeological park has applied a personal ticket, with identity documents checked at the entrance, and a ceiling of 20,000¹ admissions a day.

The trigger was measurable: peaks above 36,000¹ people in a single day, on a site that took more than 4 million visitors in the year before the measure. It was worked out with the prefecture, the fire service and labour consultants.

The practical effect for you is that a ticket cannot be bought in one name and used by another, and that a sold-out day is genuinely sold out.

15,000 before noon, 5,000 after

From April 1 to October 31 the daily cap splits in two: a maximum of 15,000¹ visitors between 9 am and noon, and 5,000¹ from noon to 5:30 pm.

Three quarters of the day's capacity is in the first three hours. That is where plans break, because the afternoon looks like the sensible time to arrive and is in fact the scarce one.

If you want an afternoon entry in July, treat it as the harder ticket, not the easier one. Our page on daily caps sets the same arithmetic against Vesuvius and La Pelosa.

The 4 tickets, since January 12, 2026

Since January 12, 2026 the park sells four separate titles: Pompei Express at €20 for the ancient city alone, Pompei+ at €25 with the suburban villas and the shuttle, Pompei Plus 3 days at €30 valid three days across four sites, and an annual subscription at €45. Prices are in euros.

Single minor sites cost €8 and EU citizens aged 18 to 25 pay €2.

Read those against each other before buying. Pompei+ at €25 buys the Villa dei Misteri and the Villa di Diomede, which the €20 ticket does not, and the 3-day at €30 is the one that survives a change of weather.

Hours: 2 seasons

From March 16 to October 14 the park opens at 9 am with last entry at 5:30 pm and closing at 7 pm. From October 15 to March 15 it opens at 9 am with last entry at 3:30 pm and closing at 5 pm (2026).

It shuts on December 25 and January 1. The minor sites of Oplontis, Stabiae and Boscoreale close on Tuesdays, which matters if you bought the 3-day ticket to see them.

Bags: 30 by 30 by 15 centimeters

Nothing larger than 30 by 30 by 15 centimeters comes through the gate.

This is the rule that costs the most time at the entrance, because it is discovered at the security line rather than at the ticket stage. A daypack of that size is small: measure it at home, not in the queue.

4,267,233 people in 2024

Pompeii recorded 4,267,233¹ visitors in 2024, third among Italian state cultural sites, with €55,291,542.80⁴ in gross takings.

Every rule above follows from that figure. For the site down the same railway line, with a €16 ticket and no cap at all, see Herculaneum.

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