Seven days: Rome, Naples, Pompeii

Three nights in Rome, four in Naples, and one hard ceiling that fixes the calendar: Pompeii sells at most 15,000³ morning entries and 5,000³ afternoon ones between April and October.

Buy the Pompeii slot before the flights

Pompeii has run a named ticket with an identity document and a ceiling of 20,000³ entries a day since November 15, 2024. From April 1 to October 31 those entries split into two bands, a maximum of 15,000³ between 9:00 am and noon and 5,000³ between noon and 5:30 pm.

The measure followed single days above 36,000³ people. In 2024 the site recorded 4,267,233³ visitors, third among Italian state museums and monuments, on gross takings of €55.3 million.

The afternoon band is a third the size of the morning one, so a lunchtime arrival is the scarce ticket, not the relaxed one. Amounts on this page are in euros.

Days 1 to 3: Rome, on a 24 hour ticket

The Colosseum sells a named ticket with a compulsory entry time, released 30 days ahead, and the standard 24 hour version limits you to 75 minutes inside the amphitheater while covering the Roman Forum and the Palatine as well.

It costs €18, €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 25 and €11.50² for Roma Pass holders, and it includes the second level with the terraces and the Colosseum museum.

Three nights in one Roman base is the right shape for a trip whose second half is heavier. Leave the last morning free: the train south is short.

Day 4: 1 hour 13 minutes to Naples

Rome Termini to Napoli Centrale takes 1 hour 13 minutes on the fastest direct high speed service, with a median of 1 hour 18 minutes and 45 direct Frecciarossa runs on the weekday sampled in September 2026. The slowest direct service takes 2 hours 3 minutes.

Arrive before lunch and give the afternoon to the National Archaeological Museum, which holds what was carried out of Pompeii and Herculaneum before either site had a ticket office. It opens Wednesday to Monday 9:00 am to 7:30 pm with last entry at 6:30 pm and closes on Tuesdays, at €20 full, €2 for EU visitors aged 18 to 25 and €10 on Artecard.

Some rooms are closed for works. The museum stays open on public holidays that fall on a Tuesday, except January 1 and December 25.

Day 5: the Circumvesuviana, and only one line works

EAV line L1, Naples to Sorrento, is the only Vesuvian line calling at both Ercolano Scavi and Pompei Scavi Villa dei Misteri, from the Porta Nolana and Garibaldi stations. The timetable in force dates from March 28, 2026.

EAV publishes neither point to point fares nor real frequencies on a readable page, referring instead to a regional fare engine that shows no prices. Journey times, fares and actual reliability on this line are unverified here, and that is a gap worth knowing about before you build a tight morning around it.

The freephone information line is 800⁵ 211388⁵.

Day 6: the Gran Cono, 50 places every 10 minutes

Trail 5 on Vesuvius, the Gran Cono, is walkable only with a ticket bought online in advance: €11.68⁶ full and €9.55⁶ reduced, with 50 places released every 10 minutes and sales opening 30 days ahead.

The path runs 4,010⁶ m there and back, tops out at 1,175⁶ m and takes 2 hours 30 minutes at an easy grade. Opening is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in July and August, to 5:00 pm from April to June and in September, to 4:00 pm in March and October, to 3:00 pm the rest of the year.

A last minute release adds 10 tickets per band 30 minutes before, named since April 11, 2026 and limited to 5 per email address. The official page also quotes a different capacity elsewhere, 60 people per 10 minutes in three groups of 20; we have used the first figure and flagged the second.

Day 7: Capodimonte, or the coast road with a catch

Capodimonte costs €10 full, €2 for ages 18 to 25 and free under 18, includes current exhibitions and lets you leave and return on the same day. It is the calm alternative to a fourth archaeological site.

If you drive the Amalfi coast instead, the SS163⁹ runs alternate plates from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm under Anas order 340⁹/2019: odd final digits banned on odd dates, even on even. In 2026 it was applied March 30 to April 6 and April 24 to May 2, and residents, taxis, hotel guests with a booking and motorbikes sit outside it.

The summer and autumn calendar is reported locally but we could not open the order or an institutional notice confirming it, so treat any August date you read as unconfirmed.

↑ Contents