Pompeii Ruins

Map of the Pompeii Ruins

The ruins have three entrances, each next to a station: Porta Marina and Piazza Esedra by Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri, and Piazza Anfiteatro by Pompei Santuario. On this map of Pompeii the town is split into nine zones, Regio I–IX, and the must-see places carry the same numbers as the pins.

pompeiisites.org, visitor services, how to get there and regulations, checked Oct 2026

Must-See in the Pompeii Ruins

These are the must-see places in Pompeii, thirteen that most visitors come for, numbered as on the map. Eight sit on the 2-hour route around the Forum; the houses, the Amphitheatre and the Villa of the Mysteries need more time. Two of the thirteen can be seen only in part this winter.

13Villa of the Mysteries

9:15–16:30outside Porta ErcolanoFull day route

Villa outside the walls with a room-wide painted frieze

A tour for this · pin 13Pompeii 3h Villa of Mysteries Tour with an Archaeologist

★4.8 (1,421)3 h

three hours with an archaeologist, the Villa of the Mysteries included

3 h with the villa

from€50≈ $56 · per personBook

pompeiisites.org, "Houses" winter list, checked Oct 2026

Pompeii Ruins Routes: 2 Hours, 4 Hours, Full Day

Two hours is enough for the Forum quarter; four hours adds the great houses and the Amphitheatre; a full day reaches the Villa of the Mysteries outside the walls. Each route starts and ends at a gate with a station, so you never walk back the way you came.

2 hours4 hoursFull day

1. In at Porta Marina
   the upper gate, closest to the Forum
2. Forum
   pin 1 on the map
3. Temple of Apollo
   pin 2 on the map
4. Basilica
   pin 3 on the map
5. Stabian Baths
   pin 4 on the map
6. Lupanar
   pin 5 on the map
7. Large Theatre
   pin 7 on the map
8. Odeon from outside
   pin 8 on the map
9. Out at Piazza Esedra
   the lower gate, the same station

Stop 3 · the BasilicaThe third stop on the 2-hour route, after the Forum and the Temple of Apollo.In the photo: the Basilica at dusk

Ticket + archaeologist: this route with a guide

★4.8 (24,960)2 h

from€30per personBook

stops follow the 2-hour guided routes on GetYourGuide (Askos, HP Travel), Oct 2026 · tickets: pompeiisites.org, checked Oct 2026

Check dates and prices →

What Is Open in the Pompeii Ruins Now

Winter hours run from 15 October to 15 March: the park opens 9:00–17:00 with last entry at 15:30, and the houses close earlier than the open-air sites. One house is closed, one building cannot be seen, and the Amphitheatre and the Odeon are visible only in part.

pompeiisites.org, "Houses" page, checked Oct 2026

Pompeii Ruins New Excavations

The newest digs are in Regio IX and Regio V, where archaeologists keep uncovering painted rooms. The park's current list of open houses names no newly opened building, so most new finds are seen from the edge of the dig or on a guided route when a section opens for a season. Guides on the main tours include them when they can.

Seeing the new digs

• The newly excavated streets and rooms when a viewing route is open; the rest from outside the dig fences
• Ask at the gate, or book a guide who builds the route around them

★★★★★

“

He took us to parts of the site that had only been open to the public for a few days which was great.

A tour for thisGuided Tour for Small Groups — Skip the Crowds (New Excavations)

★4.8 (390)2 h

two hours in a small group, the new excavations on the route when they are open

2 h small group

from€20≈ $22 · per personBook

pompeiisites.org "Houses" list, Oct 2026 · GetYourGuide, Oct 2026

Pompeii Ruins Outside the Walls: the Suburban Villas

Four groups of villas outside the town walls belong to the same park: painted rooms, a farm with its wine cellar, a luxury villa at Torre Annunziata and two seaside villas on the cliff at Castellammare. The two Stabiae villas are always free; the others need a bigger ticket than Pompeii Express, and the free Arte Bus links most of them with Pompeii.

pompeiisites.org, tickets and Arte Bus pages, checked Oct 2026

Pompeii Ruins in 79 AD: a Short Timeline

Seven dates explain what you see: a Roman town still repairing an earthquake, buried in a day by Vesuvius, and dug out over 270 years. The plaster casts, the painted rooms and the repairs left unfinished in 79 each belong to one of these dates, so a minute here makes the streets easier to read.

1. 180 BCPompeii becomes a Roman colony
2. 262 ADAn earthquake damages much of the town; repairs still go on in 79
3. 379 ADVesuvius buries the town in ash and pumice; an inscription found in 2018 points to October, not August
4. 41748Excavations begin under the Bourbon kings
5. 51863Giuseppe Fiorelli pours the first plaster casts of victims
6. 61997Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata become a UNESCO site
7. 72018New digs in Regio V start to reveal painted rooms

published histories of the site · UNESCO World Heritage listing, 1997

Are the Pompeii Ruins Worth Visiting

Is Pompeii worth visiting? Yes: nowhere else can you walk the streets, houses and shops of a whole Roman town. Take a guide for the first two hours, then stay on your own for the houses. In high season go after lunch for fewer people: the park lets in 15,000 visitors before 13:00 and 5,000 after.

A tour for this · the quieter afternoonPompeii: Afternoon to Sunset Guided Tour with Ticket

★4.9 (500)2.5 h

2.5 hours from the afternoon, when only 5,000 more visitors may enter

2.5 h ticket included

from€64≈ $72 · per personBook

daily cap: pompeiisites.org, checked Aug 2026

Check Dates for a Guided Tour of the Pompeii Ruins

Ticket and archaeologist, 2 hours · ★ 4.8 (24,960). The 2-hour route with the ticket included; live dates from GetYourGuide.