Herculaneum

My advise is to visit Pompeii first as although this is  smaller site and more residential so lacks the remains of the public buildings that Pompeii contains, the preservation of the houses and shops there is so much better so having seen the scale of Pompeii it then good to see a smaller site where the buildings reach to the upper storeys that are missing in Pompeii and you get a better feel of what it might have been like in its life. The approach to Herculaneum is also above the town so you get views over the whole of the excavation as you walk round the site to the entrance. Many of the wall paintings and frescos are in a much better state of preservation and there are even pieces of wooden furniture still there to see. So although Pompeii is a bigger site which many different sorts of buildings it may be a little disappointing in the detail if you see Herculaneum first. That’s purely a personal view of course, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend skipping Pompeii if you happen to do Herculaneum first.

It’s almost as easy to get to as Pompeii by taking the Circumvesuvianna  train from Sant Agnello to Erculano Scavi station (one stop on from the “other” Erculano station so don’t get off too early as I tried to) and the journey takes about 45 minutes. Coming back you just have to make sure you get on the right train as not all going through go back to Sorrento. The one we caught back was on time and did have Sorrento shown on the dot matrix sign in the front window of the train as it approached the platform.

When you arrive at Erculano Scavi go out of the station into the road in front and just look a little to the left and you will see the main road through modern Erculano leading down hill. Follow this all the way down in a straight line for about 500m and you will see a arch entrance to the site. Under this you walk down a further path with gardens to the left and the site is spread out below you to the right. At the bottom of this path is the ticket office where entrance cost us 11 euros and you can pick up a map.Out of the ticket office and the path turns right to give you views again over the site and at the end of this path is a little stall where you can hire an audio guide at 6.5 euros for one or 10 euros for a pair. Probably worth it but remember as with any working archaeological site, there will always be parts closed that the audio guide will describe so at times using this can be disappointing as the voice in your ear will tell you to enter a building that has a locked door or gate barring the way. It also at times uses some rather specialised language when talking about architectural features so is occasionally hard to follow what is being referred to.

There is a Café there but it was closed for the day we were there so I’m not sure if that’s a common thing or not, but there are a couple of vending machines to get small snacks and drinks, if you turn left when you get to the audio guide booth and walk past the toilet block keeping that to your right. Actually water was only 50c from this, so probably cheaper than buying from any of the people outside trying to sell it. Of course there are a fair few cafes to have lunch at on the main road that leads back up to the station once you have done the site.