How many days do you need in Naples?

How much time does each activity take?

Vesuvius is shorter than most people think. The short tours last three hours in total, including travel, and leave about an hour and a half on site; those by minibus with a guide take between three and four hours. They all include the same half-hour walk uphill, which cannot be shortened: real-time updates are here.

Pompeii is the opposite: it can take up as much time as you want, and under three hours turns into a rush. They’re two separate tickets and two separate sites, something that still surprises many—we explain it in Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii.

Two days: you choose

With two full days, you can do only one thing well besides the city. Either the ruins at a relaxed pace, or the volcano with a comfortable time slot. Those who don’t want to miss either take a combined day trip, seven or seven and a half hours, with pick-up from your hotel, the cruise port, or Napoli Centrale, and accept the compromise: two sites, less time at each. The options are in Pompeii and Vesuvius in one day.

Three days: the right amount

With three days, the schedule sorts itself out. One day for the city, one morning for the ruins, half a day for Vesuvius, and there’s still room for the fact that plans often change here. The sequence we recommend is ruins first, mountain afterwards: climbing the crater after walking through a street in Pompeii gives the ascent a meaning that is lost the other way around.

The rule that matters more than any itinerary: don’t leave Mount Vesuvius for the last day. Wind, storms, and snow can close the trail even with just a few hours’ notice, and if you don’t have a second chance, you’ve missed the climb. What happens in that case is in Vesuvius closed due to bad weather.

Four days or more.

With four days, the rest fits in: Herculaneum, which is smaller than Pompeii and for many more readable, the coast, and the possibility of choosing the day with the clearest air for the crater instead of taking whatever comes. Because the difference between a climb in mist and one in clear air is huge: you can see it in what you can see from the crater.

If you arrive by cruise

Who has just one day and a fixed return time on board faces the toughest constraint. Tours with cruise port pick-up solve transport, but they are long days and also include Pompeii. The unromantic advice is to choose just one site and do it properly: seven hours with two stops and a ferry to catch back leaves you enjoying neither. Comparative durations are in all tours.

Where to fit Mount Vesuvius

Early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and never squeezed between two commitments. The ticket time slot is strict, the road in high season is slow, and arriving rushed at an entrance is the surest way to ruin half a day. On which time to choose, we’ve written when to visit Vesuvius.

Two sites, independently

The round-trip option from Naples includes entry to both sites and an audio guide for Pompeii: about 100 minutes at Vesuvius and about two and a half hours at the ruins, without a guided group.

Frequently asked questions