Pompeii skip-the-line — 66 hectares of frozen Roman life, still being excavated, still finding new frescoes. Summer queues at Porta Marina run an hour without a pre-booked ticket.
See ticket optionsAncient city of Pompeii only · Ages 26+ · morning or afternoon window
€35
City + suburban villas + shuttle · Ages 26+ · morning or afternoon window
€49
Pompeii Plus + Oplontis + Villa Arianna + Villa San Marco + Museo Stabia · Valid 3 days · Ages 26+
€59
“Arrived at 10am on a June Tuesday. Queue at Porta Marina was already 45 minutes. Walked past it in 2 minutes with skip-the-line. Got to the Villa of the Mysteries while the light was still coming in low through the frescoed walls.”
“The combo with Herculaneum is the move. Same morning did Pompeii (3 hours), afternoon Circumvesuviana to Ercolano — smaller site, easier to actually absorb. The combo price was 65 vs 58 buying separately, worth the small premium for one less queue.”
“Wore sandals — bad call. The streets have deep cart ruts in volcanic rock. Come prepared for real walking. Absolutely stunning site, cannot describe the scale until you're on a Roman street at dawn with Vesuvius behind you.”
Audio guide · 5-minute
Hand-written, narrated by a heritage host. Five minutes of a city buried at midday in AD 79 — what to look for in the Forum, the House of the Faun, the Villa of the Mysteries, and the casts of the dead.
Included free with every ticket. No app, no download — plays in any browser.
Pompeii was a prosperous Roman city of 20,000 people when Mount Vesuvius erupted on the afternoon of 24 October 79 AD. Pyroclastic flows buried the city under 4–6 metres of volcanic ash in a single day. The speed and the depth preserved everything — streets, frescoes, graffiti, furniture, food, and the void-shapes of the people who didn't escape.
Serious excavation began in 1748. Today 66 of the estimated 110 hectares are open, and the archaeological park is still digging — the most recent major finds (a thermopolium with preserved food, a chariot) were made in 2020–2021. Expect some areas to be closed for ongoing excavation on your visit; expect others to have just opened.
The headline sights — Forum, House of the Faun, Villa of the Mysteries, amphitheatre, Lupanare — are spread across 3 km of streets. Most visitors walk 8–10 km during a day here. Allow at least 4 hours; a full day if you want to actually see it.
Pompeii Tickets is an independent concierge service for international visitors. We are not the official site operator and have no affiliation with it — we purchase official skip-the-line tickets on your behalf, deliver them by email in your own language with your itinerary, and answer questions in your timezone before, during, and after your visit. We do not resell tickets. You receive the same official electronic ticket you would get booking through the official channel directly, with the convenience of an booking flow in your own language and concierge support.
Plan your visit
When the heat is bearable, when the cruise coaches thin, and when the frescoes catch the low winter light.
The Circumvesuviana train, the Sorrento line, and the right station name — get this one detail right and the day is easy.
Two cities buried on the same day in 79 AD, preserved in completely different ways. Here is what each one actually delivers.
Yes — please PRINT your ticket on A4 paper before you arrive. After payment you'll receive a payment receipt by email, then a second email with your official entry ticket attached as a PDF. Pompeii's barcode turnstiles do not reliably read phone screens, so print one A4 page per visitor (colour if possible — the page can be folded in four to fit the scanner). Each ticket admits one person and carries that visitor's name printed on it, so every member of your party must bring their own printed page.
Priority entry through any of the three main gates (Porta Marina, Piazza Anfiteatro, or Piazza Esedra) bypassing the general queue, plus full access to the 66-hectare archaeological park — including the open houses, the Villa of the Mysteries, the Forum, the amphitheatre, the Lupanare, and the body-cast displays. Under-18s are free at the gate; the family tier just bundles the paperwork.
Minimum 4 hours for the headline sights walking at a reasonable pace. A full day (6–8 hours) if you want to actually see the Villa of the Mysteries, the amphitheatre, and the Lupanare without rushing. Factor in 8–10 km of walking on uneven basalt streets.
Both, if you have the days. Pompeii is huge and chaotic — the experience is scale. Herculaneum is smaller, richer, and better preserved (wood, not just stone). The combo ticket (valid 3 consecutive days) saves a queue and most visitors who do both choose it.
Summer weekend queues at Porta Marina can hit 60–90 minutes at midday. And there's almost no shade inside — Pompeii's streets were designed for Roman summer, which means pale stone and minimal trees. Start at 09:00 opening. Bring 2L water per person, a hat, sunscreen. Skip-the-line cuts the queue to under 5 minutes.
The Villa of the Mysteries (for the frescoes, at the west edge of the park — easy to skip by accident), the Forum with Vesuvius behind it, the House of the Faun, the amphitheatre (oldest surviving Roman amphitheatre, 70 BC), and the body casts at the Granai del Foro. The Lupanare if that's your taste.
Tickets are issued for a specific date and are non-transferable once issued. If your plans change, reply to your confirmation email at least 48 hours before your date and we will rebook your visit to any open slot in the operator's calendar.
Yes — kids 8+ tend to get gripped by the body casts, the Lupanare (handle that conversation in advance), the amphitheatre, and the 'frozen in time' scale. The walking is serious (8–10 km) and the heat in summer is real. Under-18s are free at the gate.
Tickets are issued for a specific date and are non-transferable once issued. If your plans change, reply to your confirmation email at least 48 hours before your date and we will rebook your visit to any open slot in the operator's calendar.
Pompeii Archaeological Park preserves the remains of a Roman city near Naples in southern Italy that was buried by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Founded centuries earlier, the prosperous town of some 11,000 to 20,000 people was entombed under several metres of volcanic ash and pumice, which sealed its streets, frescoed houses, shops and gardens almost intact. Systematic excavation began in 1748, and roughly two-thirds of the walled city has since been uncovered, including the Forum, the House of the Faun, the amphitheatre and the suburban Villa of the Mysteries. Plaster casts taken from voids left by the dead capture the eruption's victims at the very moment they fell. Inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1997, the park remains an active dig where significant new discoveries are still made today.
Pompeii Archaeological Park lies close to the modern town of Pompei, near Naples in the Campania region of southern Italy, and is easily reached by public transport. The most direct route from Naples is the Circumvesuviana commuter railway on the Naples-Sorrento line: alight at the Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri station, which sits a short walk from the Porta Marina entrance. The journey takes roughly thirty-five minutes, and trains run frequently throughout the day. From Sorrento, the same line runs in the opposite direction in a broadly comparable time. A separate regional service on the Naples-Salerno line stops at the town's main station, a longer walk from the ruins. Drivers using the A3 motorway can exit at Pompei and find paid parking near the entrances, though the roughly half-hour rail link is usually quicker and avoids the heavy coastal traffic.