HelloMondo / Italy / Naples / Herculaneum
15.9 Km away from Naples (approximately 19 min travel time)
As Pompeii, Herculaneum is well worth a visit so book your ticket comparing prices on HelloMondo.
We suggest to plan a 4 days trip to Naples to enjoy Herculaneum
Herculaneum was an ancient town near Naples, Italy. In the year 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried everything around it under more than 20 feet (6 metres) of volcanic ash. The whole city was frozen in time by the lava. Unlike Pompeii, the mainly pyroclastic material that covered Herculaneum carbonized and preserved more wood in objects such as roofs, beds, and doors, as well as other organic-based materials such as food and papyrus. The position of Herculaneum meant that the ashes attacked the city with greater violence than Pompeii. As a result, the city was completely buried and remained intact.Herculaneum was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.
To visit Herculaneum you should take into account about half a day. You can see the whole archeological park in about 2-3 hours. It depends on your level of interest.
It is a good idea to combine a visit to Herculaneum with a trip to Mount Vesuvius or other archeological sites such as Oplontis, the Antiquarium of Boscoreale, the Stabiae Ruins, Villa Ariana, and Villa San Marco. In this case it will take you more than a day to try to see as much as possible.
Compare best tickets and activities offered by:
History at the foot of Mount Vesuvius
As low as
€17.00
on Tiqets.com
Visit the majestic Vesuvius and the ancient Roman city all in one day
As low as
€90.00
on Tiqets.com
Book once and enhance your experience with this convenient combination of must sees
As low as
€38.00
on Tiqets.com
Dig up the ancient secrets of Herculaneum with an archaeologist
As low as
€48.00
on Tiqets.com
See a city untouched by time and enjoy a guided tour from an archaeologist
As low as
€99.00
on Tiqets.com
Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the beautiful ancient city of Herculaneum with an archeologist as your guide. Explore one of the most well-preserved ancient cities in the world with a group of up to 20 people.
As low as
€45
on GetYourGuide.com
Explore one of the best-preserved ancient cities in the world and experience the last days of the citizens of Herculaneum with the help of an expert archaeologist guide.
As low as
€49
on GetYourGuide.com
Herculaneum was an ancient Roman city that was buried alive in the enormous volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D..
You can see houses, public baths, taverns, temples and statues that are almost perfectly preserved, giving unbelievable insight into what life was like for well-to-do families in the Roman Empire. It is even possible to see the frescoes and mosaics that still decorate the walls of the ancient mansions almost two thousand years after they were buried.
Although less popular today than Pompeii, Herculaneum was the first, and for a long time the only, buried Vesuvian city to be found (in 1709), while Pompeii was only revealed from 1748.
Despite being smaller than Pompeii, the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum was much wealthier, and examples of lavishly decorated villas can be found around the archaeological site. Herculaneum was buried underneath 20 meters of thick pyroclastic material, Pompeii was only covered with 4 meters of thinner ash, making it a significantly easier site to excavate.
The depth of the volcanic debris covering the two cities played a major part in how they were discovered and excavated. Mount Vesuvius covered Herculaneum in roughly 5 times the amount of ash that Pompeii was and this made the conditions of its discovery very different.
Useful information for your visit to Herculaneum.
It is located about 13 km from Naples.
To visit Pompeii the times are as follows:
To reach Herculaneum: