Up Pompeii! And don’t forget Herculaneum

MAY 2026

The world famous ruins of Pompeii apparently receive a staggering 4,000,000 visitors every year. The less heralded Herculaneum receives only around 500,000. So not only is it better preserved, it is a lot less crowded. It made sense to me to go and see them both. Herculaneum for the detail, Pompeii for the scale.

It’s a short train journey on the Circumvesuviana train from Napoli Centrale to Ercolano Scavi. Then a wee walk down the hill. And there before you is a 4.5 hectare site of a near-perfectly preserved two-thousand year-old Roman town. 

Herculaneum experienced the same misfortune as Pompeii. However it is better preserved because it was buried by superheated volcanic mud rather than the ash and pumice that covered Pompeii. The mud sealed buildings from air and moisture, preserving wooden structures, furniture and other everyday objects that would normally have decayed. Bet you never knew that eh?

By way of an audio guide, there is an excellent system providing free wifi and an app. That then connects via bluetooth to specific locations as you walk around the site and delivers commentary via your headphones. Excellent, that is, when it works. And I could not get the damn thing to work. So I wandered around Herculeum in a state of ignorance largely unaware of what I was looking at. 

I can only assume therefore that I walked along Corso Resina. Saw Casa d’Argo and Casa dello Scheletro (House of the Skeleton). The Terme Maschii (Male Baths) and Terme del Foro (Forum Baths). Walked up Decumano Massimo. Saw the Casa del Bel Cortile (House of the Beautiful Courtyard). And numerous other Via’s, Casa’s and Terme’s. To be fair, having read Mary Beard’s rather excellent Pompeii, I wasn’t totally clueless – even being able to correctly identify – unaided – a millstone, and therefore a bakery, and being quite blooming smug about it too.

At the western edge of the site, on what was once the shoreline, there are a series of twelve vaults or boat-houses. Those boat houses were subsequently discovered to contain the skeletons of some 340 people who were attempting to flee by boat before being overcome by the pyroclastic flow. The (replica) skeletons that are on display now are a sobering reminder of the human cost of Vesuvius’ power. 

It is remarkable quite how far beneath the present ground level Herculaneum is, such was the volume of volcanic mud that swamped it. The boat houses must be a good thirty feet below the current street level. The eruption also pushed the shoreline a few kilometres west, effectively creating a new tranche of land.

After two hours mooching around, there’s plenty of time for some liquid refreshment, before catching a train back to Napoli. An ideal, and very leisurely, day trip.

Squeezed in between visits to Herculaneum and Pompeii, it seemed appropriate to visit Mount Vesuvius. Vesuvius is the stuff of myth and legend to the very superstitious Neapolitans. She towers over the Bay of Naples and provides a picture-postcard backdrop. She affords spectacular views over the bay and the city. And yet, she was also the architect of death and destruction.

It’s another trip on the Circumvesuviana, a 40 minute bus journey up winding roads, and then a further 35 minute hike to the crater rim. And there sits a seemingly calm and benign volcanic crater. She’s an impressive reminder of nature’s might.

Mind you, at twice the height, and regularly spewing out hot ash and lava streams, Sicily’s Mount Etna is far more commanding. An American archaeologist I spoke to talked of being on the lip of Etna’s crater while the ground beneath their feet was rumbling and shaking. Now that is scary stuff. While still classed as active, Vesuvius has not erupted since March 1944 – thankfully.

Vesuvius looms large over the Bay of Naples. But, at 1,200 metres high, she’s a shadow of her former self. Apparently she once stood at around 3,000 metres above sea level – which must have been a truly impressive sight. That’s before she blew herself to smithereens of course. 

What makes Vesuvius so affecting is the combination of majesty and terror, and how powerful and destructive that AD 79 eruption was. But also what it has left behind. How well preserved Pompeii and Herculaneum are. And what a window into Roman life they provide. 

And those perfect panoramic views over the Bay? It was cloudy.

After Vesuvius, I packed up my gear, departed Naples, and caught yet another Circumvesuviana train down to Pompeii. Most folk do Pompeii as a very reasonable day trip from Naples, and the guidebooks recommend taking three hours to explore Pompeii. I’d given myself a full day and a half. No need to rush it, is there? I looked at the map and its nine regions, then chunked it up into two halves, which I’d tackle on subsequent days.

Pompeii is an absolute marvel. It was apparently a typical middle-class town – home to 20,000 people, around 40 bakeries, some 130 bars, and numerous public baths. Then, on October 24, AD 79, Vesuvius erupted. The initial blast sent a cloud of ash, dust and rocks twelve miles into the sky, covering Pompeii in a layer of ash. The following day, a red-hot pyroclastic flow buried the city under 30 feet of volcanic debris, effectively sealing it for years to come. It wasn’t discovered until 1592 when some feller was digging a canal. Proper excavations began in 1748 and are still ongoing. 

There is just so much to experience. The official plan of the excavations lists no fewer than 143 named sites. So I guess we’ll have to stick to a few highlights…

There’s the Amphitheatre, the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatre in the world with a capacity of 20,000 people. The Garden of the Fugitives, where the body casts of 13 men, women and children are displayed. The casts were very cleverly created by pouring plaster into the hollow spaces in the volcanic debris left when victims bodies decomposed. There’s Teatro Grande, which apparently has near-perfect acoustics. The Forum, the heart of the city surrounded by temples, market buildings and the basilica. The House of the Faun, named after the bronze dancing faun that stood in the entrance hall and is now in the museum in Naples. The House of the Tragic Poet, with its “Beware of the dog” mosaic. 

There are the Forum Baths, with separate rooms for hot, warm and cold bathing. Villa of the Mysteries, with its remarkably preserved frescoes. Pompeii even had a knocking-shop which seems as popular now as it presumably was then. That said, I did wonder how appropriate it was for the group of American schoolchildren ahead of me. Apparently some of the graffiti lauds the services of Restituta and Felicla while the graphic illustrations may have served as a menu of sorts. And finally, there’s the statue of Frankie Howerd as Lurcio. Obviously I made that up but perhaps we could recommend it to the powers that be.

While it is possible to follow a map, or use an audio guide, an ideal approach is simply to wander. Via dell’ Abbondanza runs almost the entire length of the town, from the Forum to Porto Sarna, and is packed with houses, bars, bakeries, graffiti. And phalluses. Those naughty Romans did like a phallus. It’s also packed with people but then it’s easy to just wander off down some side street and see where that takes you

You wonder how long some of these excavations must have taken. Many of the houses are two storeys high and have been dug out painstakingly slowly using small trowels and brushes. Fair enough, the early digs may have been a bit crude but even then they weren’t exactly going gung-ho with mechanical diggers. It must have been – and still is – a real labour of love for all involved.

Beyond the excavations, the town of Pompeii is pleasant enough – a busy piazza and a large church – but doesn’t have a huge amount to offer. One night, Google or ChatGTP sent me to a restaurant which was so popular I had to wait thirty minutes for a table. And the next night, Google or ChatGTP sent me to a restaurant where I was, quite literally, the only customer. And the food (grilled squid, of which I am very fond) was superb. I wasn’t sure if I was keeping them in business or keeping them awake.

It’s ironic that the ash that destroyed Pompeii also ensured its preservation. Whilst it may not have been so fortunate for the then residents, it has been a huge boon for archaeologists, historians and tourists ever since. I daresay the crowds, the heat, and the scale of the ruins, may prove to be a test for some. For most, it is an absolute wonder. Up Pompeii indeed.

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