Herculaneum from Naples: €16 tickets, winter hours, what is open and the tours

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Herculaneum (Ercolano) is 15 minutes from Napoli Garibaldi on the Circumvesuviana, €2.60 each way, and the entrance is a 6-minute walk from Ercolano Scavi station. The ticket is €16, open daily, and free on the first Sunday of the month and on 4 November. From 15 October the park closes at 17:00 and last entry is 15:30. The Villa of the Papyri and the Ancient Theatre are closed with no reopening date. Buy from the park’s own seller; a GetYourGuide ticket costs more. Or book a tour: the guided tour with the ticket includedad is from €44.55 (GetYourGuide).

Tickets and prices

• One entry, one day. The ticket allows a single entry and is valid only on the day of purchase. You cannot go out and back in on the same ticket (ercolano.cultura.gov.it).
• Free days: the first Sunday of every month, and 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. There is no booking and none can be made online: you collect the free ticket at the box office on the day. The next are 1 November, 4 November and 6 December 2026.
• The Campania Artecard is accepted and is one of the free entries on its passes; activate it at the box office. Campania Artecard: is it worth it? has the sums.
• No time slot. The park’s ticket carries no entry time, so a “skip the line” product adds a guide or an audio guide and nothing else.

Where to buy

The park sells online at ercolano.coopculture.it and at the box office. Searches for Herculaneum tickets return many sites with Herculaneum in the web address that are not the park. GetYourGuide’s prices are its lowest “from” prices.

Tours worth paying for

Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices.

A guide at the site

From €44.55 · 4.8 stars from 4,374 reviews · 2 hours · entry included

Herculaneum: Skip-the-Line Guided Tour with Archaeologistad is run by Askos Tours. An archaeologist guides a two-hour visit with the admission and headsets included, and the itinerary takes in the Casa dei Cervi, the Casa di Nettuno ed Anfitrite and the Sacellum of the Augustales. You meet at the site, reached by the Circumvesuviana. Against the €16 official ticket you pay about €28 for the guide.

Guided tour with transport from Naples

From €42.50 · 4.5 stars from 370 reviews · 2 to 3 hours · entry included

From Naples: Herculaneum Guided Tour with Tickets Includedad is run by WORLDTOURS. Return transport is included if you choose it: the coach takes about 30 minutes each way from points in central Naples, and a guided visit of about two and a half hours follows, with the fast-track ticket included. Small-group options are listed.

What to see

Herculaneum was buried by the same eruption as Pompeii, in AD 79, but by surges of burning cloud over 400 °C. They carbonised organic material, so the site holds wooden furniture, doors, stairs and lintels, and the park’s own page lists food, fabric and rope too. A little over four of the town’s estimated twenty hectares are visible, and the excavation has uncovered four whole blocks of houses and shops. Allow two hours; the guided visits run two to three.

The excavations at Herculaneum, with the vaulted chambers on the old shore and modern Ercolano behind. Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. The houses. Spacious residences with gardens and terraces that once opened onto the sea. The Casa dei Cervi and the Casa di Nettuno ed Anfitrite are on the guided itineraries.
2. The Bottega di Priapo. An eating house (a taberna) with a counter, a dining room with painted walls and a linked two-storey building, probably an inn. It reopened on 16 October 2026 after several years closed.
3. The ancient beach. In 1980 about 300 skeletons were found in nine of the twelve vaulted chambers facing the old shore, where people had gathered with their keys, jewellery and tools. This is a grave, and the park describes it plainly.
4. The Boat Pavilion. The carbonised remains of a boat over 9 metres long, found on the beach in the 1980s, probably a military vessel sent to help the town.
5. The Antiquarium. Sculptures and frescoes from the town and the Villa of the Papyri, including the statue of Marcus Nonius Balbus, and a room of the objects found with the people on the beach.

The mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite in the Casa di Nettuno ed Anfitrite. Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The order that works: the houses and the Bottega di Priapo first, then the beach and the boat, then the Antiquarium. What is closed: the Villa of the Papyri and the Ancient Theatre, with no reopening date.

The Casa dei Cervi, one of the houses on the guided itineraries. Photo: Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Getting there and hours

• By train: the Circumvesuviana’s Napoli–Sorrento line from Napoli Garibaldi to Ercolano Scavi, about 15 minutes, €2.60. Trains leave Garibaldi at :03 and :33, and Napoli Porta Nolana three minutes earlier. From Ercolano Scavi, trains back leave at :26 and :56, the last at 22:56. The park entrance at Corso Resina 187 is a 6-minute walk (ercolano.cultura.gov.it). A contactless card taps in at the turnstiles. The Campania Express tourist train has been suspended since 1 October 2026.
• From the airport: the Alibus to Napoli Centrale, then the Circumvesuviana. Naples airport is closed to flights from 1 to 30 November 2026.
• Hours: from 15 October to 15 March, 8:30 to 17:00, last entry 15:30, leave the site by 16:40. From 16 March to 14 October, 8:30 to 19:30, last entry 18:00, leave by 19:00. The times refer to the park gates, so leave the site in good time.
• Closed on 25 December only.
• Bags up to 30 × 30 × 15 cm go in. Larger bags and backpacks go to the free left-luggage service.
• Shoes: the park advises closed, comfortable shoes, not heels or flip-flops, and the paths are uneven.
• The one thing that ruins a visit: arriving after 15:30 between 15 October and 15 March.

Herculaneum is on the same line as Pompeii, 21 minutes further on, and the Vesuvio Express shuttle to Vesuvius leaves from outside Ercolano Scavi station. Day trips from Naples compares every trip, and Naples public transport has the fares on the Circumvesuviana. Hotels near Napoli Centrale are beside the Circumvesuviana, and what to book before you go to Naples lists the closed days for the city’s sights.

Common questions

How much is a ticket to Herculaneum?

€16 for an adult. The ticket is €2 for visitors aged 18 to under 25, and under-18s enter free. It allows one entry and is valid only on the day you buy it. The park sells online through ercolano.coopculture.it and at the box office.

What are the opening hours of Herculaneum?

From 15 October to 15 March the park opens 8:30 to 17:00, with last entry at 15:30 and the site to be left by 16:40. From 16 March to 14 October it opens 8:30 to 19:30, with last entry at 18:00. It is open every day except 25 December.

How do I get from Naples to Herculaneum?

Take the Circumvesuviana's Napoli–Sorrento line to Ercolano Scavi. It takes about 15 minutes from Napoli Garibaldi, trains run every 30 minutes and the fare is €2.60. The park entrance at Corso Resina 187 is a 6-minute walk from the station.

When is Herculaneum free?

On the first Sunday of every month and on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. There is no booking and none can be made online: collect the free ticket at the box office on the day.

What is closed at Herculaneum?

The Villa of the Papyri and the Ancient Theatre are closed, with no reopening date. The Bottega di Priapo, an ancient eating house, reopened on 16 October 2026 after several years.

How long does Herculaneum take?

The guided visits sold run two to three hours. The visible part of the town is a little over four hectares.