Day 2: Naples - Herculaneum - Pompeii - Naples
The alarm sounds at 8 in the morning. You can already imagine our face after sleeping only 4 hours after going yesterday from Rome Fiumicino to Naples, but there is nothing like getting up knowing that today we are going to Herculaneum and Pompeii in one day and with that and a shower, at 9 in the morning, after about 4 hours of rest, we are on the terrace of UNA Hotel Napoli, enjoying not only an impressive breakfast, but we also have views, if possible, Best of Naples.
Views of Naples from the terrace of Una Hotel Napoli
A few minutes before 10 in the morning we leave our hotel in Naples and go to the Stazione Circumvesuviana, the station from which we will go to Herculaneum and Pompeii by train, a few meters from the hotel and in the southwest direction of the Stazione Centrale.
This station Naples communicates with Herculaneum and Pompeii and also with Sorrento, on the Amalfi Coast.
Another more comfortable option is to book a tour by bus to visit Pompeii with a guide in Spanish or book this offer that includes a visit to Vesuvius, in both you will be picked up at your hotel.
If you want to go free, as we have done, it is advisable to book the entrance to Pompeii and the entrance to Herculaneum in advance to skip the lines.
If you prefer to learn more about the history of Pompeii and all the key points of the site, it is very interesting to book this 2-hour tour for small groups led by an archaeologist in Spanish.
We do the tour enjoying totally different views of Naples to those we had yesterday and also totally different from those we imagined when we prepared this trip to Naples and Pompeii.
A vision of a somewhat chaotic traffic, a somewhat dirty and neglected city, although we are not going to lie if we say we love it.
We arrive at Stazione Circumvesuviana in less than 5 minutes and for 2 euros per person we buy the ticket that will take us at 10:09 in the morning to Herculaneum, which will be our first stop of the day.
The train is quite old, but at this time it is already full of tourists, something that reminds us that we have made the decision to visit Herculaneum first, as they say much better preserved than Pompeii and most importantly, much less visited, so so we can take advantage of enjoying this enclave alone enough to "live it"A little more and in the afternoon, in Pompeii, avoid the groups of tourists and cruises that have told us saturate the city of Pompeii first thing in the morning.
The second train stop is at Napoli Garibaldi, a much more central station, but at the same time much busier, so you can imagine that a train that goes to Herculaneum and Pompeii, in which we were practically alone a few minutes ago, we ended up being like canned sardines.
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish in Naples by travelers:
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Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish in Naples by travelers:We arrive in Herculaneum in just under 20 minutes and once on the platform you just have to follow people, down the street to find us, facing the sea, the entrance to Herculaneum.
The first thing we find, before even going through the ticket offices, is a kind of catwalk in the upper part, from where you have an incredible perspective of the city, with Vesuvius in the background.
Herculaneum
After going through the ticket office where we bought a Herculaneum plus Pompeii combined ticket for 22 euros per person, if you take the Herculaneum entrance Only the price is 11 euros, we are ready to enter one of the locations we most wanted to know in Italy.
As we mentioned earlier, if you come for free, you have the option of booking the entrance to Pompeii and the entrance to Herculaneum in advance to skip the lines.
As we go along the entrance ramp, we appreciate that it is not too hot, conversely, a breeze accompanies us for much of the way. Seeing how the terrain is, without a shadow on which to shelter, now we understand why many people say to visit so much Herculaneum like Pompeii in one day It's horrible in the hottest months.
Finally we entered Herculaneum at 11 in the morning, facing each other with that city that, like Pompeii, suffered the Vesuvius volcano explosion in 79.
Streets of Herculaneum
Given this fact, all citizens tried to flee without success, leaving everything buried under the ashes thrown by Vesuvius, which, like the great tragedy, preserved the city, including houses, hot springs and even taverns, almost intact for centuries.
Details of the interior of a house in Herculaneum
Mosaics and frescoes in Herculaneum
In Herculaneum we can find houses in which the two floors of them are preserved, mosaics and even impressive frescoes that adorned them.
Herculaneum
In the area closest to the sea, there are the largest and most luxurious houses, among which is the Villa de los Papiros.
We recommend that at the entrance, just where tickets are purchased, you can take both the map and a small book where the explanations of the most important points of Herculaneum are given, which are also indicated with numbers on the facades of the houses or in the streets
Stunning streets of Herculaneum
This is one of the best ways to tour the city if you do not want to take audio guide or hire one of the many guides that you can find at the same door.
Herculaneum
Once the visit of the most important part of the city of Herculaneum is finished, we arrive at the lower part, where we find some of the skeletons that were found and that are believed to be of the inhabitants who sheltered there from the ashes of Vesuvius .
Skeletons in Herculaneum
We left Herculaneum at 12:45 noon, with the feeling that we were not wrong at all deciding to come here, even though we had read people who said that if you saw Pompeii, there was no need to come to Herculaneum. In our experience, we can only recommend that if you have time, visit both cities.
After a very complete visit but also a bit quick, since counting that now we have to go to Pompeii and make the visit, we could not entertain ourselves too much.
We return to Herculaneum station where we now take a couple of tickets to Pompeii for 1.80 per person. We access track 2, from where the trains direction Pompeii and Sorrento and in about 15 minutes we planted in the Scavi Pompei station, which must be taken as a reference to visit the ruins. Be careful, make no mistake.
It's 13:20 noon, so before we consider entering at Pompeii ruins, we stopped at one of the beach bars / restaurants that are right in front of the entrance, finishing at the last one, after checking them all, where we ordered a couple of panninis, water and a special drink from the house, which is orange juice and Lemon, plus two expresses for 24 euros. The truth is that in general we have not eaten anything badly, but we have waited long enough for them to serve us, like about 40 minutes and the cleaning of the tables is quite concise, so on our part it is not too recommended.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Naples
- How to get from Naples to Pompeii
- 10 essential places to see in Pompeii
- The 5 best tours and excursions in Naples
- 10 essential places to visit in Naples
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Naples
- How to get from Naples airport to downtown
With this we are already charging energy to continue the day and a few minutes after 2:30 in the afternoon we are entering one of the places to see before we die.
After doubting between entering through one door or another, we had read several recommendations to do so through the south door in case of going in the morning to avoid the cruise passengers, we entered the Porta Marina, meeting first with the Temple of Apollo and the Basilica.
Pompeii
As we mentioned previously of Herculaneum, Pompeii suffered in the year 79 the explosion of Vesuvius, also being buried under its ashes, with an unbeatable state of conservation.
We have to tell you that the ruins of Pompeii are extensive enough to devote a full day, although if the idea is to visit Herculaneum in the morning, as we have done, you can visit it and learn more about the places interesting, like several temples, the incredible forum, the hot springs and some of the noblest houses of the complex.
Herculaneum and Pompeii in one day
An interesting option to know the whole history of Pompeii while you are visiting is to book this visit with a guide in Spanish or rent an audio guide and although here they do not give libretto, as in Herculaneum, they do provide a map with which you can follow very well the visit if accompanied by a guide, such as the Lonely Planet of Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.
Image of one of Pompeii's ovens
Canteen in Pompeii. The food was stored in the holes and displayed to the public
Apart from the various canteens we can find, the ovens or different shops, one of the most curious buildings of Pompeii in the brothel, where you can see even the stone beds that were used.
Another of the things that you can not miss are the Steps created in the streets to cross these without spotting, since normally the streets of the city were flooded.
Streets of Pompeii
Pompeii
One of the most visited and photographed areas is the Forum, where the typical photo of Pompeii is made with the Vesuvius in the background and that logically we do not stop doing, although we had to wait a good while to be able to do it without A lot of people around.
Pompeii
Herculaneum and Pompeii in one day
Once you have visited the Forum, if you pass through the left side, you will find the barn, where you can see through some bars a large number of remains that have been found in the excavations of Pompeii, including some of the bodies that were buried by the ashes and the famous dog body.
From here we continue our visit, this time without taking into account the map, something that we recommend you do once you have visited the most important areas, to be able to enjoy Pompeii without more, traveling its streets and entering many of its houses that are preserved as if time had stopped at the moment when Vesuvius exploded.
Pompeii house interior
It is 5:30 p.m. when we stop to have a couple of ice cream for 7.50 euros in the cafeteria-pizzeria that is in the middle of the ruins, which although it really is a punch to history, save more than one in the hot moments, since there is nowhere else in the ruins where you can buy something fresh. Of course, we want to emphasize that in several points of the ruins you can find fountains with drinking water, which are great for filling the bottles.
Filling water bottles in Pompeii
After this little "kitkat"we are going to the area furthest from the ruins of Pompeii, the Amphitheater, and one of the places we most want to know, not only for what this place represents for the city, but also for what we can find in this epoch: an exhibition of several of the bodies that were buried under the ashes of Vesuvius.
Pompeii Amphitheater
Impressive exhibition of some of the bodies found in Pompeii
After this visit, we go to the Herculaneum Gate, on the opposite side of the Porta Marina through which we enter this noon, passing before one of the most impressive villas, and many times less visited for being further away, from Pompeii : the Villa of the Mysteries.
Villa of the Mysteries
Interior of the Villa of the Mysteries
Being already in this area of Pompeii, we decided that it is best to exit through the Herculaneum Gate, surrounding Pompeii from the outside, instead of returning to the train station through the ruins. The road is pleasant, about 600 meters that are made through a residential area of the city.
Once at the station we pay 2.60 per person for the Pompeii Scavi to Napoli ticket, above all remember to validate it right next to the ticket offices, because if you do not do it and the reviewer passes you can take the surprise of a fine, and we go straight to platform 2, from where at 18:30 our train from Pompeii to Naples.
We arrive at the Stazione Circumvesuviana at 7 pm and take the opportunity to go through the Una Hotel to take a quick shower, the feet in Pompeii are like sand and also charge the batteries of the phones that these days, using GPS We sold it out much faster and at 19:45 we went straight to the Michele's Pizzeria, located just 400 meters from the hotel and one of the most famous in Napoli, not only for its pizzas, but also because here one of the scenes of Eat Pray Love from Julia Roberts.
Michele's Pizzeria
When you arrive you have to ask for a turn and they give you a piece of paper with a number that shout at the door when the time comes when your site is ready.
You can only choose between pizza margarita or pizza marinara, so the choice is quick and easy. We ordered one of each and two soft drinks, which are served in a plastic cup and after more than 45 minutes waiting, we tried one of the best pizzas in the world for 14 euros plus 3 tips that we left when the waiter tells us that the tips are not included in the account you just brought us.
The best pizzas in the world at Pizzería da Michele
We have to say that as an experience it is more than recommended, since it is one of the most historic sites in Naples, but really between the queue outside the premises and waiting for the service, in the end the recommendation is a bit subjective, not counting the detail that the waiter practically forces you to leave a tip if you are a tourist, something that we sincerely like very little.
It's almost 10 at night when we leave the Pizzeria da Michele and taking a walk through the streets of Naples we return to our accommodation, the UNA Hotel Napoli, where a fluffy bed awaits us that will welcome us the next few hours to recover from a day most complete enjoying and discovering Herculaneum and Pompeii in one day.
Day 3: Naples: Spaccanapoli, Via Tribunal, Duomo, Via San Gregorio Armeno, Church of San Angelo a Nilo, Capella de San Severo, Archaeological Museum of Naples, Via Benedetto Croce, Basilica of Santa Clara, Spanish Quarter, Piazza del Plebiscito, Castel dell'Ovo, Castel Nouvo
