How many ruins to visit?
 

If we try to visit the Coloseum, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Hadrian's Villa in one visit over a few days is that considered ruin overload? Which do you consider the most valuable use of limited time and which do you recommend can wait for another visit? The Coloseum is a must for us for a first time visit to Rome. What else? Should we make a side trip to see Hadrian's Villa or is that too much?

We plan on spending some time in Sorrento to visit Pompeii. Should we also include Herculaneum on a different day?

Thanks in advance.

Now that is an interesting question. It really comes down to your personal preference.

After about three hours, ruins are ruins are ruins and I am done with ruins for the day, if not the trip; however, I have a friend who can do ruins 12 hours a day for a week solid and still not have ruin fatigue.

I suggest doing the Colosseum on one day and the villa the next.

Depending on the time of the year, it might be too hot in the afternoon to attempt to see Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same day.

It is very difficult to answer because you first must ask yourself what will ruin your trip?

No one can answer that question as people travel for different reasons. For SIL, there are never enough ruins and ruins were the highlights of our trip to Sicily. But on other trips the highlights were the museums or the natural beauty.

Dictated by personal interests.

I am a ruins junkie, prefer to call them archeological sites because I really study up on them before going and often after, and can spend hours or days at one site.

Here is the easy solution.
Go to the one site which interests you the most. When you are done, decide if you want another that day or something else.

I like Herculaneum more than Pompeii, would not do both on same day, but would do both if there was time.

Don't forget, there is also Paestum further south.

I've seen a fair bit of the Roman world now. My priority would be
1) Herculanium, but in the morning (with no real interest in Pompei unless Herculanium was closed)
2) Hadrian's castle, first and only gay British Emperor.
3) While the Coliseum is not the best I've seen (El Jem is better while Pula is on par), it is worth a drop by, but I think the Forum is far more worth a visit and the areas to the east of the Forum is especially good.
4) while in the area, do drop by the Typewriter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altare_della_Patria just such a good place to drink cocktails and view ancient Rome.

Well, the Colosseum and the Forum are different in aspect and type than Herculaneum and Pompeii. And the Colosseum is a classic. Hadrian's villa, the Colosseum and one of the towns would probably work.

The two towns are similar to the point of repetitive so if you're not a ruins groupie, pick one (we chose Herc WAY back in the day, but 30 years ago isn't much difference in scope compared to the centuries they've been standing). Thinking tour groups tend toward Pompeii . . .

my 2c. Spend one day at most dedicated to ruins (not including Colosseum), and use the rest of your time in Italy enjoying life - picnics in the park, sipping cappuccino & enjoying gelato at a cafe in the piazza, etc

All are definitely worth seeing, but agree with the other posters that it's a matter of personal preference as to which one(s) to visit. Note that Pompeii is very spread out and almost impossible to visit entire site in one visit, unless you walk past things and not take the time to really look around. Not sure when you're planning your trip, but Pompeii doesn't offer much shade or places to sit and rest for a bit, and is pretty much all cobblestones. Make sure you have water bottles with you (they can be refilled at various fountains within the site). You can also purchase an audio tour, which helps to understand what you're seeing.

Plan ahead and get your tickets in advance for the Colosseum so you're not wasting time by standing in what could be a very long line. Advance tickets lets you skip the line and walk right in. In fact, you might want to advance purchase tickets for the Vatican, if that's on your agenda. Another time saver.

Have a great trip!

I am fascinated by archaeological sites, but I'm not sure even I would want to visit so many, and so far apart, in "a few days". How many days, exactly?

Depends on the level of your interest. DH and I are history freaks and we have easily spent a whole day in Rome at the Colosseum and the Forum (much larger and fascinating if you have any interest in ancient Rome since it was the political and religious center as well as having some remains of imperial residences).

In the same trip visited Pompeii and the archeo museum in Naples and when we went to Capri we visited the villa of Tiberius.

And we were not ruined-out - but this was spread out over 9 days in Rome and Sorrento.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

bvlenci and nytraveler--We are thinking to do this over a nine day period with five days for Rome and four for Sorrento.

During the Rome portion see the Colosseum and the Forum. Then maybe a separate daytrip to Hadrian's Villa combined with Villa d'este.

However, knowing we want to visit Pompeii and possibly Herculaneum from Sorrento on different days (Herculaneum is smaller and as BigRuss says less tour groups go there) I was beginning to think that it may be overload. We would also like to visit the museum of archeology in Naples too which houses the Pompeii artifacts.

Debs--yes it will be in summer so we have to factor in the heat into the planning. Either visit early morning or much later in the day before closing. How much time is good for Pompeii to get a good overview? Two to three hours? I gather one can not see all the places within without spending the whole day and that won't make too much sense if the heat is too intense.

J62--Yes definitely want to spend time eating gelato and having cappuccino with pastries! Where do you get the best sfogliatelle? That probably needs a separate post.

Sassafrass--Paestum is interesting too but closer to Salerno and I don't think we will have time for it. I don't know maybe.

Bilboburgler--seems there is more interesting facts to learn about the Forum and nearby sites than the Colosseum. Did you take a tour or get the audioguide or just read the guidebooks ahead of time or some combination?

Sfogliatelle: I don't know if it is the best, but I had an excellent one at Gran Caffè Gambrinus in Napoli.

The Roman Forum, built by multiple emperors trying to leave legacy, is more confusing than the Colosseum started by one emperor and finished by his son. Whether you use a guidebook or a tour, you would be left with information overload with names of multiple emperors dancing in your head. I think you will keep things straight if you first study the first three dynasties, the key emperors making up these three dynasties, what they are known for and which ones met the Damnatio Memoriae.

I have visited both the Herculaneum and Pompeii multiple times. Sometimes both on the same day. It would not be an overload if you have studied key features of selected target private homes. The key architectural features they represent, the mosaics, and the meanings of the classic Roman wall paintings. Pompeii also has many public buildings. The bath houses are interesting. However, you need to know the architectural elements making up a typical Roman bathhouse.

I've been traipsing round Greek or Roman archaeological sites for the past 50 years, and loathed far more than I liked.

Of your list, I'd say:

- the Colosseum was about as exciting as a tour of the ruins of Yankee Stadium is likely to be in 2,000 years time. Practically bottom of my list of classical sites I've visited (though there are several hundred others competing for the "never again" spot).

- The Roman Forum is the only such site I've ever been to where an actual physical human was essential at first visit: I've frequently returned (what's visible is constantly changing), but I'm still grateful to the teacher who took me round the first time: I suspect an unguided first visit can easily turn into a ghastly set of incomprehensible ruins. Carrying water's essential, and so is spelling yourself.

- It's unrealistic to try Pompeii and Herculaneum together. IMHO, go for Herculaneum: shorter, a town real people lived in (Pompeii was a resort for the super-rich) and well-sheltered. Pompeii had lots of stunning artefacts: they're now all in the Naples Museum. Skip Pompeii.

- Naples Museum. The only place I've ever been to (apart from Angkor Wat) I'd call a must-see. THE best collection of Roman artworks (at their blingiest) on earth. And under cover, and air conditioned.

Never underestimate the debilitating effect of Italian summers and unsheltered archaeological sites. Overdoing them will turn you off them for life.

Forum visiting; I'm lucky as I visited Rome for the first time after visiting multiple Roman and Greek/Roman cities over the years, many in Libya, for example, where they have just been abandoned rather than used as a cut-stone quarry, so the Rome one just fits into the textural landscape I've built up in my mind.

Having a guide as flanner suggests might well be a good idea, if not you need a very good guide book and a fair bit of research on youtube to get a step by step understanding.

Just checking, are you Jewish? There is a small area that Jews traditionally avoid within the Forum.

<<is that considered ruin overload?>>

Considered by whom, and what does it matter? It's your trip.

I love ruins, but I think my definition of them is broader than yours. I don't just visit Roman ones (there are plenty, plenty of ruins that aren't Roman).

I have infinite patience for visiting anything of historical importance, from pretty much any period, in any culture. I have friends who would rather not visit any. So it's up to you. And I think it depends in part upon what you already know about what you're seeing. I can go to El Jem, for example, and revisit in my mind the activities that took place there and the context within which they did, whereas the guy next to me may just be seeing a pile of rocks built into a circle. If you have no understanding of what you're seeing, and just think you "need" to see it because it has "some sort of importance," you might as well skip it. If you're genuinely interested in its significance, you'll probably want to spend some time there and contemplate. Either way, whatever works for you is best.

I love ruins and could stay on a site for hours.
The only ruins I have problems with are my in-laws. But it is not the subject, is it ? ;-)

LOL @ whathello

A wonderful resource for learning about Roman ruins in Rome, Pompeii, and throughout the Roman Empire is a Yale course offered for free viewing and download on Roman architecture.

Unfortunately, some filter at Fodor's is preventing me from posting the link. But if you google Open Yale courses, you will find it listed on that website. It can be watched on the Open Yale website or downloaded from iTunes.

This must be started well in advance of any planned trip, as it encompasses all the lectures from a full semester course.

Thanks for the tip, Nikki. I will check that out.

My wife and I enjoy archeological ruins and can spend many hours at one.

Nikki, that was weird about the Fodors filter, but I think this is the link. I posted it by putting brackets around one forward slash:

http://oyc.yale.edu[/]history-art/hsar-252

Remove the brackets and I think that should be the course. Thanks for mentioning that.