I am planning our next trip to Italy in October. We shall be staying for several days in the Sorrento area and some of our time will be devoted to the above in the topic title. My question is this :

If we have limited time, is it better to focus on Herculaneum, which is supposed to be smaller and better preserved than Pompeii and skip that altogeher? We will also make our way to the Museum in Napoli where I have read that most (or all?) of the antiquities are housed anyway.

Thanks for any advice and suggestions!!

If you have no mobility problems, then Pompeii is not to be missed for its sheer scale, which helps a little to appreciate the nature of civilisation two thousand years ago. If you have time, then do Herculaneum as well, for the contrast, but it is worthwhile in its own right.

If you've seen a Roman city before (such as Ostia), or have walked the ruins in Rome, then you can probably skip repeating much of that at Pompei - and go instead to Herculaneum, where many of the usual city features are missing, or have still to be uncovered.

But take a look here, and perhaps you'll be tempted into doing both...
http://www.pompeiviva.it/pv/en/homepv.htm

And Oplontis is a nice little site as well, a rich person's villa and only an hour's visit at most - but a slightly different aspect of Roman life.

For some other nearby things and places with which to fill your itinerary, including our little island, try....

http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/tele

Peter

Are you buying the 3 day Campania Arte Card Tutta La Regione? If not, do you plan to get the combo ticket for Herculaneum and Pompeii?

Pompeii and Herculaneum aren't far apart so you could visit both. I prefer Pompeii.

Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions. I can see that there is no clear-cut answer to my question..... I will have to research more and think about our timing. Any other ideas and suggestions are welcome in the meantime.
Thanks again !!

Just got back did a fair amount of this.

LOVE those ruins

Hurculaneum is the most intact least touristed.

ostia-antica.org more intact in many ways than Pompeii

pretty touristed but fun.

Stayed at www.hoteldelfino.com booked on Otel.com $60/nt

recently for 10 euro per person upgraded to a sea view

suite overlooking Capri and Ischia it was AWESOME.

hopped the Circumvesuviano at the Sorrento station

for a couple of euro and toured the ruins.

Had an awesome time hope you do too...

We did Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, and the archeology museum in Naples, and all were well worth seeing. If I had limited time, however, I would definitely choose Pompeii.

artsbabe - can you give reasons why out of all those you would choose Pompeii?
Thanks

...because it is one of the unique places in the world.

You cannot skip Pompeii. Is simply amazing. One can understand the roman dailylife there and see some masterpieces of the roman art. Also there are many private houses with frescoes and mosaic decorations. Don't miss to see the plaster cast of the victims of the 79 AD euption that buried Pompeii.

FOR EVERYBODY: THE PROJECT POMPEIVIVIA IS OVER. SO IF YOU WANT TO LINK SOME VALID WEBSITE FOR POMPEII PLEASE NOTE THAT THE OFFICIAL ONE IS ONLY http://www.pompeiisites.org/

Buona Viaggio

Flame, Pompeii is a *complete* city within its own gated City Walls, sort-of a mini Rome.

�Herculaneum is a small section of a smaller seaside town.

Herculaneum looks alot better preserved because much of it has been reconstructed in the Late 1920's-Early 1940's with the tourist in mind.

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill who if you watch any of the History Channels you have most likely seen has a new book out about Herculaneum. http://tinyurl.com/6zrl9rq Also he was the director of the 'Herculaneum Conservation Project' for 10yrs.
(His quote) "what we see is not an ancient town as preserved by an eruption, but fragments painstakingly pieced together, stabilized, reinforced and 'restored' by Maiuri".
�He also writes about some Houses requiring 50% reconstruction and some scenes were staged for the visitor (like 'the shop' http://tinyurl.com/69yp2k7).

�I *believe* I once read that a body was found in bed on a 2nd Floor (US), the oddity was the 2nd floor structure had survived the Pyroclastic Flow pretty much intact.
��I've never seen any pre-reconstruction photos but I'd bet that all the roof tiles and roofs are reconstructed along with a good portion of the 2nd floors?

�The *minimum* I would recommend for Pompeii is 4hrs.
But you can do a complete tour (audioguide plus on your own venturing) of Herculaneum in 2-3hrs.
�My 1st choice is always Pompeii but Herculaneum in the AM and the Museum in the afternoon runs a close 2nd. Regards, Walter