Hi, all...

We have taken the train from Naples to Pompeii in the past, so we are somewhat familiar with that part of the Naples station...but the train to Herculaneum is confusing.

The schedule that I found online for the Sorrento train shows hardly any trains that stop at Ercolano Scavi except during rush hour...most skip that stop, and we need to be very flexible due to other scheduling commitments.

I have found the schedule for the Poggiomarino trains, and they appear to run frequently, and all stop at Ercolano Scavi. My questions:

• Is that the correct train to take...with many trains per day?
• Do I board it in the same area as the Sorrento train -- the Circumvesuviana area (but probably different platform)?
• Does the entry reader take tap-and-go, or do I need to buy a paper ticket?

Thanks.
ssander

Good questions! I'm sorry I don't have answers ... I took the Circumvesuviana. But it looks like there are also frequent buses. Have you checked rome2rio.com? If you click through to the underlying links, you should be able to identify options for your specific date and then use google maps to find the location information.

I hope that helps, or at least, bounces this thread to the top so others with more knowledge see it....

We took the Circumvesuviana train from the Garibaldi Station (within the Napoli Centrale Station) there in early October, 2023. My recollection is that it runs about once an hour every day. Takes about 40 minutes. You do have to watch for the stop. Ercolano Scavi. You can easily miss the stop (we did, and had to back track!). Tickets at the station, no problem.

From the rather small station, just walk down the main drag (Via IV Novembre) to the end and you're right there. A 10 - 15 minute stroll.

I personally preferred Herculaneum, which is much more compact (and was surprisingly, discovered BEFORE Pompeii!). When we were there, they were working on the interior of the boat houses with all of the bones . . . fascinating . . . as well as portions of the interior of the town.

There are multiple Circumvesuviana lines that stop at Ercolano. Line L1 (Sorrento) is a direttissimo or expresso train and stops in Ercolano as described (multiple trains during peak times but only once every 2-3 hours off-peak). It skips stops at certain times or on certain trains, Ercolano being one of the oft-skipped stations.

However, Line L4 (Torre Annunziata/Poggiomarino) is the ironically-named accellerato train and stops at Ercolano on all trains. "Accellerato" means what you think it does -- accellerated -- but is used ironically to mean that the train is anything BUT accellerated. It makes all stops and is slow. Taking a Sorrento train would be ideal, but you do have a backup plan with an L4 train if you miss the Sorrento train: eavsrl.it/download/orari-ferrovia-l4-napoli-torre-annunziata-poggiomarino-in-vigore-dal-1-giugno/?wpdmdl=25586&refresh=68ddb7be465611759360958

TDYLS...
Thanks this is exactly what I thought...and needed to have confirmed. I also assume that the L4 leaves from the same station as the L1 (either Garibaldi or Porta Nolana).
Steve