Herculaneum Tickets, Hours and Visitor Guide

Antiquarium and Boat Pavilion

Start with the objects that cannot remain in the houses. The Antiquarium adds sculpture, frescoes, wooden objects and eruption context, while the Boat Pavilion frames the shoreline evidence before the descent into the town.

Decumanus Maximus

Use the main east-west street as the orientation line. The official archaeological-area account explains how the decumani and cardini create the Roman urban grid and separates the excavated town from what remains beneath modern Corso Resina.

House of Neptune and Amphitrite

Look for the glass-paste wall mosaic and the nymphaeum that give this residence its name. It is a compact lesson in how color, water and private rooms shaped a wealthy Roman house.

House of the Wooden Partition

The surviving folding wooden screen turns a residential room into a material-history stop. It adds a rare sense of carpentry, storage and domestic protection to a route otherwise dominated by masonry and fresco.

House of the Deer

Read the large residence as a sea-facing elite house rather than a single photo stop. Its garden and terrace setting, along with sculpture now represented in the Antiquarium, show how wealth extended into outdoor rooms.

College of the Augustales and Chalcidicum

This public and religious cluster adds the civic side of Herculaneum. Chalcidicum reopened in June 2026 after conservation work, so check the current route signs before building the whole visit around it.

Central and Suburban Baths

The baths explain shared infrastructure beyond private houses. The official park account identifies the central sections and the suburban complex, while the route itself can change with conservation work, so follow the open-area signs.

Ancient Beach and fornici

Reserve energy for the lower shoreline because the July 2026 Martusciello Gallery reopening restored a route toward the Ancient Beach. The fornici hold the remains of roughly 300 people found along the ancient coast, a difficult but essential closing perspective.

Villa of the Papyri and Ancient Theatre hold

Treat both as planning holds rather than promised stops. The Villa of the Papyri remains closed for excavation, maintenance, water and accessibility works, while the Ancient Theatre is closed for urgent maintenance with no reopening date published.

Short and full routes

For two hours, protect the Antiquarium orientation, main decumanus, two residential houses, civic cluster and shoreline. For three hours, slow down at the mosaics and baths, then return through the signed exit route because the ordinary ticket allows one entry only.