Herculaneum Small Group Tour and Ticket With an Archaeologist
Description
Get the chance to visit the site of Herculaneum being guided by an Archaeologist. Get to know more about this ancient Roman city, inhabited by merchants and nobility, whose life ended dramatically fast in 79 AD. The guide will show you the waterfront where more than 300 remains of people trying to escape by sea were found, but also the Samnite house, the thermal baths, the Temple of the Augustales, the forum, the house of Neptune and Amphitrite, the Gymnasium, the house of the wooden partition and much more. You will get an intense experience: you can see not only stone, marble and ceramics left, but also carbonized wood and even more exquisite paintings and mosaics than in Pompei. Herculaneum was destroyed by a much more powerful force which instantly burnt all wood and buried the city under a thick layer which didn’t let the air go through and cause decay.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meeting place is the Ticket Office of the Herculaneum ruins. You can get there as follows: - By car in via Pignalver (There is a not guarded parking very close the meeting place) - By train in Corso Resina 1 (Circumvesuviana train station is 10 minutes walk away)
The house receives its name from marble statues of stags/deer found in the peristyle.
M. Nonius Balbus was the city's major benefactor restoring and building many public buildings. On his death he was made patron and feted with many honours, detailed in the long inscription on his funeral altar.
It is thought that the building was a centre of the cult of the Emperor Augustus and the headquarters of the Collegium Augustalium (or possibly even the local curia).
The house possibly belonged to one of the town's leading benefactors, Marcus Nonius Balbus and is somewhat unusual in that it has its own private access to the adjoining Suburban Thermae to the south.
It is very important house for the elegant wooden partition remained.
The House of the Skeleton probably the aggregation of three smaller buildings, derives its name from the discovery of human remains in a second floor room in 1831.
The Central Thermae were built around the beginning of the 1st century AD and were divided, as was then the common practice, into men's and women's baths, each with their own separate entrances.
The House of the Black Hall is one of Herculaneum's more luxurious mansions. The house has a monumental entrance which still retains the carbonised remains of the doorposts and lintel.
The house has an arrangement that was typical of the Samnites (an ancient people of the Sabine race who occupied this mountainous part of central Italy). The splendid atrium is skirted by a gallery with Ionic columns. The rooms are decorated with frescoes.
This is one of the most original houses in Herculaneum. It has a courtyard with a stairway and a stone balcony instead of an atrium.
Beautiful domus in the Centre of the archaeological area, with various environments, collonnati, frescos e-com everywhere at Herculaneum-charred remains of wooden parts.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Dogs are allowed at the Herculaneum Archaeological Park without breed or size restrictions, however they must be kept on a leash or muzzle and it is mandatory to have bags to collect any droppings. For reasons of logistics and conservation, within the Antiquarium premises, the Boat Pavilion, and the domus featuring mosaic floors, access is permitted only to dogs that are carried in arms or transported in an appropriate carrier.
- Herculaneum ruins' entry tickets: 16 euros (adult) 2 euros (EU citizens 18-25 y.o.)
Reviews(1,184)
Our guide was knowlegeable and kept us interested and engaged throughout the tour. He answered questions and provided context and background for us to better understand the significance of what we saw. Very happy with the tour as well as the price!
Very positive experience. The archaeologist was tremendously knowledgeable. We learned so much, and while it was a hot day, we felt history came alive for us.
A nice experience with a good guide. More exciting than Pompeii. Worth a visit. Few tourists is a plus. A bit difficult with subway arrival unfortunately. This should be the preferred method of arrival but then the subway and info must be corrected
We booked our tour through Askos Tours. The meeting point was easily found as they sent us not only directions but a photo of it. Our guide, Luciano Leone, was absolutely exceptional! He made sure this wasn't a tour but a memorable, detailed, heartbreaking, living experience. You do have to have a quick pace to see everything on this tour but it was well worth it. So much of what was extricated was intact, it was unbelievable. The sight of the skeletons in the waterfront boathouses was heart-wrenching. We did this tour after seeing Pompeii (not the same day.) We are so glad we did both. Apples and Oranges. You cannot compare the two. You need to experience both.
WOW! What an amazing experience and wonderful tour. Our guide was Sergio and he is a real archiologist who has worked on digs here and in Pompeii. He explained so much about the history of the Romans who lived there when the volcano erupted, how is it very different from Pompeii, and he inlcuded a lot of information about the discovery of the site and how it was excavated. If you only think you want to see Pompeii, you are wrong. Add in Herculaneum. After the tour was over, we had time to go to the museum there and it had many things on display that Sergio told us about, so we understood the significance. We went in mid-May and we had a bit of rain, but carrying umbrellas served us well. This site has such wonderfully preserved lumber and frescos, so it is a real jewel and the tour guide made so much difference in our understanding of what we were seeing. Afterwards, we stopped at a hamburger joint. After 2 weeks in Italy, we were missing some American food and that hit the spot. It is between the site and the train station. The owner was so friendly!
Most interesting tour - lots of info and provided with earpiece to hear the guide. Small group. Thoroughly enjoyable morning - with be reading up on this. The guide is an experienced archeologist and we really felt we benefitted from his expertise.
The guide was very enthusiastic about the subject having worked on the site and Pompeii as well as other sites around the World. He explained the timeline of the eruption and the difference between the two sites. Well worth having a guide to show and explain things not in the standard guide book, but it was obvious that the whole site would take a great deal longer to look around and from the walkway above the site we saw there were many more buildings we hadn’t explored with Luciano. Would recommend getting on an early tour especially in the heat!! All in all very enjoyable and well worth the money, although I guess may depend which guide you get!!
Fascinating tour of Herculaneum with Carmine. His experience as an archaeologist on the site - including the excavation of the boat in the museum - gave us great insight into the ruins, the effects of the eruption on the town and people, and the excavation process. Smaller site than Pompeii so more manageable tour, and it was interesting to compare the differences between them. Excellent experience
Pick-up by the guide was perfect. He was the one who had the tickets for the visit (which I hadn't understood from the explanatory email). Guide was perfectly French-speaking, kind, and friendly.
An Incredible experience with a very knowledgeable tour guide. Roberta had lots of in-depth knowledge to share and explained everything very well.
