Pompeii vs. Herculaneum

[pkay414]

I'm needing some excursion advice. If you could only do Pompeii or Herculaneum, which one would you do and why?

 

Thanks,

Paula

[love vacations]

We did both. I don't know which cruise line you are on, but on our cruise they offered Pompei twice so we did Pompei in the morning and Herculaneum in the afternoon. We even had enough time in between to grab lunch at the buffet. Both were very interesting. Pompei was a main city and Herculaneum was their seaside resort. That is where the rich had their beach houses. One was covered in volcanic ash and the other with mud. There was probably a little more to see in Pompei, but both were worth the visit. I liked Pompei the best, but my husband liked Herculaneum more. If there is any way that you can do both, go for it.

[wwinfl91]

Herculaneum is much smaller in area than Pompeii but because it was covered by a mud and lava flow the building and even the roofs didn't collapse the way they did in Pompeii which was covered by ash and pumice. Because of the different ways the two cities were destroyed the ruins are in many ways quite different. We spent about 2 hours at Pompeii with a licensed guide. We probably only saw 1/4 of the city if that. We spent 2 hours at Herculaneum on our own and probably covered 2/3 of what was available. Now we were moving pretty fast in Herculaneum while in Pompeii we moved at the pace the guide wanted us to maintain.

 

Pompeii is on an open plain with the volcano overlooking the city. Herculaneum is in the middle of the modern village of Eurculano and the ruins look like they are in the middle of a quarry.

 

We were there in July and it was hot both places but in Pompeii you get a little breeze while in Herculaneum because it sits basically surrounded by high cliffs there were no breezes and it was very hot.

 

The building in Herculaneum are in much better shape than the ones in Pompeii (except for the ones that have been recontructed there) and so you get more the feeling that you may turn a corner and run into someone in a toga. It was also much less crowded than Pompeii.

 

All that being said, I would say if you haven't seen Pompeii and can only go to one of them go to Pompeii and plan on visiting Herculaneum sometime in the future. If you can arrange it visit both and enjoy the visit.

 

Have a great next cruise.