Getting to Pompeii from Naples, Sorrento, Rome and the Amalfi Coast

The simplest way to reach Pompeii is the Circumvesuviana train on the Naples to Sorrento line, getting off at Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri, a station about 120 meters (straight line, our calculation) from the Porta Marina gate. In the timetable in force from 17 October 2026, the express (DD) trains take 36 minutes from Naples Garibaldi and 35 minutes from Sorrento. From Rome you ride a high-speed train to Naples and change. From Salerno you take a regional train to the FS station called Pompei. This page goes through each starting point, the station to pick, and the mistakes that cost people an hour.

Remember one name: Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri. It is the stop the Park lists for the Porta Marina and Piazza Esedra entrances. The station called just "Pompei" belongs to a different railway and sits about 1.6 km from Porta Marina in a straight line.

Three stations carry the town's name, and the Park's own "how to get there" page tells them apart. Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri is on the Circumvesuviana Naples to Sorrento line and serves the Porta Marina and Piazza Esedra entrances. Pompei Santuario is on the Naples to Poggiomarino line and serves Piazza Anfiteatro. The FS station "Pompei" is on the Trenitalia Naples to Salerno line; the Park describes a "Pompei Link" that combines train and bus to bring you from there to the site in about 15 minutes.

Which gate you want depends on what you plan to see first, and that is covered in our itineraries guide. For most visitors the Scavi station is the answer, because the ticket gate is a short walk from the platform and the line also stops at Herculaneum and Sorrento.

Take the Circumvesuviana from Napoli Porta Nolana or Napoli Garibaldi, the latter being the stop at Naples Central station, and ride toward Sorrento. In the express table valid from 17 October 2026, trains leave Porta Nolana every 30 minutes from 5:30 to 22:00, and Garibaldi three minutes later. The ride to Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri is 36 minutes from Garibaldi and 39 from Porta Nolana. The 5:33 from Garibaldi reaches Pompei at 6:09, three hours before the gates open, so there is no reason to catch a dawn train for a site that opens at 9:00.

Two other stops matter on the same line. Ercolano Scavi, the stop for Herculaneum, is 15 minutes from Garibaldi, and 21 minutes before Pompei Scavi. If you are planning both sites, read Pompeii or Herculaneum before choosing which comes first. And the slower line to Poggiomarino, which stops at Pompei Santuario, is a separate train on a separate board: check the destination, Sorrento or Poggiomarino, before you step on.

We give no fare here, because fares change and prices live on our tickets page or on EAV's tariff page. Buy the ticket at the station, and validate it if the gates ask you to.

The Campania Express is the tourist-branded train that has run from Naples through Herculaneum and Pompeii to Sorrento, and it is a different service from the ordinary Circumvesuviana. It is a seasonal service that has been suspended and restarted before, so check EAV's site before counting on it. You do not need it: the regular Circumvesuviana serves the same stations on the same tracks.

This is the shortest rail trip of any starting point: 35 minutes from Sorrento to Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri on the express table (5:30 from Sorrento, 6:05 at Pompei). Going back, Pompei to Sorrento takes 36 minutes. Trains run on the same half-hour rhythm as from Naples. In the express table the last train from Sorrento toward Naples leaves at 22:00, passing Pompei Scavi at 22:35, and the last one from Naples toward Sorrento passes Pompei Scavi at 22:39. Because of that timing, a Sorrento base lets you stay for a late dinner in Pompei town and still get back.

Is a tour worth it from Sorrento? The train is simple and takes half an hour, so what a tour sells is the guide, the ticket handled, and the pick-up. Our Naples and Sorrento category explains the formats. If you are still choosing where to sleep, where to stay compares the bases.

On an ordinary day there is one change. Take a Frecciarossa or Italo to Napoli Centrale, then walk to Napoli Garibaldi and board the Circumvesuviana toward Sorrento. Trenitalia's Rome to Pompeii page shows its Frecciarossa covering Termini to Napoli Centrale in 1 hour 10 minutes, and Italo's own page quotes 55 minutes non-stop for its fastest trains, noting that times vary by date. Add 36 minutes on the Circumvesuviana and a change of 15 minutes or so, and the ticket gate comes around two hours to two hours and a quarter after leaving Termini. That figure is our arithmetic from the published times, not a promise.

A seasonal direct Frecciarossa has run on Sundays in some years, a joint project of the Ministry of Culture and Italian State Railways. It leaves Rome in the morning and comes back in the evening, but the timetable and the season change, so check on Trenitalia whether it runs on your date before you plan a day around it. It also arrives at the FS station called Pompei, so you use the Pompei Link or walk to the amphitheater gate.

The Rome day is tight. With a direct train arriving mid-morning and leaving in the early evening, you get well under a full day on the ground, and in the winter schedule the Park's last entry is at 15:30 and closing at 17:00. If that is too tight, the From Rome category shows the tour formats, which trade the flexibility for a handled ticket and transfer.

From Salerno, the direct way is a Trenitalia regional train to the FS station Pompei. The Park gives no journey time and we could not read a Trenitalia timetable for this stop, so check the departure on Trenitalia. From the station, the Pompei Link shuttle or a walk of roughly 650 meters in a straight line takes you to Piazza Anfiteatro. The Park also lists buses from Salerno, Busitalia Campania line 4 and the express line 50 on the motorway, and SITA buses from Naples and Salerno; we have no timetable or journey time for any of them.

From Positano, Amalfi or Ravello there is no railway. The workable plan has two hops: a bus or ferry to Sorrento or Salerno, then the train described above. We did not verify the coastal bus or ferry timetables, which change by season, so we give no times. Because a coast base turns a half-hour train into a half-day logistics problem, a guided day trip from the coast is more reasonable here than from anywhere else. Our Pompeii and Amalfi Coast category covers those.

Both ports are some distance from the ruins. We calculated the road distance from each passenger terminal to Porta Marina on OpenStreetMap: about 25.4 km from the Naples Stazione Marittima (21.3 km in a straight line) and about 31.7 km from the Salerno Stazione Marittima (24.2 km straight). These are distances, not times, because road routing without traffic would flatter you. Quoted travel times vary a lot with traffic and with the day, so we publish none.

Doing it yourself from Naples means port to Napoli Centrale, then the Circumvesuviana. From Salerno, you need to get from the terminal to the railway station, on foot, by taxi or by bus, and then take the regional train. The risk is the same at both: the ship leaves with or without you. Your boarding pass shows the all-aboard time, and you should plan to be back well before it. That is where the formats differ. A cruise line's own excursion is the one the ship waits for. A third-party tour may carry a written return guarantee, or may only say it is "designed to return on time", which is not a guarantee. Read the wording, then see our shore excursions category.

Yes. Leave the A3 Naples to Salerno motorway at the Pompei Scavi exit. The Park has no parking of its own, according to its FAQ: you use municipal blue-line spaces or private lots near the gates. Driving makes sense for a group of four or more, for a trip that continues down the coast, or for a car-based tour of several sites. It makes less sense in summer, when the lots near Porta Marina fill, and it makes no sense if you are returning the car in Naples the same evening. For Herculaneum the exit is Ercolano Scavi on the same motorway, with a car park listed by the Park at Via dei Papiri Ercolanesi 19.

Six mistakes cost visitors most of their lost time:

1. Getting off at "Pompei". That is the FS station. From the Circumvesuviana you want Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri.
2. Boarding the wrong Circumvesuviana line. Sorrento trains stop at Pompei Scavi. Poggiomarino trains stop at Pompei Santuario.
3. Planning around the Campania Express. It is a seasonal tourist service that has been suspended before, and the regular train serves the same stations.
4. Arriving at the last entry. As of November 2026 the Park's last entry is 15:30 in the winter schedule (15 October to 15 March) and 17:30 in the summer schedule, and closing is 17:00 or 19:00. A train that lands you at the gate near that time wastes the trip.
5. Ignoring the strike calendar. Italian rail strikes are announced in advance on the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport's strike table, so look there before you travel. The EAV timetable marks some early and late trains with a "G" for guaranteed in a strike.
6. Carrying a large bag. Anything over 30 x 30 x 15 cm goes to a paid deposit.

If you want the ticket side settled before you travel, Pompeii tickets explained has the types, the named-ticket rule and the prices with the date we checked them.