Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Information
Tourist office ( 081 788 12 74; Via IV Novembre 82; 8am-6pm Mon-Sat) You'll pass this of-
fice on your right as you walk from the train station to the excavations.
Getting There & Away
The best way to get to Ercolano is by Circumvesuviana train (get off at Ercolano-Scavi
station and walk 500m downhill to the ruins - follow the signs for the scavi down the
main street, Via IV Novembre. Trains run regularly to/from Naples (€2.20), Pompeii
(€1.60) and Sorrento (€2.20).
By car take the A3 from Naples, exit at Ercolano Portico and follow the signs to car
parks near the site's entrance.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Mt Vesuvius
Towering (at 1281m) darkly over Naples and its environs, Mt Vesuvius (Vesuvio, 1281m),
is the only active volcano on the European mainland. Since it exploded into history in AD
79, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum and pushing the coastline out several kilometres, it
has erupted more than 30 times. The most devastating of these was in 1631, the most re-
cent in 1944.
Another full-scale eruption would be catastrophic. Some 600,000 people live within
7km of the crater and, despite incentives to relocate, few are willing to go.
Established in 1995, Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio ( 081 239 5653; adult/reduced €10/8;
9am-7pm Jul & Aug, to 5pm Apr-Jun & Sep, to 4pm Mar & Oct, to 3pm Nov-Feb, ticket office closes 1hr
before the crater) attracts some 400,000 visitors annually. From a car park at the summit, an
860m path leads up to the volcano's crater (admission incl tour €8; 9am-6pm Jul & Aug, to 5pm
Apr-Jun & Sep, to 4pm Mar & Oct, to 3pm Nov-Feb) . It's not a strenuous walk, but it's more com-
fortable in trainers than in sandals or flip-flops.
You'd also do well to take sunglasses - useful against swirling ash - and a sweater, as it
can be chilly up top, even in summer.
Shuttle-bus operator Vesuvio Express ( 081 739 36 66; www.vesuvioexpress.it ; Piazzale
Stazione Circumvesuviana, Ercoloano) runs services from Ercolano to Mt Vesuvius, departing
from Piazza Stazione Circumvesuviana, right outside Ercolano-Scavi train station. Buses
 
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