What to See in Herculaneum (and What’s Closed)

Everything below is open and fits in two to three hours:

• House of Neptune and Amphitrite — the glass-paste wall mosaic, still where the owners saw it.
• House of the Wooden Partition — a carbonized Roman door, still hanging in its frame.
• House of the Deer and the Samnite House — the two houses I take first-timers into when they only trust me twice.
• Central Baths and the Suburban Baths area — rooms with their vaults and details intact.
• Hall of the Augustals — frescoed hall of the imperial cult.
• The Decumanus Maximus and the cardines — the street grid itself, with upper floors overhead.
• The fornici and the Terrace of M. Nonius Balbus — the boat houses where 300-plus skeletons were found, below the seafront terrace.
• The Antiquarium / Boat Pavilion — the original 9-metre Roman boat.

Now the closures, plainly, because most guides get them wrong. The Villa of the Papyri, source of the 1,800-plus carbonized scrolls, is closed for excavation and accessibility works with no announced reopening. The ancient theatre is closed until further notice for maintenance. In passing: the MAV virtual-archaeology museum up the road in modern Ercolano is a separate ticket, not covered by park tickets.

Frequently asked questions