Pompeii Travel Forum

When visiting Pompeii( ruins), are there souvenir stands around? Are there lots of steps to maneuver about within the site? How steep are the stairs? What is the best time to visit? Any idea of where the toilets are within the area? What kind of souvenirs can be purchased from this city? Thank you.

Hello! The souvenir shops + toilets are at the entrance of the site. There are no stairs along the site but the streets are of not asphalted but paved. It is packed with hundreds of tourists in the Summer and the waiting line at the entrance can be huge (during Summer, more than 1 hour before you can get your ticket) : I would strongly suggest to go there between October and April.

As noted, the streets are paved in large stones, so there is a potential for tripping, but on the whole, the city's layout is pretty flat. Look at a sample street scene and other photos at my travelogue at http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/69875/#TL or any of the 1,000s of other photos of the site here on VT (look in the Travel Guides and search for Pompeii - or Pompei, I forget if they use the Latin or Italian spelling here on VT ;-) ).

And, yes, from October through April or whatever is certainly better than the summer...

Bill

Hi Outside the entrance there aresouvenir shops etc , no trouble finding a souvenir. I did not recall any problem with steep climb or steps when in the ruins, however the roads are a little uneven, as they are stone as in 2,000 yeas ago.

Have a look through VT , there are plenty of photos on VT and you will see how flat it is and the roads, plenty of photos on my pages.
Good Luck,
Mike

I suffer from Plantar Fasciitis and heel spurs and I found the paved roads in Pompeii very uncomfortable and was quite worried about falling over when I had to step up from the road to a building as in some places the step can be quite high. As for hills and flights of stairs, no there are few or maybe none, I can't quite remember. The souvenir shops are outside as are the toilets. Just wear safe and comfortable shoes and don't go in the heat of summer as there is very little shade once you get inside. Having said all that, it is a wonderful experience and you should really enjoy it. Just stay out of the brothels! (only joking).