Pompeii works well with children when the visit is built for them: short, selective, and full of things to spot. This page adds a family visit to the services covered in our practical visit guide – baby-changing rooms, the accessible route, food rules and water are all there. The route below is our editorial suggestion, not an official itinerary.
Worth knowing before you go
- Admission is free for everyone under 18 (the Park’s families page, checked 28 October 2026).
- The Park publishes a free children’s map and guide made with Geronimo Stilton, the mouse journalist – downloadable from its site, and a good way to prepare children at home.
- The official audioguide at Porta Marina lists a reduced child rate (5.00 euros, 4.50 each for more than one child; 8.00 for adults, checked 28 October 2026). Only the Park’s own audioguides may be used on site.
- The Antiquarium, just inside Porta Marina, has a model of the city with an image map that the Park itself recommends for children – the ideal first stop to show them the size of the city they are about to walk.
A suggested family visit: about half a day, at a child’s pace
- Start at the Antiquarium: the city model orients everyone, and the museum rooms are short and varied.
- The Forum and Temple of Jupiter: open space, the big square, Vesuvius in the background – the postcard moment.
- One great house, not five: the House of the Faun, with its copies of the famous mosaic and statue (the originals are in Naples’ archaeological museum – a fact children enjoy).
- The theatres or the Amphitheatre: stone seats to climb and space to move, after the narrow streets.
- Finish with a pause at the bar near the Forum or the Casina dell’Aquila terrace – the only places the Park allows food – and a fountain refill.
Five stops with pauses is a realistic family half-day; if the family discovers it wants more, our 2-hour, 4-hour and 6-hour routes are there.
Games that carry the walk
- Find the dog: the CAVE CANEM mosaic at the House of the Tragic Poet – beware of the dog, in Latin, at a Roman doorstep.
- Spot the ancient snack bars: the shop counters with big built-in jars, where Romans bought hot food.
- Count the fountains and the tall stepping stones in the streets – and work out what the stones were for.
- Look for cart ruts worn into the paving, deep enough to see from above.
- Mosaic hunting: dolphins, animals and patterns in the house floors.
For parents to decide
Erotic imagery is part of Pompeii: the Lupanar corridor has erotic paintings, and the House of the Vettii has some too. The plaster casts of the victims – in the Antiquarium and elsewhere on site – can be intense for some children. Neither is a reason not to come; both are easier when you know in advance and choose your own route around them.
For buggies, the Park’s Pompeii for All route (over 3.5 km, from the Piazza Anfiteatro entrance) is the practical choice, with its stated limits: some ramps steeper than 8 percent and uneven ancient paving. Baby Points for feeding and changing are on Via dell’Abbondanza, Via di Nola and at the corner of Via Stabiana and Via della Fortuna.
Information from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii (pompeiisites.org – Children and Families at Pompeii, Strumenti didattici, Antiquarium), checked on 28 October 2026. Services and prices change, so check the Park before you travel. This site is an independent guide and is not the official site.