Most popular
Book ahead: tickets, tours and transport
Mount Vesuvius: entry + bus from Ercolano
4.1· 2,421 reviews
from €31€38
Opening hours of the Gran Cono
The Park gives a single hour for each month: access to the path runs from 9:00 until that hour, and it does not separate a last entry from a closing time. The Park adds that the visit must end within an hour of the last access allowed. Entry is by time slot, with a ticket bought in advance.
Today
Opening hours for every month are on the Opening hours page.
Checked against the official website on 23 October 2026 · Official source
| Period | Opens | Access until |
|---|---|---|
| January, February, November, December | 9:00 | 15:00 |
| March, October | 9:00 | 16:00 |
| April, May, June, September | 9:00 | 17:00 |
| July, August | 9:00 | 18:00 |
The Park's page names no weekly closing day, but it does not say that the path is open every day either, and we could not confirm Christmas and New Year. The path and the ticket sales close automatically on days with an orange weather alert or higher.
Checked against the official website on 23 October 2026 · Official source: Ente Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio
Time slots and capacity
The Park admits at most 360 hikers an hour: 60 every 10 minutes, in three groups of 20. The daily limits are 3,240 in July and August, 2,880 in April, May, June and September, 2,520 in March and October and 2,160 in January, February, November and December.
Online, 50 tickets per 10-minute slot go on sale up to 30 days ahead, plus 10 last-minute tickets per slot, which the Park publishes 30 minutes before the slot. These figures come from the Park's page; the exact time of the last slot is not stated.
Weather closures
The ticket office and the path stay closed automatically on days when the regional Civil Protection issues a weather alert, from the orange level upwards. The Park announces closures in the alerts section of its website and on its social channels. On 23 October 2026 its news included closures from 15:00 on 8 October to 15:00 on 10 October, and the whole of Wednesday 21 October.
The Park refunds automatically, within 60 days and on the same card, tickets for slots that fall in a closure and were not used, if they were bought on its ticketing site. Slots next to a closure get no automatic refund, but you can ask the Park within 30 days. For tickets bought from other sellers, their own conditions apply; we could not confirm the Park's rules for them.
Guides
The Park requires each group to be accompanied by a guide of the Presidio Permanente Vulcano Vesuvio above 1,000 m. Its page does not say whether the guide has a separate cost. From 16 October 2026 the Park announced a transitional new arrangement with the Associazione Presidio Guide Vulcanologiche Campane, so do not count on a guide being included in your ticket.
The Observatory museum
The museum of the Vesuvian Observatory (INGV, Via Osservatorio 14, Ercolano) offers free visits on weekdays in slots of about one hour, with booking by email at museo.ov@ingv.it. Weekend visits were temporarily suspended except for institutional events. The Observatory stop is on the 808 bus line.