Crater of Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Italy - 28.3.2022: hiking trail view 1397701562

Mt Vesuvius

Mt Vesuvius

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Since exploding into history in AD 79, Vesuvius has blown its top more than 30 times. What redeems this slumbering menace is the spectacular panorama from its crater, which takes in Naples, its world-famous bay, and part of the Apennine Mountains. Vesuvius is the focal point of the Parco Nazionale del Vesuvio, with nine nature walks around the volcano – download a simple map from the park’s website. Horse Riding Tour Naples also runs daily horse-riding tours.

The mountain is widely believed to have been higher than it currently stands, claiming a single summit rising to about 3000m rather than the 1281m of today. Its violent outburst in AD 79 not only drowned Pompeii in pumice and pushed the coastline back several kilometres but also destroyed much of the mountain top, creating a huge caldera and two new peaks. The most destructive explosion after that of AD 79 was in 1631, while the most recent was in 1944.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Water carriers from Herculaneum, Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

    Museo Archeologico Nazionale

    9.77 MILES

    Naples' National Archaeological Museum serves up one of the world’s finest collections of Graeco-Roman artefacts. Originally a cavalry barracks and later…

  • Royal Palace of Capodimonte, Naples

    Museo di Capodimonte

    10.01 MILES

    Originally designed as a hunting lodge for Charles VII of Bourbon, the monumental Palazzo di Capodimonte was begun in 1738 and took more than a century to…

  • NAPLES, ITALY - JUNE 11: The Modesty of Antonio Corradini in the Sansevero Chapel during the reopening to the public on June 11, 2020 in Naples, Italy. The Sansevero Chapel Museum can be visited again after the closure imposed by the lockdown for the covid-19 emergency, exactly thirty years after the reopening to the public after the restoration works which in 1990 returned to the fruition the baroque masterpieces of the chapel commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro and the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino sculpted in 1753, today a symbol of the Neapolitan Baroque. (Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images) 1249041534

    Cappella Sansevero

    9.47 MILES

    It's in this Masonic-inspired baroque chapel that you'll find Giuseppe Sanmartino's incredible sculpture, Cristo velato (Veiled Christ), its marble veil…

  • Carved head, Casa dei Nettuno e Anfitrite, Herculaneum.

    Ruins of Herculaneum

    4.49 MILES

    Herculaneum harbours a wealth of archaeological finds, from ancient advertisements and stylish mosaics to carbonised furniture and terror-struck skeletons…

  • Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii 60092; Accidents and Disasters; Ancient; Ancient Civilization; Antiquities; Archaeology; Architectural Column; Architecture; Asia; Atlantic Islands; Boulder - Rock; Buried; Campania; City; Demolished; Disaster; Empire; Environmental Damage; Ephesus; Flores; Flores Island - Indonesia; Fortified Wall; Green Color; History; Horizontal; Italian Culture; Italian Currency; Italy; Landscape; Misfortune; Monte; Monument; Mountain; Mountain Range; Mt Vesuvius; Naples - Italy; No People; Old; Old Ruin; Outdoors; Photography; Pompeii; Rock - Object; Social Issues; Sorrento - Italy; Statue; Stone - Object; Stone Material; Temple - Building; The Past; Tower; Travel Destinations; UNESCO; UNESCO World Heritage Site; Volcanic Landscape; Wall - Building Feature;

    Ruins of Pompeii

    5.5 MILES

    The ghostly ruins of ancient Pompeii (Pompei in Italian) make for one of the world's most engrossing archaeological experiences. Much of the site's value…

  • Scenic picture view of the city of Naples Napoli with famous Mount Vesuvius in the background from Certosa di San Martino monastery, Campania, Italy; Shutterstock ID 2105276987; purchase_order: 65050; job: poi; client: ; other: 2105276987

    Certosa e Museo di San Martino

    10.11 MILES

    The high point (quite literally) of the Neapolitan baroque, this charterhouse-turned-museum was built as a Carthusian monastery between 1325 and 1368…

  • Burial chamber at the San Gennaro Catacombs

    Catacombe di San Gennaro

    10.15 MILES

    Naples' oldest and most sacred catacombs became a Christian pilgrimage site when San Gennaro's body was interred here in the 5th century. The carefully…

  • View of Castello Aragonese

    Castello Aragonese

    25.13 MILES

    There are castles and then there’s Ischia’s Castello Aragonese, a veritable fort-city set on its own craggy islet, looking like a cross between Harry…

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Nearby Mt Vesuvius attractions

3. MAV

4.26 MILES

Using computer-generated recreations, this 'virtual archaeological museum' brings ruins such as Pompeii's forum and Capri's Villa Jovis back to virtual…

4. Oplontis

4.3 MILES

Buried beneath the unappealing streets of Torre Annunziata, Oplontis was once a blue-ribbon seafront suburb under the administrative control of Pompeii…

5. Mercato di Pugliano

4.32 MILES

Straddling Via Pugliano in the heart of Ercolano, Italy's largest pre-loved clothing market sells everything from stock-standard junk to fabulous offbeat…

6. Decumano Massimo

4.39 MILES

Herculaneum's ancient high street is lined with shops, and fragments of advertisements; look for the wall fresco advertising wines by colour code and…

7. Casa del Bel Cortile

4.4 MILES

The Casa del Bel Cortile is home to three of the 300 skeletons discovered on the ancient shore by archaeologists in 1980. Almost two millennia after the…

8. Boscoreale

4.4 MILES

Some 3km north of Pompeii, the archaeological site of Boscoreale consists of a rustic country villa dating back to the 1st century BC, and a fascinating…