Tours
Paestum
Three Doric temples from the 6th and 5th centuries BC on a 27-hectare site south of Salerno. The museum is a separate building.
The wooden boardwalk through the dunes at Paestum, towards the sea.
- From Naples
- 1h 30min
- Visit
- a full day
The three temples at Paestum are among the best preserved anywhere in the Greek world, and they still stand where they were built, inside the walls of ancient Poseidonia. The archaeological area covers twenty-seven hectares and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, together with Velia. It is all outdoors, and all on foot.
Naples is about an hour and a half away by road. The car collects you at your hotel at the time you set and stays with you for the day: it waits at the entrance while you are inside the site and the museum, then takes you back when you have finished. Nothing fixes the return hour but you.
Photo: Uomovariabile · CC BY-SA 4.0
What you see
The Temple of Neptune
The largest of the three, finished around 460 BC. The name comes from an eighteenth-century misreading: current scholarship gives the temple to Hera or to Apollo, not to Neptune.
The Basilica — the Temple of Hera
The oldest stone temple at Poseidonia: begun around 560 BC and finished around 520. The name Basilica is another eighteenth-century error, from scholars who took it for a civic building.
The Temple of Athena
Built around 500 BC on a small artificial rise. For a long time it was believed to be dedicated to Ceres, and that name still turns up on maps and signs.
The museum, a building of its own
The National Archaeological Museum is not inside the fenced area: it is a separate building, holding what was dug up on the spot, from architectural terracottas to votive offerings. Two separate entrances, worth planning for.
Getting there with us
- The entrance to the archaeological area is on Via Magna Grecia at Capaccio Paestum: the car stops there and waits.
- The museum is in a separate building a short walk from the area. If you would rather not walk it, the car is there.
- You do not drive inside the area: the three temples are well apart and you reach them on foot. The car stays at the entrance.
Worth knowing
- The site runs to twenty-seven hectares and all of it is on foot. Shoes you can walk in matter more than anything else you bring.
- The park and the museum are two distinct places. Opening arrangements are on the Parchi archeologici di Paestum e Velia site, which keeps them current.
- Velia belongs to the same park but lies further south, at Ascea Marina. That is a separate day, not a stop on this one.
- What is on offer here is the transport. Having the site explained to you is the job of a licensed tourist guide, booked separately.
On the same day
Amalfifrom Naples 1h 45minThe cathedral at the top of the steps, and the coast that takes its name from here. The centre is a traffic zone: we drop you at the edge and wait there.
Ravellofrom Naples 1h 55minAbove Amalfi, at 350 metres. Two villas with gardens straight over the sea, a centre without cars, and far less noise.