Make your own way to the ruins, pay your entrance fee, and greet your guide at the main entrance to the ruins.
From here, explore the amphitheater and the Garden of the Fugitives, which preserves plaster-cast bodies of victims who tried and failed to escape the eruption. See the forum, the focal point of city life, and the main street of the city, then tour the Stabian Baths and the opulent villa known as the House of Menander.
At the end of the tour, bid your guide farewell. They’ll suggest you climb the 269-foot (82-meter) bell tower nearby for views of the site, the volcano, the Gulf of Naples, and the modern city.