Oplontis (Villa Poppaea)

Pompeii shows you a city. Oplontis shows you how the very rich lived at the edge of it. The park describes it as the most significant monumental evidence of Pompeii's suburbs, and the draw is the wall painting: large rooms still covered in architectural illusion, painted columns, masks, birds and garden scenes, with some of the brightest color you will see in the area outside the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

It is also a place to see the scale of a Roman villa: a grand atrium, bath rooms, service quarters, gardens and a long swimming pool. The villa is still not completely excavated, because the modern town sits on top of part of it.

What you will not find: crowds or much signage. It is a quiet, slightly austere site, and that is its appeal.

From Naples: take a Circumvesuviana train on the Sorrento line from Napoli Garibaldi to Torre Annunziata-Oplonti. Direct trains take 23 minutes, for example 8:44 a.m. arriving 9:07 a.m.; Poggiomarino line trains take about 36 minutes. The fare band for Naples to Torre Annunziata is €3.30. From the station it is 543 m on foot, about seven minutes, to the entrance on Via dei Sepolcri. More on the trains in our Circumvesuviana guide.

From Pompeii: the park's free Artebus line 2 runs from Pompeii to Oplontis in about 30 minutes, except on Tuesdays. In winter, from October 15, buses leave Pompeii at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 and 12:30, then 2:15 and 3:15 p.m., with the return an hour after each departure. The last run, at 4:15 p.m., only brings visitors back. Seats are subject to availability.

By car: the A3 Naples to Salerno motorway, Torre Annunziata Scavi exit.

The arithmetic is simple. Pompeii+ is €25 and Oplontis is €8, so €33 separately against €30 for the three-day ticket, which also adds the villas and museum at Stabiae. The three-day ticket allows one entry per site over three days, on each site's opening days, so it works best if you plan Pompeii one day and Oplontis on the next day that is not a Tuesday. EU citizens aged 18 to 24 pay €2 for every one of these tickets.

• The atrium and the reception rooms, where the painted architecture creates fake colonnades and doorways.
• The small painted rooms around the peristyle, with birds, fruit and theatrical masks.
• The bath suite, with its heated rooms.
• The pool and gardens on the east side of the villa.

Villa B, the complex of Lucius Crassius Tertius nearby, was a business center for processing wine and oil. It is not open to the public. The park publishes a downloadable guide and map for Oplontis; save it to your phone before you go, as there is little information on site.

• Do not come on a Tuesday. The villa and the Oplontis shuttle both stop.
• Morning is best if you combine it with Pompeii: Oplontis at 9 a.m., then the Artebus or the train on to Pompei Scavi for the rest of the day. In winter, last entry at Pompeii is 3:30 p.m.
• Torre Annunziata is a working town, not a resort. The walk from the station is short and straightforward.
• With children, this is an easier hour than Pompeii: one building, shade, and a garden. See Naples with kids.

For the full picture of the area, pair it with Herculaneum, the other site where you understand Roman domestic life better than in Pompeii's streets.