It is not free to walk up Mount Vesuvius. You must buy your tickets online and select a timeslot to walk up the volcano. You can start your journey walking Vesuvius either half an hour before or half an hour after your selected timeslot.

You can technically visit the Mount Vesuvius National Park without a ticket to explore the lower-altitude trails, but you cannot access the Great Cone (Gran Cono) or the crater rim without a pre-purchased, timed-entry ticket. In 2026, tickets are sold exclusively online via the official Vivaticket portal and are released about 30 days in advance. There is no physical ticket booth at the summit entrance, and the mobile reception at the 1,000-meter trailhead is notoriously unreliable, making last-minute online purchases nearly impossible once you are there. Tickets are strictly timed to prevent overcrowding, and visitors are allowed a 40-minute grace period before their slot and up to 100 minutes afterward. If the main tickets are sold out, a "Last Minute" pool of 10 tickets per slot is occasionally released online one hour before each entry time. Entry for disabled visitors and one companion is free, but even these must be pre-arranged via email to the park authorities.