Herculaneum
Ercolano, Italy
Herculaneum is the seaside Roman town that the eruption of Vesuvius buried under some 20 metres of volcanic flow in AD…
138 tickets & tours
Roman Sites
Best-preserved Roman ruins in the world
15 of the best-preserved ancient sites in the world, picked by hand: places where streets, walls, roofs or paintings survive well enough to read without a reconstruction. Each page says what to see and which ticket or tour to book.
| # | Site | Country | Why it makes the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Herculaneum | Italy | Upper floors, carbonised wooden doors, furniture, frescoes and mosaics survive in houses buried under twenty metres of volcanic flow in AD 79. |
| 2 | Pompeii | Italy | Entire streets of houses, shops, bakeries and baths stand with frescoes on the walls, plus two theatres and a complete early amphitheatre. |
| 3 | Aspendos | Turkey | Its stage wall still stands to full height above intact seating and a vaulted upper gallery, the most complete Roman theatre anywhere. |
| 4 | Roman Theatre of Orange | France | The full stage wall, 103 metres long and 37 metres high, still stands, with a statue of Augustus in its central niche. |
| 5 | Pula Arena | Croatia | Its whole outer ring of arches survives to the top storey, the only Roman amphitheatre where the complete shell still stands. |
| 6 | Arena of Nimes | France | A complete outer wall of two storeys and 60 arches encloses seating that still fills with crowds for concerts and shows. |
| 7 | Pont du Gard | France | All three tiers of arches stand over the Gardon, about 49 metres high, with the covered water channel still running along the top. |
| 8 | Aqueduct of Segovia | Spain | All 167 arches of unmortared granite still stride across the lower town, about 28 metres high, and carried water until 1973. |
| 9 | Villa Romana del Casale | Italy | About 3,500 square metres of floor mosaics remain in their original rooms, from the long hunting corridor to the girls in bikinis. |
| 10 | Porta Nigra | Germany | This four-storey Roman city gate still stands complete, the best-preserved north of the Alps, and you can climb through its upper floors. |
| 11 | Diocletian’s Palace | Croatia | The emperor's walls, gates, colonnaded courtyard and vaulted cellars still stand, with Split's homes, shops and cafes built into them. |
| 12 | Ostia Antica | Italy | Brick apartment blocks still rise several storeys along paved streets, with warehouses, baths, bars and mosaic floors left in place. |
| 13 | Roman Theatre of Merida | Spain | The two-storey marble stage front, re-erected from its own fallen columns, rises 17.5 metres behind seating still used every summer. |
| 14 | Dougga | Tunisia | Theatre, Capitol, temples, baths and houses stand across a hillside town that UNESCO calls the best-preserved small Roman town in North Africa. |
| 15 | Jerash | Jordan | An 800-metre colonnaded street with many columns still upright runs past temples, theatres and an oval plaza ringed by Ionic columns. |
Pompeii
Pompei, Italy
Pompeii is the Roman town that Vesuvius buried in AD 79 and excavators have been uncovering since 1748.
687 tickets & tours
Aspendos
Serik, Turkey
Aspendos, 45 km east of Antalya, has the best-preserved Roman theatre in the world, built around AD 155 by the local…
21 tickets & tours
Roman Theatre of Orange
Orange, France
The Roman Theatre of Orange, built under Augustus early in the 1st century AD, is the only Roman theatre in Europe that…
1 ticket or tour
Pula Arena
Pula, Croatia
Pula Arena is the Roman amphitheatre of Pula, on the southern tip of Istria, built under Augustus and enlarged by…
4 tickets & tours
Arena of Nimes
Nîmes, France
The Arena of Nimes is a Roman amphitheatre of around AD 90 to 100 in the centre of the city, one of the best preserved…
1 ticket or tour
Pont du Gard
Vers-Pont-du-Gard, France
The Pont du Gard is the three-tiered Roman aqueduct bridge over the river Gardon near Remoulins in southern France,…
9 tickets & tours
Aqueduct of Segovia
Segovia, Spain
The Aqueduct of Segovia is a Roman water bridge of 167 arches that strides across the lower town of Segovia, about 28…
2 tickets & tours
Villa Romana del Casale
Piazza Armerina, Italy
The Villa Romana del Casale, near Piazza Armerina in central Sicily, is a grand country residence of the early 4th…
1 ticket or tour
Porta Nigra
Trier, Germany
The Porta Nigra in Trier is the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps, a four-storey sandstone gateway built…
1 ticket or tour
Diocletian’s Palace
Split, Croatia
Diocletian's Palace is the retirement residence that the Roman emperor Diocletian built on the shore at Split…
31 tickets & tours
Ostia Antica
Rome, Italy
Ostia Antica is the ancient port of Rome at the old mouth of the Tiber, 25 km from the centre of Rome, preserved by…
19 tickets & tours