TesseraIs there a free audio guide for Pompeii?
Yes. There are two genuinely free audio guides for Pompeii — the park’s own MyPompeii app and Rick Steves’ walk — and several paid guides that let you try part of them for free. None of them is useless and none of them is complete. Here is what you get for nothing, and the one thing you must do with any of them before you arrive.
MyPompeii — free, official, needs your ticket
The Archaeological Park’s app is free. Its map of points of interest is open to anyone; the audio guides, for adults and children, unlock when you sign in with your ticket. It is the official source, so information about opening hours and current routes is the most reliable you will find. Store reviews complain that the map needs a connection and that audio stops with the screen off, so download everything at the hotel.
Rick Steves — free, English, one route
The Rick Steves Audio Europe app includes a free Pompeii tour: a single English-language walk past the main sights, excerpted from his guidebook. Download it before you leave and it plays offline. It does not show where you are, so keep a paper plan of the park in your pocket.
Free samples of paid guides
Most paid Pompeii apps let you hear a few stops before paying. That is the best way to judge a guide: the voice, the depth and the map are obvious within two stories. Tessera’s five free stories cover the introduction, the Marina Gate, the Forum, the Triangular Forum and the Amphitheatre — places you will stand in anyway, and they work offline like the rest.
What free guides leave out
- Depth away from the main route: the free options concentrate on the famous dozen sites.
- A map that works offline and shows where you are, which matters in a grid of similar streets.
- Most languages: the free options are strongest in English and Italian.
The one thing to do with any of them
Download it at the hotel, then switch the phone to airplane mode and play one track. Inside the excavations there is effectively no signal, and there is no usable public Wi-Fi to download at the gate. A free guide that was not downloaded costs you the visit, which is the most expensive outcome of all.
If you would rather not use a phone
The rented audioguide at the entrances is not free — €9 for an adult and €5 for a child since March 2025 — but it is cheap, official and needs no setup. For many families it is the simplest answer.
Updated 2026-10-28