Start your tour by going in through the Marine Gate on the west side of the city. To the right is the Basilica or courthouse, while the Temple of Apollo is on the left and the Forum is straight ahead. Cross the Forum, heading east, to the Building of Eumachia. Proceed down the main street in town, the Via dell' Abbondanza, for two blocks and turn right and go down two blocks to the Triangular Forum and Doric Temple. Head east to a complex that includes the Large Theatre, Small Theatre, or Odeon, Gladiator Barracks and the Temple of Isis.
Go north and get back onto the Via dell' Abbondanza and keep going east two blocks to the Fullery of Stephanus--the ancient equivalent of a dry cleaner--and two blocks more to the Thermopolium of Vetutius Placidus, a sort of fast-food place. Go five blocks east and turn right to find the Palaestra, or gymnasium, and, in the far southeast corner, the Amphitheatre. Go two blocks west of the city wall and turn right and you'll pass the House of Loreius Tiburtinus on the left and the House of Venus in the Sea Shell, both of which have lavish frescoes.
Turn left back onto the Via dell' Abbondanza and go ten blocks. On the northwest corner, you'll see the Stabian Baths. Continue one block west, then turn right and go three blocks to the Brothel, the walls of which are decorated with erotic frescoes. At the corner turn left, then go one block and turn right and at the end of the block on the left is the House of the Ancient Hunt, named for its frescoes of hunting scenes . Turn left, go two blocks west to the House of the Faun, which has a faun statue in the center of its impluvium (pool) and is notable for its mosaics.
Take the street just to the east of this, head north one block, then turn right onto the Vicolo di Mercurio and on the northeast corner is the House of the Vetti, one of the better-known ruins in Pompeii. Its decoration include a very revealing fresco of the god Priapus. Go west down the Vicolo di Mercurio four blocks and turn left to the large House of Pansa and the bakery. Proceed south to the Forum Baths and, beyond that, the Temple of Jupiter. One block to the east is the Macellum, or covered public food market.
Retrace your steps to the House of Pansa and back to the Vicolo di Mercurio. Turn left and pass the House of Sallust to the north and north up the Via Consolare and out the Herculaneum Gate and northwest through the Herculaneum Gate Cemetery to the Villa of the Mysteries with its notable frescoes.
