My husband and I are going on a hiking trip along the Amalfi coast and we end up in Sorrento. We were wondering if anyone knows of a good local tour company that could drive us from Sorrento to Pompeii and then Herculaneum, as well as arranging a tour. We don’t need a private tour and would happily join a group.
We are also not sure that both are doable in a day and would appreciate your thoughts.
From Sorrento it is easy to go by local rail,. but no way I would try to do both in one day
Check out Rick’s recommendation for shared tours with Mondo Guide. it has received some very good reviews on the forum.
Right. The Mondo shared tour to Pompeii Philip recommended has seen good reviews. They don't do Herculaneum, and I'm with Joe on trying to do both in one day anyway. Pompeii is VAST; I highly recommend taking more time to explore after your tour as you'd barely scratch the surface in 2 hours (the length of a Mondo tour).
You don't need a driver to get to them, either. Pompeii is dead easy by cheap Circumvesuviana commuter train from Sorrento; the Pompei Scavi - Villa dei Misteri train station is right in front of the main entrance. You can use the same train for Herculaneum (Ercolano) but again, I wouldn't personally do both in a day, especially during the summer. We did Pompeii on our own in an early October and it was PLENTY warm.
As noted, heat and sun are SERIOUS issues, not just in July and August. We found it sweltering in May. Herculaneum is a 15 minute steep downhill walk (paved, city) from the Circumvesuviana station. Pompeii has a cafe, Herc does not. There are at least three more (not as widely visited) important ancient sites in the area that are not included on your encyclopedic itinerary.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/herculaneum-and-pompeii-questions
If you come back here, others would be interested in your hiking routes!
They don't do Herculaneum
They do now, but you almost have to stumble onto it to find it on the website. https://www.sharedtrips.com/shared-city-tours/herculaneum, and it's not set up the same way to register. So I'm not sure what to think of it, but we've book for April 18th at 3pm.
Well, looky there.... Good find, Allan!
They've re-done that website so I need to learn to look in some new-and-different corners of it, eh?
I forgot to add that we are going in mid-April. So, I’m hoping heat won’t be too bad. Our hiking route is through On Foot Hilidays, a self-guided tour company that books rooms along the way and transports your carry-ones from town to town. I highly recommend them if you like hiking. Very reasonable and great flexibility in how you arrange your trip. Thanks for all the tips! This is my first time posting, but I’m an avid reader of the forum.
Well, looky there.... Good find, Allan! They've re-done that website
so I need to learn to look in some new-and-different corners of it,
eh?
You need to start at Mondo Tours https://mondoguide.it/ Along the top you'll see shared tours for Rick Steves, and then next to it is Shared Tours ENDORSED by Rick Steves, so not on the Shared Tours website.
We were in Sorrento in June, 2015... Per the first responder to your query, we took the train from Sorrento to Pompeii and back. It was a snap. As I recall, the train stops right at the venue.
Per Rick's guidebook suggestion, we paid to join a guided tour... Besides skipping the line, the guide was informative. I'm sorry that I can't remember the company -- but it was worth the money.
As I said, it was June. We were in shorts and wore hats. We took our own bottles of water. It wasn't extraordinary, heatwise... We were never uncomfortable... (wear comfy shoes!)
I hope you’ll have the time to also see the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, which contains so many of the artifacts and treasures recovered from Pompeii. Take the Circumvesuviana train to Naples, then catch a taxi from the station to the museum. Plan on at least 2 hours for the museum. Maybe you can fit in the museum and Herculaneum (plus an authentic Neapolitan pizza?) in one day.
