Pompeii from Rome

I was staying with a friend in Rome who set up a day trip for me and another friend to Pompeii.
I don't have the name of the tour company off hand. But I had the greatest trip.
I looked at a map and thought it was a long way, but it was an easy trip on the bus. It included a great lunch near Pompeii, some lemoncello, and then a double decker bus tour in Naples, then the bus ride back to Rome. There was a big car accident on the highway back to Rome and we still got back with plenty of time for dinner in Rome.
It was so easy, the tour guide in Pompeii was great!
I would take a day trip from Rome. You can relax during the drive. Pompeii blew my mind and I still can't believe what I saw there.

In 2012 we did this trip on an Enjoy Rome bus. In 1997, we did a day tour that included the Amalfi Coast. It was a very long day (7-9) but worth it. My 70 yr old inlaws were with me on that trip and they were fine with it. And on both trips I felt we had enough time at Pompeii.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-day-trip-from-rome-2c38f926-9036-480d-95fd-403dd7694e4a

I just did the Opposite way, and while we didn’t stop in Pompeii I can provide details as to the train journey

From rome there are numerous runs of the FrecciaRossa, the Italian bullet train between rome and Naples. This can take between 55 minutes and 1.5 hours.

From there the train between Naples and Sorrento is basically an old city train (think of 90’s New York subway) which will take about 30-40 minutes to get to Pompeii.

So round trip in transit you’ll be spending between 2.5-3.5 hours just getting to and from there from Rome. I believe the Bullet train between rome and Naples and vice versa can also be quite expensive, I think we might have paid 80-120 euros one way and that was booking well in advance. So If you can find a tour either by bus or by private car from Rome it may be more cost effective

Thanks everyone! I have a day trip in mind and I have had a lot of positive feedback regarding the Pompeii day trip, so I will try that.

Sharon, this is your trip so whatever you end up deciding is fine! That said, I'm going to take a stab at trying to dissuade you from a Pompeii day trip so bear with me... :O)

Along with the reasons not to I'd given in the thread Tim helpfully linked, the BOI tour you'll be taking (you mentioned that you were taking it in your other post) only spends 1.5 days in the Eternal City. Given the many, many interesting things to see in that one, I personally consider 4 nights/3.5 days the minimum just to scratch the surface. You would have just that if opting not to do the day trip.

As well, Pompeii is a much better fit with a Naples + Amalfi Coast trip. Along with not having to spend the time in transit to/from Rome - hours which may be better used sightseeing than sitting - you can add Herculaneum and the archeological museum in Naples plus spend a longer time at Pompeii than most tours allow (it is VAST). So, if you're at all interested in a future adventure to that region, I'd save it for that trip. Just a thought?

If excavations are of interest, do at least consider Ostia Antica? It's so much closer to Rome.

I'm with Kathy on this one. I suspect that after the 17 day BOI, you not only will realize how much more of Rome there is to appreciate, you will be exhausted. I'd definitely add several days in Rome. I'd save the Pompei visit for another time, perhaps basing in Naples or Sorrento.

But again agreeing with Kathy, this is your trip. And I suspect you will have a wonderful time, regardless of what you choose to do. We always do!

I was just in Rome in November and did a day trip to Pompeii. It was a lifelong dream and I loved it. We booked a personal tour with Through Eternity. They sent us tickets for the fast train to Naples and had a driver pick us up at the train station and deliver us to Pompeii, where we met our guide, who we liked very much. We had 2 1/2 hours in Pompeii, then a driver took us back to the train station in Naples for our fast train back to Rome. It was fun and easy. Alas, it was also expensive, but again, it was a lifelong dream. I could have stayed longer, but I knew my husband would not go for that. I felt we had enough time to see all the highlights, and so I was totally satisfied with the trip.

If you want to see Pompeii, don’t hesitate to do a day trip. I thought it was fabulous.

We are doing this in June but seeing Herculaneum. We plan on taking the first train to Naples and connecting to Herculaneum, then Archeological Museum and a pizza dinner before taking the train back to Rome.

We went to Pompeii on our way from Rome to Sorrento. It was an incredible visit, easily doable via train. We took the high speed train from Rome to Naples and then the Circumvesivianna. As nice as Pompeii is, I would never do it as a day trip from Rome. I think regardless of how you get there you are talking 4 hours of travel time. If you can't spend a night or two in Naples or Sorrento, I'd recommend going to Ostia Antica, which is an easy, cheap and quick ride from Rome. BTW, there are lots of posts with people providing their opinion on going to Pompeii as a day trip from Rome.

Have you been to Rome before? Is your tour of Rome? If not, 2 days for Rome is really short and I would want to spend all my time in Rome.

Jules, from a previous post, it sounds like the OP is taking the RS Best of Italy tour in Sept. That tour winds up in Rome for 2 nights/1.5 days. The two extra days they plan on adding to Rome would give them 4 nights/3.5 days in total; still a pretty short time for the Eternal City.

We did a day trip to Pompeii and Sorrento from Rome with The Tour Guy (aka The Roman Guy). It was a long day, but we loved it. https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy/rome/rome-to-pompeii-day-trip

We knew it would be a long day, but as people who live on the prairies, vehicle trips don't faze us, and we like to look out the windows at the countryside. With just two weeks in Italy in November, a day trip fit our plans and wishes the best on a trip that focused on Rome, Florence, and Venice. Pompeii was a place we'd heard of since childhood, and it was the one place my husband requested to see, outside of what I was already planning. I do all the planning, and I always try to accommodate his few requests.

We didn't see all of Pompeii, of course, but we were more than pleased with what we saw in our ~2 1/2 hours there. Our guide was excellent, too. He was a 2nd-generation Pompeii guide (his father and uncle had both been guides there), so he was very knowledgeable.

I'm really glad we did this day trip.

I went to Pompeii as a day trip from Naples, in July 2017. From my hotel to Pompeii I walked a small fraction of a mile, probably under 1/4 mile, then took the subway, then the circumvesuviana commuter train to Pompeii.

I spent 3 nights in Naples: I arrived in the evening and then the first night; then a day to see the archaeology museum and walk partly around a path by the bay of Naples and the 2nd night, then a third day to see Pompeii and then my 3rd night in Naples. Maybe I could have left Naples in the evening instead of spending the 3rd night in Naples.

How many days and nights in Italy total do you have?

Pompeii is too far away from Rome to see Pompeii properly as a day trip from Rome. Can you rewrite your itinerary and stay in Naples? Do you have a written itinerary?

Mike, they'll have 2 nights and 2 full days AFTER the end of their RS Best of Italy tour. As posted above, that tour winds up in Rome for 2 nights/1.5 days that are mostly filled with tour activities, sans an afternoon of free time.

Interesting thought to locate to Naples for 1 night, although it would mean re-locating to back to Rome again for the pre-flight night: 2 hotel moves in two days. Still, if leaving Rome by 'fast' train early-ish on first of the two extra days, an overnight stay would provide enough time to see Pompeii, Herculaneum/Ercolano - if desired but not on the same day as Pompeii - and the National Archeological Museum in Naples (closed on Tuesdays), where many treasures from both excavations are preserved. Head back to Rome sometime on the 2nd of the two days. While I still thinks this takes valuable sightseeing time from Rome, it would provide a broader, less rushed look at the culture of two regional population centers in the first century, and involve far less time, in a single day, spent looking out a window versus actual sightseeing.

http://pompeiisites.org/en/
https://mann-napoli.it/en/home-english/
https://ercolano.beniculturali.it. (click the translation icon in your browser window for English)

No wrong answer unless it's wrong for YOU, and your choice, in the end, may depend on your depth of interest. I'm just looking back on two separate trips to Pompeii, and how much more I got out of it the 2nd time (from Sorrento) with more hours spent exploring. The first, many years ago, was with a group on one of those 2-hour tours from Naples, on a brutally hot day. 2nd time, in early October, was plenty warm enough but not as punishing.

Whatever you decide, I HIGHLY recommend doing some reading up before you go as it really is a vast, complex, fascinating site! The official website has an extensive ,142-page guide in English, with maps and photos, that is as good a place to start as any:

http://pompeiisites.org/wp-content/uploads/A-Guide-to-the-Pompeii-Excavations-2.pdf

We took a day trip from Rome with City Wonders. It included stops at Vesuvius (short hike to the top of you wanted) and a pizza lunch. Then we toured the Pompeii site with a local guide (different than the one on the bus). I think they split us up into two smaller groups for that. I’m sure we didn’t see all of Pompeii but we were satisfied and the tour ran smoothly. Doable as a day trip, in my opinion, if you don’t want to spend hours and hours at Pompeii. We were back in Rome at a reasonable time for dinner. We had priced out train tickets for a DYI trip, but the end price was pretty even between the tour and the DIY.

Imo after spending 4 nights in Naples, I’d MUCH rather make it a day trip from Rome than relocate to Naples for a night.

Naples is, imo, avoidable. Especially given what’s in the area. I’d rather get back and have dinner in Rome than a full day in Naples personally

The best stuff dug out from Pompeii is in Naples' Archaeological Museum not at the site.

In the same museum one can see the Farnese Collection, the mosaic with the oldest portrait of Alexander the Great and a Cup known as Cesar's wedding gift to Cleopatra.

There is nothing comparable in the area if you are interested in understanding how the people of Pompeii actually lived.

We took our kids to Rome the Dec. before COVID. (great time to travel- no lines !)
Two tips
1- take the train to Nalples from the station in Rome, and then just swith to the train to Pompeii - inexpensive and easy (I think Rick spells this out in his Rome guidebook)
note: we met 2 tourists in Pompeii who had rented a car and driven to Pompeii. They got so stuck in traffick they missed Pompeii completely, as it closed when they got there. Taxi woudl have been same issue.
2. Hire a private guide. Ours met us at the entrance.
Pompeii is an actual city (meaning large) and without the guide you could just wander around clueless for hours. Plus, they are really smart and you will learn a lot.