Pompeii tour - day trip from Rome

On your arrival day, most people are very exhausted (no matter what time their flight is scheduled to arrive). On the next day - your first real usable day in Europe - many people are still somewhat jet-lagged, so it's a good idea to plan a light schedule that day. I certainly would not do Pompeii on my arrival day. On the next day, maybe - although that's going to be a pretty long day if you are starting in Rome and going back there to sleep (Naples or Sorrento makes a better base for Pompeii). Any chance you could do something less demanding on your first day? If so, I'd juggle days accordingly.

When I visited Pompeii, I never felt a need for a guide. I found that the Rick Steves Italy book had good coverage for Pompeii.

I would only do this if you know you can sleep on the bus to Pompeii. The trip is entirely practical independently done, but not on arrival day. There are many past discussions of your idea (Search box top center.)

David said everything I was going to say. So:

On arrival day (day 1 in Italy) - don't even THINK of trying to see Pompeii.
The next day (day 2 in Italy) - some would try to see Pompeii, but I sure wouldn't. Remember that it's over 2 hours, each way, to get there and back from Rome. That's very tiring on top of jet lag.
The following day (day 3 in Italy) - this is the first day I'd consider a day trip from Rome to Pompeii.

If you don't have three days in Italy before your tour starts, seriously consider skipping Pompeii. I know how that can hurt, but it will hurt more to go there and wish you hadn't.

Guess I am the exception that proves the rule. I would do Pompeii the first day without a problem. To me walking that much is the perfect anti-dote for jet lag. Now, I do not think I would do it as a day trip from Rome because all those hours of transportation would be the killer. I would fall asleep on the bus/train to Pompeii and that would kill my day.

Lindsay, it's unclear if you are thinking about doing this on arrival day or on one of your other days in Rome? It's also unclear what tour you're taking (RS or other), if it includes Rome later in the trip, and if so for how many days?

Making the assumption that you're taking the 10-day RS Venice-Florence-Rome tour, I probably wouldn't take a day for Pompeii. The tour only spends 2 full days in Rome and there's so much to see in that city that I'd spend your pre-tour days seeing what it doesn't cover. Doing it on arrival day is definitely not advised as it's a huge and complex site which demands full attention. You also wouldn't want to book a tour for that day in case you experience a flight or other delay, nor do I think you'd have time to squeeze such a long day trip into the time you would have.

If wishing to see an excavation, Ostia Antica is much closer to Rome so would be easier to do on one of your free days.

If still intent on Pompeii on one of your full pre-tour days (how many will you have?), I personally wouldn't book a tour which goes to Pompeii from Rome by bus because they take so long to get there (appox 3 hours): it's much faster by train. You would need to take two of them to get there: "fast" train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale (abt. 1 hour) and then the local Circumvesuviana from Napoli Garibaldi (attached to Centrale) to Pompeii Scavi Villa dei Misteri station (abt. 30 minutes), which is right in front of the main entrance to the excavation. At that point you can choose to tour the site with a good map +Rick's free audio tour, and human tour guides are available at the entrance as well. We did it independently with a book purchased at the entrance bookshop.

I guess it comes down to how comfortable you are making this trip by yourself versus an escorted tour to/from Rome?

No matter when you do it, or if you do it independently or with a tour, it will still be a very, very loooong day. Just something to think about as over half a "normal" day will be spent in transit.

You certainly do NOT want to do that on your arrival day.

If you are talking about one of the other of your 'extra' days before the tour it is a long but doable day.

Thank you all of your feedback! To answer your question, I'm arriving in Rome on a Sunday morning, and will take a train to Venice before my 10 day Rick Steves tour (Venice/Florence/Rome) begins Tuesday afternoon. I'll spend a few extra days in Rome at the end of the tour. I was planning to stay the first day/night in Rome (at least), as I was thinking 5 nights in Venice was a little much. I'd love to see/stay somewhere other than Venice, like Verona perhaps? Somewhere easy to get to by train/close by. Thank you again for your thoughts/ideas!

thinking 5 nights in Venice was a little much

Maybe not to much at all. Easily spend a day or two in Verona, Vicenza, and Padua. And if you base in Venice you'll probably have the place to yourself in the evenings.

Re the days in Venice:

One of the delights (not all sleepyheads would agree) of days in Venice is to get up very early once - before anything is happening.

Get lost for while, see the first day workers arrive, the first gondolas arrive with fresh food for the restaurants, sunrise on the old palaces and canals, and almost no other tourists around. Stop in as the first customer at a cafe you stumble across.

Pretend you live there for few hours.