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Colosseum, Pompeii and Naples Ferry Questions.

Posted by (Ohio) on

My trip to Naples, Ishchia, Pompeii and Rome is in 7 weeks! I am typically an over the top planner and would have all of this resolved by now, but my life is in chaos right now. I am a bit embarrased to ask some of these questions because I haven't done the proper research, so please be gentle.

  1. What to do recommend for Colosseum tickets? I have been to the Colosseum, but my 3 companions have never been to Rome. To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by being inside. My wish would be to have underground tickets. I am going to attempt to get up at 3 am 4 weeks out to get those, but I understand it is near impossible. What do you suggest?

  2. We are staying 2 nights in Pompeii so that we have a full day for the park and an afternoon for the city. I just attempted to buy park tickets but it looks like they only sell for one month at a time. Currently only February is on sale. Is this correct? I see there is a limit of 20,000 visitors per day. Is there a chance I won't be able to get tickets?? My crew isn't crazy about guides, but I have heard you can pick up a guide at the entrance, is this correct?

  3. From Naples we are staying in Forio, Ischia. Can you give me a website for Ferry tickets? Should I purchase ahead of time? Same question for the return trip.

THANKS!

Posted by
1312 posts

Finally, someone else agrees that the Colosseum interior is kind of a bust! I’ll die on this (Palatine) hill. IMO, I don’t imagine the underground tour to be any kind of an upgrade. I would exert your experience here and gently guide your crew away from entering in the first place. If they insist, I’d stick to the bare minimum.

You’re a step ahead of booking tickets around Pompeii etc. and can wait until a few weeks ahead. You’re not there in high season, so you should have no problems. Pompeii is massive, 20K visitors in a day won’t keep you out. Same with any ferries. Anecdotally, when I was in the area (late May about 8years ago) the folks at the ferry ticket booths all looked at me like I was crazy for trying to buy a ticket for the next day or even later the same day.

Posted by
1893 posts

The limit on Pompeii tickets will only cap capacity on the busiest of days. You don't mention when your trip is but unless it is deep in season you should be fine. Buying tickets ahead of time will save you time waiting in the ticket line outside, however, and is worth it.

Guides at the entrance are not offered by Pompeii - there are no official guides - and while all guides in Italy need to be tested and licensed there is no guarantee of personality or dedication. Rick's book has a good, basic walk through guide to the various sites. Note that if you are coming from town the entrance by the arena may be closer than the main gate.

Don't miss the semi-permanent working excavation site at Pompeii on Via dell’Abbondanza. You climb the stairs and walk over the working excavation site and see all levels of things being revealed from fully documented to still mostly buried. The site is best marked as Insula dei Casti Amanti and if you check the pictures you can see the how it is set up and the kinds of view you can get. I recommend watching the good recent documentaries about the new excavations for good background on Pompeii and the eruption.

With the time you have I would encourage you to look into Paestum as well.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

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