Day trip from Rome to Pompei

Yes, it's doable. I've done it in fact.
The site opens at 8:30am and closes at 6:00pm (last entry) during the summer season (Apr-Oct).
Travel time is 70min Rome to Naples + about 40 min to the Pompeii site with the Circumvesuviana commuter.

The first high speed Freccia train leave Rome at 7:35am. You are in Naples 70 min later. There is one high speed every hour on average plus also slower Intercity or Regionali trains (2hr+ instead of 70 min) in between.
The last Freccia train back to Rome departs from Naples at ~7:30pm, therefore you should probably leave the site shortly after 6pm. (actually there is a train at 6:26 with limited stops that gets you back to Naples faster, in just 20 min).

I think Google Street View is now available inside the ancient Pompeii, if you want to see a preview.

I've done this as well...it's a pretty long day but easily doable! We got back to Rome around 10 at night because we couldn't tear ourselves away from the ruins at Pompei until they kicked us out at closing...it's a very large excavation and you can't see all of it in a day. My husband is a photographer and he wanted to take photos with the light of the setting sun. The photos we have are fantastic! If you plan it out and select what you want to see though, you can do it.

There is an amazing architecture lecture series on YouTube from Yale - historical Roman architecture that you might enjoy. At least 4 of the lectures focus on Pompeii. We plan to do the same trip in July.

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