Day trip from Rome to Pompeii stopping in Naples on way back

That is a really long day trip spending most of your time in transit. You could take a high speed train to Naples and the Circumvesuviuana train from Naples to Pompeii Scaavi. If you are really lucky, it would take a bit more than two hours without a stop in Naples. You would want to purchase the high speed train to Naples in advance to save money. I wouldn't advise prepurchasing the high speed train back, however, the timing with the Circumvesuviana train is too unpredictable.

You might consider a trip from Rome to Ostia Antica. It is a short ride on public transportation. It is an ancient Rome seaport from approximately the same time period. It's beautiful there. You have similar ruins but in the midst of grass, wild flowers and trees.

Marie, here are some very good instructions from a great resource for train travel in Italy/Europe:

https://www.seat61.com/places-of-interest/day-trip-to-pompeii.htm

I wouldn't worry much about getting advance tickets for Pompeii (the archeological site) in January as I don't expect the line will be all that bad in January. You might, however, be able to get economy-priced train tickets from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale (and back) if willing to commit to a specific date and time. Explore your options on Trenitalia or Italotreno (don't use Italiarail):

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
https://www.italotreno.it/en

The Circumvesuviana commuter train you'll take from Naples doesn't have reserved seating, and I don't believe tickets - which are REALLY cheap - can be purchased in advance: just do that when you get into Naples. Although delays are possible with this train (reference Jules' post) if you allow enough time in between this one and your train back to Rome - time enough for a leisurely dinner, for instance - you'll probably be OK buying super economy/economy Trenitalia or Italo tickets in advance, if available.

I agree with Kathy that tickets to Pompeii need not be purchased in advance. I was just in that area a few weeks ago and there were no lines for tickets for the ruins. However, there were huge lines at Pompeii Scaavi at the end of the day to purchase train tickets for either Sorrento or back to Naples and that's why I feel the timeline is a bit concerning. My inn in Sorrento also told me that it was risky to purchase the high speed train from Naples in advance because you never know what will transpire on the circumvesiviana. But, you could purchase your tickets for return to Naples when you buy your tickets to get to Pompeii or buy the return tickets when you arrive Pompeii rather than at the end of the day. Also, if you do your stop for Naples pizza at the end of the day, you do have some buffer. Lastly, if you do not pre purchase the high speed train back to Rome and feel the price is too high to purchase day of, you would have two other options. One would be the inexpensive regional train that takes about three hours, another is a train that takes about two hours.

I still would explore the idea of going to Ostia Antica. It would be quicker and much cheaper. We did a Rick Steves tour in Rome and went to Ostia. Our RS guide and some group members were discussing the choice some make of going to Pompeii on a day trip from Rome or the much closer Ostia. The consensus was that the day trip to Pompeii from Rome is long and expensive. That said, we really enjoyed both.

It is a long day but it will be well worth it. I’d suggest downloading the easy to use TrenItalia app or you could use their website. Enter Roma and Napoli for the stations. You’ll see listings for trains that take about an hour for the trip and it is advisable to book those early to get the best prices. (You should wait until the new schedules are posted in early December.)

I would recommend leaving Rome early in the day - 6:30 to 7:30 - and arriving at Pompeii about 2 hours later. Then after spending time to explore the site, return to Naples and, after that slice of pizza, head to the Archaeological Museum to see the artifacts recovered from the ruins of Pompeii. It will provide another dimension to your visit. Have another slice of pizza or gelato and an espresso and catch the express to Rome at 6 or 7.

If you haven’t bought it yet, get one of Rick’s excellent guidebooks. It has suggestions on visiting both sites, transportation, hiring guides and has self-guided tours of both the excavation and the museum.

adding on to Philip, we used the Pompeii walking tour on the RS app. It was quite good.

Naples is a substantial, very historic city. I like it, but you can't see much of it during the time span you have sketched out. You state clearly that your objectives are limited, and since you must change train lines (at the same station) in Naples, it's not a big deal to "glance" at Naples. I think you'll have no time wasted checking luggage?

There will be no line for Pompeii tickets in January, but you should be ready (back in Rome, I mean) with warm clothes and rain gear, if the final weather forecast indicates it. The plan for Circumvesuviana tickets is simply to buy two tickets for each of you when you are at the human attended window in Naples, on your way TO Pompeii. I imagine the reported long line was for multiple non-Italian language speakers learning how to use a single (?) vending MACHINE at the Pompeii Circumvesuviana station. If you already have a ticket, you simply have to Validate it before boarding in the machine mounted on the wall. Do not board without validating.

I personally WOULD buy advance Frecciarossa tickets for Rome-Naples-Rome because the cost savings are huge. You are planning a complex trip and it is not a burden to make firm assumptions about your allocation of time for the day. (I'm saying that even if the weather is good and you LOOOOOOve Pompeii, you cannot allocate more than four hours to your visit. But they are Non-changeable and Non-refundable train tickets.

You won't even have to wait on the sidewalk for 70 minutes for a pizza seat like we did in summer high season. But if you live near a city with an "authorized Neapolitan pizza oven" (hemispherical, tiled, maker's name, etc.) restaurant, you don't really need to spend time just to have "pizza in Naples." Of course the Italian ingredients are better, but it wasn't that different from the multiple authentic oven pies I've had in Manhattan and at Arthur Avenue, Bronx.

I'm surprised no one has told you must go to the Archaeology Museum in Naples. But on your schedule, unless the is an Art History major in the group, you don't have to go there.

I think Tim's strategy is best for the purchase of the Circumvesuviana tickets at Naples. We tried to do the same, except I speak little Italian and the person at the window was not understanding that we essentially needed two tickets per person in the direction of Sorrento, so we ended up getting just the train tickets to Pompeii Scavi. Just to clarify, there is a live person at the train ticket window at Pompeii Scavi. The one automated ticket machine was out of order.

You don’t seem to want to be in Naples so save it for another trip when you can spend at least one night in this historic city. We thought the pizza was incredible and cheap!
We went to Pompeii in the fall and there were no long lines. No lines that I recall. You can’t rush through it so take your time. We plan to return there.

Thanks for your post Jules. I don't feel confident that there will be a human ticket agent all winter at Pompeii Scavi Villa Misteri, although there OUGHT to be. Just like in the US, humans cost a lot, and public agencies in Southern Italy are trying to save every penny they can. I don't think there was an agent in Ercolano when we went there, the only place with a comparable passenger load. I honestly don't remember about Pompeii Scavi.

I agree, Tim, that one never quite knows what something is like until you get there. I will say that the train ticket machines were fairly easy to use, plus there was some kind of store and news stand, I think, so plenty of people to help.

Another thing my husband reminded me about the circumvesiviana was that towards Pompeii and Sorrento, there are two trains. At some point the train line splits. The trains are not labeled that we could see. We were told the platform and got on the first train that came. As luck would have it, that train was going to the city of Pompeii and not Pompeii scavi. I figured it out because I noted that some people that were talking about Pompeii did not get on the train. I asked folks on the train, no one spoke English well, but they were very kind and helpful. From them, we realized that we could get off the train before it split and wait until the next train which came in about 10 minutes. In the end, we didn't lose any time because we should have been on the train that left 10 minutes later, plus, the discussion with the local men was something that I treasure and will remember. They were explaining that I was going to Pompeii with cars and houses, when I wanted to go to Pompeii with "rocks". They even prompted us and watched for us to get off the train and wait. This isn't really as complicated as it sounds, I would just be sure to get the time for the train going to Pompeii Scavi and pay better attention than we did.

Good point about multiple Circumvesuviana lines. Luckily for us, a gracious local family saw our bags and (sans English) told us we had gotten on the wrong train. The Circumvesuviana station under the Naples Trenitalia station is quite modern, and I think it had electronic signboards by each track. I don't remember if we misunderstood the posting, or if the posting might have been wrong. That happens, once in a great while, in northern Europe! (Our destination was Sorrento, at the end of the line. So I don't see why we would have gotten on a train that was not posted "Sorrento".)

I also vaguely remember a unified signboard, electronic, at the top of the escalators to the Circumvesuviana trains, right after the manned ticket booth. That would have (theoretically) shown all of the "next trains" at once, for all tracks.

But, you could purchase your tickets for return to Naples when you buy
your tickets to get to Pompeii or buy the return tickets when you
arrive Pompeii rather than at the end of the day.

Yep, that's a good strategy. We did Pompeii from Sorrento and bought ritorno (return) tickets back to Sorrento at the same time we bought our tickets to the Pompeii Scavi - Villa Dei Misteri stop. Just remember to keep those tickets separate - one ticket for going TO Pompeii and one for coming BACK - and to validate them before boarding the trains.

I'm doing the same thing a few months after you. Another thing to consider is that there is a "tourist" train on the Circumvesuviana, the Campania Express, which provides advance purchases and seat selection. It's more expensive than the normal Circumvesuviana trains, but may be worth it for your peace of mind. Just search for the Campania Express scheduled arrival and departure times and see if they will work within your overall itinerary.

They don't for me, so I'll be hoofing it on the regular train with the fiddle players and gypsies holding fake babies.