Day Trip with Guides from Rome to Pompeii/Amalfi

Rome to Pompeii is just barely doable for a daytrip by train or car, a little over 2 hours each way. But to get over to the Amalfi Coast--to visit even Positano or Amalfi-town--is another 45 minutes. And then you have to go back.

I know that tour companies offer these options, but frankly that doesn't make them a good idea. Pompeii requires 3-4 hours alone to 'get' it. Early May is a great time to visit both places, but everything in one day is way too much, unless you plan on hiring a guide, rushing around like hell and then sleeping all the way back the 3+ hours to Rome.

Dowell, we haven't personally used this company but their various tours have been very highly rated by many RS forum members. This tour only stops at one town on the Amalfi (and I'm unsure for how long) but understand that the coast is some distance from Rome. As it is, just touring Pompeii + the drive time and stop in Positano is going to involve a looooong, 13-hour day.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/pompeii-tours-from-rome

Hopefully someone who has done this specific tour can jump in to give it a thumb-up or not. In any case, I'd do this before I'd book anything through Viator or other 3rd-party website.

An alternate suggestion? Go to Ostia Antica instead. It's much, much closer to Rome, can easily and very inexpensively gotten to by train, and the site has seen oodles of favorable reviews from travelers who've done it.

http://www.ostiaantica.beniculturali.it/en/index.php

Editing to add: we did Pompeii on our own from Sorrento so while we didn't use the company suggested above, we HAVE been to the scavi.

I would use Walks of Italy to do a tour like this. I am all about seizing the day, if your up for a long day with lots of "WOW" moments then go for it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not and you live and learn. We did an all Day Tuscany tour that was 13 hours and LOVED it. Then in France we did an all day to Mt St Michael that turned out to be a total wash due to delayed trains, but we still had an adventure and glad we went. You could also hire a private driver and create your own plan. One company I have researched is Amalfi Coast Destination Company, they have a good rating on Trip Advisor. We are using them for our time in Amalfi.

Just a tidbit: I just came back from London and explored tours to Stonehenge. It looked so easy and I was looking for easy. Some very highly rated tours looked great, leave in morning, come back that evening, leave the driving to us. And then I realized that due to travel time especially with traffic, and taking a lunch break, and waiting while the driver got in line for tickets, and (strangely) many people commenting that the lines for the restrooms were very long, and walking from the parking lot to Stonehenge, that I would be spending at least 6 hours that day NOT SEEING Stonehenge. The tour was only 7.5 hours and everyone said to spend 45 minutes to an hour in the visitor center. Doing the math, it was not a good option for us (although I know some say it doesn't take long to see Stonehenge...but I didn't want to feel rushed). I don't know anything about your proposed visit to Pompeii but I would make sure I made realistic time estimates about the time it takes to get there, and all those other little logistics associated with travel, so that you can compare when you actually start the tour vs. when you will leave. This seems like common sense, but I've heard too many people express disappointment that they didn't realize how they would be spending their day and just thought "a day at Stonehenge". Enjoy---I'm going to keep an eye on your post because someday I want to do the very thing you will be doing!

My family has booked a 4 hour private tour with roundtrip driver from Rome through https://privatetoursofpompeii.com/ for this June. They have excellent tripadvisor.com reviews and easy to work with by email. They offer different packages so just look at their website and email them with your questions. They take a very small reservation fee that you can pay with paypal. God luck.

Dowell, I assume you have some idea (google maps?) of the distance, time, and traffic involved. And that's why you want to engage a guide with a packaged product. As previously stated, you will be very dissapointed with the proportion of unproductive travel on this itinerary. It's not even a good idea to do just Pompeii FROM ROME.

Edit: My point was that you are perhaps depending on guides (for visits that are frequently done independently by many travelers each year) to make the most of limited time. But since it's almost universally stated here that Pompeii takes 4 hours to be, minimally, done properly, what we're really talking about is a guide skilled enough to make you think you saw "all" or "enough" of Pompeii that you can say you "did it." I don't think that's the best way to travel, but it's a matter of opinion, not of fact.

A term that's sometimes used here is "ticking the boxes" tourism.

Since there is only one two-lane road through much of the Amalfi coast, it is very hard for a guide's skill to speed up a trip to "one or two towns on the Amalfi coast." There are so many things to see around Rome, like Villa D'Este and Hadrian's Villa, it just isn't essential to include Pompeii on your first (?) trip to Italy, especially on these terms. We didn't see the Amalfi coast until we had been to Italy a few times.

Dear Travelers,
Yes, I understand the distances and time needed to cover this amount of activity. Within my $100.00 allotment from Rick Steves' , I bought his Italy maps. It includes diving distances/times in Italy in hours and miles. I am willing to invest the effort but need suggestions on the best tour/guides to maximize my trip experience. I can sleep and recover at home!!! Again, I am looking for others to accompany us on a custom tour on May 8th from Rome. Thanks to all of you.

My family has booked a 4 hour private tour with roundtrip driver from
Rome through https://privatetoursofpompeii.com/ for this June

Twinmom, a tour of Pompeii from Rome and back isn't possible in 4 hours. You need to add the travel time to and from the scavi. The link for the tour you booked is only for a "meeting point" at Pompeii; it doesn't cover how to get there. You probably customized it via email? What is the TOTAL time with transport your tour is supposed to take?

...need suggestions on the best tour/guides to maximize my trip
experience....Again, I am looking for others to accompany us on a
custom tour on May 8th from Rome.

Dowell, Walks of Italy is a great tour provider. I'm not sure what you're looking for in a "customized" tour that they don't offer, and why you are looking for others to join you? There will be others on that small-group tour. Is there something we're missing?

We took the Walks of Italy trip from Rome to Pompeii then down the gorgeous coast to Positano in October. It was a very long but very fabulous day. Left 7:30 am, back in Rome around 8:30pm. Truly wonderful, fun and thoroughly knowledgeable guides, nice rest stops both ways, really comfortable transportation with a great driver. This is a great tour which I highly recommend. Their guides are really terrific.

I was wondering the same thing as Kathy. How much customization do you want? Check out what some tours include, you may be surprised at value for money.

As for meeting a tour at Pompei, it's 1.25 hours from Roma to Napoli, then about 35 minutes (plus connection waiting time) to Pompei, same going back, if all the stars align.

In Italy, Zoe?! Expect to see some weirdly-shaped constellations, then... :)

Just to agree that seeing Pompeii and an Amalfi coast town, from Rome, in one day, really is "ticking the boxes" only. If that's what you want, go for it; it's your trip.

I saw Sorrento and Positano as a day trip (on my own) from Naples, and consider it a wasted day. These places aren't rewarding as "drive bys," but are places to settle in to. If I had schlepped all the way from Rome, I'd have been really miserable.