Rick devotes a section on this in his Rome book and my girlfriend and I are thinking of doing this in October. Has anyone out there done it? How grueling is it? I'm sure it would be worth it but would like to hear your opinions on this. Thanks!
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
It's not a bad day at all. The train from Rome to Naples takes 1.5 hours. From there you change to the commuter train, the circumvesuviana, heading to Sorrento. It takes about half an hour to get to the pompeii scavi stop. This is where you get off for the ruins. A quick walk up the street puts you there.
The reason it's a hard day is that the site is so large. It was a real city after all. You could spend a week there and not see the whole site. If you decide to do it, which I highly recommend, start early, wear good walking shoes and take lots of water with you. Wear a hat as there are no trees at the site. The site is wonderful and well worth the visit if you have the time. If you think the ruins of the colosseum and the forum are great you will love Pompeii.
IF you decide not to see Pompeii, you may want to consider Ostia Antica. It is the ancient port city of Rome. It is a half hour outside of Rome and very easy to get to.
donna
Posted by
OP
Huntington Beach CA
1162 posts
Donna, did you spend time in Naples as well? I want to see the museum where the items from Pompeii are displayed and just want to have Pizza at Michele's also. Pompeii would be just amazing to see, a place I've been reading about since I was a kid so we really want to try to make it. We are keeping our options open and if we find we're exhausted ( we'll be in Rome at the end of our Italy trip) we may just go to Ostia Antica since it seems so much simpler!