From Naples to Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Mt Vesuvius in a day

I spent 5 days in Naples and saw most of the Pompeii sites. They are all great, my favorites were Oplontis and the Villa dei Misteri, aside from the main Pompeii site. I think your best bet given your limited time would be a private tour so you can dictate what you want to see. I've actually been to Pompeii 3x now (it's that cool). First time, my husband and I got there within an hour of closing and no one kicked us out. It was very cool having the place to ourselves. We downloaded Rick's audio guide for that,it was OK. Second time I went alone and did a tour from one of the site's guides. He was sort of entertaining but just did the main parts and didn't really get into much detail about anything. It was a little better than the audio guide. Third time I saw everything I'd missed at Pompeii and also went to Villa dei Misteri, which blew my mind.

Oplontis is like a mansion or estate, and really gives a feel for how the wealthy/powerful lived in those days. The expanse of it is incredible and a lot of the frescoes are in place there as well.

Herculaneum is unique for being so contained and for multiple stories being intact. Approaching the site it looks like a group an apartment building construction site. It's a very manageable site to see everything.

Vesuvius will take a little while, 3 hrs or so.

The tour guides employed at Pompeii give a 1 hrs tour that just covers the main things people have heard of. To see it properly you should give yourself 3hrs and include a half hr for the Villa.

if I were taking a friend to the area and we only had a day,I would do 2.5 hrs at Pompeii & the Villa, lunch, skip Vesuvius but do Herculaneum and Oplontis. And I would want a guide at Pompeii who would hopefully also be our driver.

Probably the best way to do your itinerary would be

9a Pompeii and Villa
12p lunch
1-4p Vesuvius
6-7:30 Herculaneum

You will want a good guide at Pompeii to see everything. If you just want an overview you could spend less time and use one of the tour guides there. If you only spend 1.5 hrs at Pompeii with one of their guides, you can probably shuttle yourself around.

blame my iPad for any typos

Each ONE of these is easy and economical on your own. Doing all three in one day (and sleeping in Naples, I hope) is (opinion) a tick-the-boxes nightmare. You should eliminate one choice, probably the forgettable (opinon) Vesuvius. After all, the point is where the ash came from, and you can see it from all the other sites. You certainly need expensive professional supervision to do all three in one day. Be prepared to cut the third choice when you get the price quotes.

Regarding the proposed schedule, it has been my experience (in every country, including the US, but especially in Italy ... ) that you do not get to remain in a museum/site up until the stroke of the closing time. I realize that reply described a different experience. But considering the limited time that schedule leaves for Herculaneum .... .... "are you feeling lucky?"

Very late EDIT: I missed the "Burien, WA" the first time around. It's not right next door, but it's accessible to Mt. St. Helens. For goodness sake, forget about walking on Vesuvius. You won't miss it for a moment.

Stephanie, I'll go along with the others who've recommended dropping Vesuvius. You're going to see it looming over Pompeii, and it's somehow more poignant from that perspective.

Pompeii is much, much bigger than the first-time visitor imagines. We spent 5 hours there (my 2nd time) and didn't cover it all but most people do just some of the highlights in 3 hours or so. Anyway, I'm thinking you're going to be burned out after doing both that one and Herculaneum, and trying to work in time to hike up/around Vesuvius (you have to hoof it a steep 30 minutes or so from the parking area) too would be overload. Definitely skip it if the weather isn't wonderful.

I read the descriptions of Vesuvius and decided to skip it. Is the National Archaeology Museum in Naples on your itinerary? It is a must-see - most of the artwork from Pompeii, Herculaneum, etc., are on display there, as well as "more stuff."

Yes, I agree with Tim that this is a rough proposed schedule which will leave you very tired and rushing all day and cutting things down to the wire, but you never know how determined someone is - so if you've dreamed of going to Vesuvius since you were a kid, I think it would be possible, if incredibly exhausting and rushed...I have done days like this when I had non-negotiable must-sees on my list and limited time, but in that case I would really hope you have a super relaxing day planned for afterward.

IF you are not dead set on Vesuvius but rather just think you should go because it's one of the main things to do in the area, I would skip it.

If you are really into ancient sites/archaeology/history, I think Pompeii/Villa in the morning and early afternoon and Oplontis and Herculaneum in the afternoon/early evening is doable even on the train - I did Oplontis and Herculaneum in one day after starting out from Naples on the CV at 1pm, and I felt like I spent a good amount of time at each site.

Pompeii and Herculaneum in a day will be totally doable and less stressful and give you time to have a leisurely lunch to recoup after Pompeii.

I'm assuming you're in good health and are OK to spend all day walking as well. I regularly walk 5-8 miles/day in my everyday life and I was pretty beat after my days on these sites.

After 8 visits to various sites in the area, I'm going to disagree that they will kick you out right on time or early. But they WILL require you to give your audio tour back right on time if you get one. If you don't, they will keep your ID - and the person manning that booth leaves, so there isn't any recourse except coming back the next day. When I was at Herculaneum, the audio tour had to be returned by 4pm, much earlier than the site closes. So that's something to keep in mind - you would need to either have your own guide, go earlier or download something on your own.

Tour guides employed by the site also stop doing tours much much earlier than the site closing time.

And yes, a lot of the best artifacts are at the museum in Naples. I would do the museum after you've been to the sites to have some context.

HTH

Edited to add - be sure to bring some kind of non-passport photo ID with you for things like this.

I can't guarantee your results, but my photocopied passport was cheerfully accepted at the Hadrian's Villa audioguide window, 2014. They did not want a credit card with a photo on it-their eyes showed fear of card fraud charges.

Regarding photo ID, I use my employee card. Less of a problem to replace than a driver's license in a worst-case scenario (the desk is closed so I can't retrieve it, have an early train out the next day).

I have never been to Italy. In July I am doing something similar to what you want to do, staying in Naples, going from Naples to Herculaneum and/or Pompeii, but I am skipping Mount Vesuvius. The other replies are probably right. On another day I am going to the Archaeology museum in Naples.

I haven't decided or figured out whether I should pay for a guided tour, on the internet, soon, for Pompeii, or just stick with recorded audio guide at the site(s).

After reading everyone's advice and mulling over what we REALLY wanted to see we decided that Mount Vesuvius was easy to miss and as someone mentioned we will get to see it anyway! We ended up going a totally different direction and booking one of the shared tours recommended by the Rick Steves book. If that doesn't get enough people we will go it on our own and plan on doing only Pompeii which is our only must see. If the day is moving quickly and we want more we can add in Herculaneum on the fly. Thanks everyone for the dose of reality.

I highly recommend not going all of those places in one day. Herculaneum over Pompeii any time! It is smaller, easier to get to and around and better preserved. It can been seen in 2 hours. Pompeii is a ton of walking between exhibits. The archeological museum in Naples has tons of artifacts to see as well.