Going to Pompeii in May and wondering if we should do a guided tour of Pompeii or will we get sufficient information by doing a self tour. There are 7 adults some of whom are history buffs. Thank you for your opinions.
Posted by
San Diego, California
4882 posts
I'd recommend a guided tour. RSRecommends Mondo shared tours, with very reasonable prices, and we were happy with them. Pompeii is an incredible experience!
Safe travels.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
5725 posts
We did it on our own with the tour in the RS guide. Also, as discussed in another recent post, there is a fair amount available on PBS to watch before your trip. There is a 3 part Pompeii series and also there is at least one episode of NOVA devoted to Pompeii
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4153 posts
I've would recommend a guide and then another few hours on your own. Most of the guided tours are only 2 hours long which gives a few of the highlights but nothing more. We spent 12 hours over 2 days in Pompeii. I'd also recommend a trip Oplontis which is one train stop north of Pompeii Scavi.
Posted by
CA, USA
1133 posts
We've visited twice over the years and thought taking a guided tour was hands-down better than the first visit doing it on our own. Another vote for Mondo tours and since you have more than 6 people (the minimum so they don't cancel a tour) it is guaranteed to go.
Depending on how interested the group is in Pompeii you might want to contact Mondo (or another guide recommended in the RS book) to find out how much it would be for a longer tour. At 20E apiece for the Mondo tour listed on their website the 7 of you would already be in for 140E, it might not be all that much more to make it 3 hours or even longer. Also you can probably pick your start time if you have your own tour; my suggestion is 9am since there is little shade and it gets quite warm there.
Posted by
56 posts
Another vote for getting a guide.
We have only been once and thought we could do it on our own. We were wrong! I found it quite confusing and really didn't get enough out of the visit.
We have never made that mistake again, and hopefully we will get back one day to do it with a guide.
Posted by
Auckland
80 posts
100% recommend you hire a private guide for at least 2 hours, if not 3.
Plenty are available on the internet.
We did a group tour with ASKO of Pompeii and Herculaneum. We would have been lost without this. He navigated us to the key sites quickly and avoided the people traffic.
Private guides tend to be 60-100 euro an hour. If you pay 200 for 3 hours, that's 30 euro each, and well worth it.
If you need private guide recommendations, feel free to ask, I'm sure others can help. There is one who gets a lot of recommendations, but seems a bit strange to me..
I can look up the name of the Archaeologist we had. He was superb..