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Hiking mt Vesuvius vs Amalfi coast

Hello!

Me and my girlfriend are going on our first trip to Italy in October. We didn’t have enough time in the trip to do a whole day in this area, But we do have an extra day in Rome. We are looking at booking a tour that goes to Pompeii and visits the historical site.

Both tours are about the same Length at around 13 hours. One goes to Pompei and includes a hike up the volcano.

The other goes to Pompei And then takes you down the Amalfi coast and you get to stop in Positano for about two hours before heading back.

We are really just happy to be going, and conceive the reasons why we would like to do both. What do you all think would be better with such a constricted timeline?

Thanks in advance!

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Positano is very pretty but unless you are into shopping there is not much to do there; walk down the quite steep hill to the beach, wander through the shops along the street, grab something at one of the restaurants on the beach. It does give you a pleasant afternoon taking in some of the Italian beach scene.
The road between Pompeii and Positano is along the cliffs abd is quite twisty and I have read reports on the forum of people experiencing motion sickness.

Going up Vesuvius is quite weather dependent and rain, fog and low clouds can occur in October.

While Pompeii is an interesting site and worth seeing, not far from Rome is the ancient city of Ostia Antica, takes about an hour to get there by train from Rome. It has everything Pompeii has except for the tragic story of its demise and the hordes of visitors. Ostia was a port city and was deserted after the nearby river silted up and changed course. Ostia is a good choice if you decide you don’t want to have such an exhausting day.

Have you read Rick’s Rome guide, it covers both Pompeii and Ostia, his Italy guide would include Positano.