Mt. Vesuvious & Pompei

Download the Rick Steve's Audio Tour of Pompeii for free!

I was only to Pompeii once about 10 years ago on a big bus tour. However I would do Rick's audio tour and forgo the guide. I returned from Rome earlier this month and had guided tour at the vatican only to get in to the museums early. For the Roman Forum we had Rick's Audio tour and it was nice to hit pause and stay at a location for as long as you like before moving on. I noticed sevearl big tours that day would stop by a sight, point some stuff out and move on skipping some items between their next stop down the forum. I liked at our own pace that day and I would do the same in Pompeii when I return in the future.

We were there last month. We hired a guide listed in Rick's book, Tony, and he was great. There is a train station right at Pompeii and you can catch a bus from there to go to Mt Vesuvious. Must say, that was a wild bus ride.

Personally, I think Mt. Vesuvious is over rated. It is a hole in the ground with a bunch of loose rocks around the top. If you have never seen or looked into a volcano it may be worth it. Pompeii on the other hand is super easy to do on your own via a quick train ride from Naples, hire a guide at the front gate and some a bunch of money over the tour. Pompeii is big and can be hot in the summer.

I saw Vesuvious as a kid and was unimpressed I've seen better volcanos since. I never went back. It's unimpressive up close. Skip the tour idea completely. If you need a guide for Pompeii, get one at the entrance, I guess. Being able to read, I did so beforehand and just picked up the cheapo brochure and diagram.

Hi Danny. Have you considered visiting Pompei and Herculaneum instead of Pompei and Vesuvius? We had a fantastic tour of Herculaneum & Pompei in early September (with a stop for lunch at a winery at the base of Vesuvius) and were very glad that we included Herculaneum in our plans. Herculaneum is better preserved than Pompei and our private guide (Sasha Bianco, who was outstanding!) insisted on taking us to Herculaneum first which really helped us when we visited Pompei in the afternoon because we already had a good picture of what the typical Roman villas were like at the time. I personally preferred Herculaneum over Pompei because it wasn't nearly as crowded, it's smaller/easier to navigate around and because it's so much better preserved, we were able to envision the town as it was in its heyday! Just a thought in case you hadn't considered seeing Herculaneum! I can't comment on Vesuvius itself because we didn't go up to the top of the volcano but I had seen pictures of it and it just didn't interest me as much as seeing Herculaneum. I also contemplated visiting Pompei and Herculaneum on our own as opposed to with a private guide and I'm so glad we opted for the guide. We had door-to-door transportation to/from our hotel in Sorrento and were able to stop for a leisurely lunch (and wine tasting) at the winery at the base of Vesuvius which we would not have had time for if we had tried to do everything on our own involving public transit. Have a wonderful trip. If you're interested in contacting the guide we used, I can provide you with his contact info. You can also see his reviews on Trip Advisor.

Hi Danny,
I have not been to Mt.Vesuvius but I know others that said a visit to the crater is interesting. For us we could only see it from a distance and we were happy with that. I agree that Herculaneum and Pompeii ruins is a better choice. Don't leave out the Archeological museum in Naples. However, your question is if a hired guide is worth the cost, I too had the same question prior to our trip to Italy. We decided to contact Dr.Pina Esposito and hired her services with a driver for an entire day, it was a lot of money for one day of touring. She injured herself and could not be with us on the tour so she made arrangements for an alternate guide, Dr.Nicola Pisco, to be with us. We had an incredible day with him. Our experience and memories couldn't have been better. If you want an educated experience, I would not hesitate for a second to spend money on an educated personal guide. If you want more of a walkabout, you would be fine without a personal guide. The private driver was also expensive but allowed us to pack in so much more in a day.

We did Herculaneum and Mt V in 2008. There were 'tour' vans (like 10 person vans) outside the train stn that we took up to Mt V...we just paid when we were ready to go. In Nov, you'd be best to check the times because in Sept, I think the last van up was at 4 pm? They won't want to have you up there in the dark. (The van ride was fun- there was one extra person and they got to sit on a folding chair in the van! The person behind had to prop the chair when heading up the very steep mtn so they wouldn't topple over). They drive about 3/4ths of the way up then give you about 75-90 min to walk up on your own. ********************************* NOTE - it is very strenuous and make sure you have proper footwear - sandals WILL NOT cut it on the loose gravelly soil. I had on sturdy boots, but my dang socks kept rolling down in them...lol. The views of Naples and area are amazing from the top. Hubby walked all the way around to look into the crater from a platform (had said it was worth it to take the van - his memory is as fuzzy as mine, but he's thinking something like 20 euro each...?), I stopped before that but could still see in. And the road up and down - nail biting - very twisty, hairpin turns - was fun watching the giant tour buses go around the corners - having to back up and adjust to make it around. About 3 hrs total...maybe you can trip advisor it...

Nicole is quite right about wearing proper shoes but I am reminded of the time my sister and I did that walk from the bus parking lot to the crater, both of us in our sensible footgear. Ahead of us were a very glamourous man & woman, dressed expensively in black, and looking like movie stars. She had on the highest stiletto heels I had ever seen and she managed the walk with no difficulty at all! Not for her the flat, comfortable & frumpy shoes we had on! A photo of her is in my album under "local heroes".

...I can barely walk in flat shoes on paved sidewalks without falling off the edge...lol. I guess for every clumsy person like me, there are 'genetically blessed' women who can pull off anything in stilettos! ;)

I have not been to either on foot, but did get to see Mt. Vesuvius from an airplane to Rome from the south. It was a cloudless sunny day, and the views from the plane were pretty spectacular. I doubted myself, so asked a flight attendant who confirmed.
If you are willing to get there on your own, do it. As mentioned before, grab Rick Steves' audio tour for Pompeii.

I did Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvious same day a few years ago in September, and it's very doable on your own. While I thought Mt. Vesuvious was interesting, it took up a lot of time. It was almost an hour by bus from Pompeii, so travel and visit were a good 4 hours. Buses from Pompeii to Mt. Vesuvious may be less frequent in late November (about hourly in season), so I'd plan around their schedule. Either head to Mt. Vesuvious first and then spend the afternoon visiting Pompeii, or vice versa. Closing hours of the sights are earlier that time of year, so keep that in mind. It was chilly at the top of Mt. Vesuvious even on a warm day, so plan for that too. You could save time by going to Mt. Vesuvious or returning from it via the Herculaneum Circumvesuiana station, but I don't have any experience with those shuttles.

I definitely would hire a guide for Pompeii. It is a very large area, easy to get lost in. And it's difficult to really understand what these ruins actually mean. There are always accredited guides for hire waiting for customers at the entry to the site. They give you a 2 hour tour so you get an overview and then you still can go and explore on your own. It's quite affordable, I think we paid about 50 Euros (or something like that) a few years back and had a very informative and entertaining tour for our family of four.

I have a question about this area...We are taking the circumvesuvius train from Naples to Pompei. We want to stop at Ercolana and Torre Annunziatta to see those ruins. Is the train an on-off situation so that we just buy a through ticket to Pompei or will we need to buy separate tickets for each segment?

Need to buy separate tickets for each segment. It is like a commuter train, not a hop on hop off bus.

Thank you Nigel.

Not true for the Circumvesuvious train. The standard ticket is valid for 180 minutes after being validated. There is a full day ticket available for 12 euro.

I stand corrected.