Naples to Rome train

If you book in advance, you can save some money thanks to the discounted fares. If you get tickets on the day of travel, you are forced to pay the top, walk-up fare called Base on trenitalia.com and Flexi on italotreno.it/en Discounted fares are not available on the day.

All discounted and full fares have been uploaded on the official sites: enter a day of travel before December 11, an hour of departure in the late afternoon and calculate the price difference.

Unfortunately, you have to leave time for possible failure of the gritty Circumvesuviana train to meet its schedule. The transfer in Naples is easy enough, but a substantial indoor walk. An advance purchase discount Frecciarossa ticket will not be transferrable to the train preceding the one you have a ticket for. They asked me for the walk-up fare to do that, so we sat on our suitcases for an hour. The Frecciarossa is a special, really fast service, not just an express that skips some stops. It's essential for a same day runout.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-day-trip-from-rome-2c38f926-9036-480d-95fd-403dd7694e4a

The conventional wisdom here is that an encyclopedic visit to Pompeii (I'm making fun of myself, not you) can take 8 hours, but personal travel styles vary, as does the brutal sun and heat exposure there from May to September. The snack bar inside Pompeii is air conditioned.

Carolyn,

If you don't know what time you're going to leave, it would be better to buy tickets at the station on the day of travel, even though the price will be higher. Tickets for the express trains (ie: Frecciarossa) come with compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time. If you board any other train than the one listed on our ticket, you'll be subject to hefty fines which are collected on the spot! If you buy tickets in advance, you MUST commit to a specific departure and take the train listed on your ticket.

I normally use the ticket machines in the stations as they're very user friendly, but buying tickets online with my phone and the Trenitalia app are also an option (although that requires cellular access if WiFi isn't available).

My strategy would be different than other posters. First, while talking about "the express train", keep in mind there are many trains daily (just on Trenitalia, not counting Italo) and a multitude of transit times, from some just over an hour, to those that take just over 2 hours, to a 3 hour option.

I would just plan on a schedule and stick to it, maybe plan longer than what you may like to be in Naples, but a safe option. If I were doing this, and looking at an October schedule as an example (October 26th specifically), here is my plan.

Be at Termini in Rome to take the 6:50 train, that arrives in Naples at 8:02. Take the Circumvesuvia to Pompeii Scavi, getting there about 9:00. Tour the ruins on your own, using their audio app you download on your phone (My Pompeii) along with Ricks written or audio guide. I would spend about 3 hours there (until Noon). Yes, some will say pay lots of money for a guide, that is up to you. Some will say you need two days to see everything and still come up short. But honestly, especially with an 11 and 13 year old, after 3 hours of hitting the highlights, they (and maybe you) will think streets start to look the same, and you are simply seeing building after building of nothing much different.

Head back to Naples, you should get there about 1:00, then go seek out pizza. You could hit the Archeological Museum for a couple hours, or just wander around Naples, maybe try another pizza place.

Depending on plans, you could catch the train leaving just after 5:00 PM, getting you to Rome about 6:30, in time to freshen up and head to dinner. You can also plan leaving a little earlier....but not much, 3:00 PM at the earliest I would think, or later if you come up with a more extensive plan, the latest fast train leaves about 10:30 PM, but that is a long day with kids. Just pick the option that is the most comfortable for you, figuring if you have excess time, there are things to see around Naples to fill the time.

For the Circumvesuvia, just plan on about an hour to and from Pompeii. That has some slack for timing of catching the next train, and is a safe estimate. The train is dependable in one way, dependably slow. If you want a worst case, maybe an hour and a half each way.

We just did this trip the end of August. It was hot and there was little shade. The snack shop inside Pompeii did not have any seating (all tables were removed due to covid). Many areas were blocked off. You cannot follow Rick Steves walking tour because you get to a certain part and cannot go into the building he is instructing you to go. You cannot even go down the street.

We did book our return train in advanced, just make it for later in the afternoon / evening. We gave ourselves an hour and 1/2 to get back to Naples. We had plenty of time. We just decided we would cut off the Pompeii trip in order to get back. We did not see everything at Pompeii (I dont think you could do that in a single day anyways), however we saw enough to make it worthwhile.

Jeff G--we followed your advice and it worked perfectly to get us back to Naples in plenty of time to catch our train (especially because the train from Pompeii to Naples was delayed). Thanks!

Carolyn, thank you very much for "coming back" and reporting on your personal results.