Paestum and Pompeii in One Day?

Cary ~ I have been to both and do not believe this can be done in one day. But my thinking is, do you really want to rush through an archaeological wonder of the world?!? Have fun as they are both amazing. We rented a book from our local library, which broke down each section of Pompeii... very helpful!

Probably possible. but I wouldn't try it. The distance between the two is not FAR - but it is a very convoluted autostrada where the road to Sorrento meets the two autostradas (A1 and A3 sort of merge there)

Which ever sight was your second visit would be robbed of sufficient time. We did Paestum and the Amalfi coast drive in one day, and Pompeii the day we left the area.

From Sorrento it's a long shot, but you can do Pompeii and Herculaneum in one day. Here you can compare many different tours specifically from Sorrento, it will give you an idea of what is feasible and the duration: http://www.isango.com/Search.aspx?RegionID=7811

Cary,
Will you have a rental car, if so, this is doable. My husband and I were in Sorrento last April and did both in the same day. We left our hotel at 8 and drove to Paestum arriving at around 10. We stayed for an hour (viewing grounds and musuem) then drove to Pompeii arriving at 1, had lunch at a pizzeria then headed into the grounds. It was tiring but worth it, we saw what we wanted and enjoyed it. If you are taking the train, it is not doable because the trains leaving Paestum back to Pompeii do not run on a regular basis, if I remember, the train arrived in Paestum from Pompeii at 10 and didn't depart again until 2 which is more time than needed. If this is something you truly wish to do, then rent a car and enjoy!

Amanda

Thank you all for your honest assessments. I don't like to rush through my sightseeing so I suppose it's better left for another trip.

Thank you all again.

Oh and I don't plan on getting a rental car so that makes it more difficult.

You can do both in one day.

Pompeii is easy from Sorrento; Pasteum is a bit more involved.

To Pompeii:
Just take the Circumvesuviana and get off at Pompeii.
The entrance to the site is a short walk down the hill from the station and to your left.

To Paestum:

Again, take the Circumvesuviana getting off at Pompeii.
Now you'll need to walk about 1.2 Kilometers along the main road that fronts the Pompeii site to the main Pompeii train station. From there get tickets to Paestum. The train will only stop for about 45 seconds at the Paestum platform. If you stay longer than the time allowance on the train ticket, you'll need to buy another ticket at the cafe' to get back.

Using the Trains, aside from renting a car, would be the only way to see both of these sites in one day.

There are two train stations in Pompei. The more popular one is the Scavi stop off of the Circumvesuviana train system. Sorrento is about 40 minutes from this stop. If you go out the back of the Pompei site and keep walking, you will come to the Trenitalia train station in Pompei. It's about a hour train ride to Paestum from Pompei on this train. CLICK HERE to see a sample train schedule. One big secret here is that you don't have to route back through Naples.

What I would do on this day is to go to Pompeii first on the earliest Circumvesuviana runs available and be one of the first in the entrance line. Then continue on to Paestum later in the day using the "secret" short cut to the main Train Station. Pompeii is open 8:30am to 5:pm, ticket sales stop at 6pm. Paestum opens at 9am, closes at 7pm. Paestum's Museum is closed 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month. The last Circumvesuviana from Pompeii to Sorrento leaves at about 11:25 PM, if I remember correctly.

We're looking for advice on where to stay and what to visit while enroute from Rome (Fiumicino) to Basilicata. We're coming from the USA via Madrid, so it will be a long day. We land at 12:30 pm in mid-July and will pick up a rental car and head south with our 15 year old son. We had been to Ravello, Paestum and Pompeii some years ago and would like to revisit them before continuing our journey. We never made it to Herculaneum as they were on strike while we were there. We thought we'd spend 2 nights at a hotel or agriturismo. Being jet-lagged, we expect we won't be able to do much after we get to our lodging on the first night. We plan on spending the next day in Pompeii, return to our hotel and then leave the following morning for either Herculaneum or Paestum and spend half the day there before going to Basillicata. We were also not sure of distances from Rome, but anticipate it taking about 3 hours. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.