Pompeii (and Sorrento/Amalfi) after RS Rome tour

There are so many answers to your question that I have to suggest that you use the Search box to view just a few of the many opinions. I'm not rebuking you about Search, only hinting at the vast depth of information you have asked about! Just to pick one of your questions, comparing Pompeii and Herculaneum is like comparing Gent and Bruges or Brussels and Antwerp: You'll get vigorous opinions from partisans of each. It won't help you make a decision.

Do you know that the Frecciarossa is priced very high walk-up, quite low three months in advance, but non-changeable?

We can't answer question #1 without knowing how whether you are for-sure sleeping in, say, Sorrento. These questions are crucial, as well as knowing whether your objective is rest and cafes, or daily daytrips. Although you will face much less crowding than summer, you will have shorter daylight hours, fewer ferry services, and more danger of rough water. Because you have only two nights, it's not a mistake to see Pompeii on the way to Sorrento, but it is also not absolutely necessary. Check online climate data for rain probability and (possible) sun and heat at Pompeii.

No one has ever reported a problem with the Pompeii ticket office bag check here, and vast numbers of people use it. (We didn't, because we visited from Sorrento.)

Be sure to plan every detail of your departure if there are crucial deadlines, like a flight at FCO. You need multiple seats to get there.

Here is Pompeii website
http://pompeiisites.org/en/

There are places to fill your water inside as well as WC, snacks. The WC outside the entrance is 50C, inside is free.

Your plan looks doable. We did a Mondo Guide tour that was 2 hours then stayed on for another hour by ourselves, probably would have stayed longer but it was pouring down rain.

Here is Circumvesuviana info:
https://www.positano.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule?timetable_route=napoli_sorrento

Tim, I'm sorry about the details and the number of questions. I tried to organize it and provide adequate details. I know about the train and will probably prepurchase those tickets. We are staying two nights in Sorrento. We will have been in Italy 3 weeks. We are not leaving for home from Sorrento. We will train back to Rome for a night before leaving home. I did use the search function some, as well as read a couple guidebooks and watched a few videos. A tip for people with searches on the RS forum is to actually use BING or google and put "forum" into the search bar.

In terms of Herculaneum, I was wondering from the perspective of someone with moderate interest in Pompeii, would the trip to Herculaneum, add much. It doesn't sound like its as visually striking though I know its less busy. We won't climb to the top of Vesuvius, I've climbed to the top of volcanoes before.

With only 2 nights, 1 full day in Sorrento, I think your plan to stop at Pompeii on the way to Sorrento makes sense. The other option would be to stop on the way back to Rome, assuming that's your plan. I've used the free baggage check at the Porta Marina entrance and found it safe and efficient, although I agree it's not wise to leave any valuables. As a side note, I think you should be carrying your cash and credit cards in a safer place than your luggage, such as in a money belt. I believe there are a couple of water fountains in Pompeii, although not necessarily near the bathrooms. You could also either take bottled water with you or buy it at the cafeteria. Herculaneum is different from Pompeii, much smaller with many buildings better preserved. I enjoyed both it and Pompeii, so it's a matter of personal preference. With so little time, I wouldn't venture beyond Sorrento. Even a trip to Positano would chew up about a half day. Sorrento will still be lively that time of year as seasonal businesses don't close until after the Christmas holiday visitors have departed.

Ah, thanks, Christine. Usually the RS guide has the website, this time not. I will admit to only trying BING, google may have found it. It looks like a great site, too, and was amused to see Geronimo Stilton! The timing info is helpful. The water question may have sounded ridiculous, but I find in many places in Europe, water fountains are not the easiest to find and I would think especially in a large archeological sight.

Oh absolutely, Frank. I typically have my credit cards and cash in a cross body bag, but I try to keep that very light, because except for in transit, that's what I carry around. In transit between cities, on trains, I often will opt for a money belt, especially if I may dose. Thanks for the great info. You've confirmed my thinking, I think we will plan to just stay put in Sorrento once we get there. I'm sure Capri is nice and maybe Positano, but I don't want to do a lot of running around in my limited time.

Doing Pompeii on the return to Rome was a thought. Our hesitation is that we want to prepurchase that Naples back to Rome ticket so we'd have to commit to a time. I think I would want more flexibility in Pompeii and it could be risky.

In November, and given the limited time in the area, I’d just stay in Naples. There’s nothing much special about Sorrento that demands staying there. It’s more of a pleasant and convenient jumping off point for the area, but you won’t be doing much jumping off. At that point in the season, it may be fairly dead.?Additionally, while your timeline that day is doable, it’s also a little tight and assumes everything will sync up. It may not, and will suddenly feel constricted.

I would stay in Naples, enjoy the city your first day there. Then see Pompeii the next day, at your own pace. I would definitely recommend also seeing Herculaneum if you are up to it after. They are very different sites and I found them equally fascinating for different reasons. I saw them both in the same day and it’s very doable. See Pompeii first, it’s big and time consuming. Herculaneum is compact and easy to digest.

You’re tacking this onto the end of a full tour. I feel like a little less is more in this situation. You’ll have a chance to do things on your own and you may be a little burned out. Give yourself a little room to breathe. Also, there’s no rule you have to have breakfast with everyone. Just bail and do your thing!

In transit between cities, on trains, I often will opt for a money
belt, especially if I may dose.

Jules, absolutely you will want to put anything of importance in your moneybelt at least for the Naples>Pompeii> Sorrento journey. While neither my husband or myself can tolerate moneybelts, we do use other methods of protecting our valuables: they're never carried in exterior pockets or unprotected bags (we have a locking Pacsafe shoulder bag). That said, as long as you're used to the belt then you're good to go.

While the bare-bones Circumvesuviana commuter train isn't the horror it's often made out to be - or at least not if you've taken public transit in other cities, such as the "L" in Chicago - one does need to keep a firm hand on their goodies when riding this one. Oh, and there's pretty much no chance you'll be snoozing on it either. :O)

from the perspective of someone with moderate interest in Pompeii, would the trip to Herculaneum, add much.

That is a hugely helpful detail. I agree that you can safely skip Herculaneum. (We did both, plus Oplontis.) It also helps that Herc is a 15 minute downhill walk from the train station, while Pompeii is virtually "at" the train station. Note for other readers: You cannot exit either site and re-enter on the same-day ticket. (The food inside Pompeii is perfectly fine tourist cafe stuff. Herculaneum has a few awful vending machines, no restaurant.) I also think you can skip the Archaeology Museum in Naples. I actually liked the Farnese Marbles better than the Pompeii collection.

I agree that Sorrento is a post-war, purpose-built, reinforced concrete resort city (without decent beaches) on a beautiful cliff. But I sense (reading between the lines) that Naples' long-past history of culture and local domination (see the movie, "That Hamilton Woman", for example) is NOT a priority for you. The questions you will be asked at cocktail parties will be about Sorrento, Capri, and Positano, not so much about Naples. We slept five nights in Sorrento for transit connections, and were happy with our (summer) decision. We slept one night in Naples, partly because our flight from a London stay arrived so late. Transportation in the South is not like in the North.

You didn't mention any ferries, and Capri is a whole day, so maybe you don't even have time to consider it.

Edit: Typo "your" corrected to "our"

Thanks Tim. We are not beachy, trendy folks, so that isn't really why Sorrento was chosen. I do love cocktails, but we are rarely invited to cocktail parties, and I tend to be one that does "odd" adventures in comparison to my neighbors anyway. I planned our Italy trip up to the RS Rome tour, and then we wanted/had a few days after to add some things. It came down to a choice of time in Tuscany/umbria vs. seeing Pompeii/relaxing A BIT. I've never been to Italy and had to make some choices. I did a fair amount of research into what I wanted to see and do, and had to make some hard choices, plus taking into account that our travels will start mid October (weather). We choose to skip Venice because its close to other countries we plan to visit in the future. I wanted to go to Milan for the Lord's Supper and Duomo, but it got cut for lack of time. Also wanted to go to Pisa, Lucca, Ovieto and Assisi and it was decided that we might enjoy those more on another trip more devoted to those specific areas. I anticipate that we will like Northern Italy more than southern. We choose to try a RS tour and choose Rome because we felt that city is greatly benefited by a guide for information and logistics. Although I think we have an interest in Sicily, I'm not sure how much interest we have in other places in the south of Italy. Husband felt that Pompeii should really be seen so it seemed to logistically fit best with this trip. I actually threw out to the forum where would the best place to stay be for Pompeii? The answer that the city of Pompeii has not been pleasant since 79 AD, put a smile on my face. Sorrento was chosen because we will already have spent considerable time in Florence and Rome so a smaller city was preferred plus nothing in Naples calls out to me and I'm glad to hear that missing the Naples museum might not be the worst thing in the world. It also gives us a brief taste of Amalfi which looks beautiful but may end up not being our cup of tea.

Another consideration for us was budget, specifically airfare. To save a fair bit and to enjoy a beautiful train ride, we choose to fly into zurich, train to Varenna for 2 nights, Cinque Terre (Manarola) for 2 nights, Florence for 3 nights and Siena for 2 nights prior to our Rome tour. We are flying home from Rome to avoid backtracking and because the cost of train to a less expensive city didn't make it that worthwhile. We aren't staying longer in Como or CT, because I'm thinking the weather may not be awesome.

So that's why made the decisions we did. I do like to keep our travels somewhat flexible, but also really use a map and train map to make decisions. In our travels, sometimes we do day trips, but less than many on the forum. We are happier packing up and moving on vs. backtracking, plus we don't pack much. I also determine on my own what I think I might want to see which helps me determine how much time I need in a particular city. I've traveled a lot, and I'm quite good at developing itineraries. I've already planned out additional trips to Spain, Portugal and France grouping specific regions together that make geographic sense much like the plan to pick up Venice and possibly Milan on a future trip.

So that was my method for my madness ;)

Now giving some thought to taking the regional train from Naples to Rome. It will cost me an hour, but provides a lot more flexibility. I will still buy the fast train for Rome to Naples to get me to Pompeii earlier.

Is missing X, Y or Z the worst thing in the world? Of course not. Will you have a great trip without them - sure, it's Italy. There are no bad choices, only items left for next time.

My opinions: The Naples arch. museum is a wow. Most of the artwork, especially mosaics, from the destroyed towns (not just Pompeii) are wonderful . . . and there are so many. Pompeii takes as long as your interest holds. I spent most of a day there, including the long, but worthwhile, walk to the Villa dei Misteri and its well-preserved frescoes. I didn't bother with the longish walk to the amphitheatre. Naples is an interesting city, much cheaper than Sorrento, and with excellent food. If you only have 2 nights, I'd stay there. It's not worth the schlep to Sorrento and you're pushing it to try to see the Amalfi Coast with only one full day (and what if the weather isn't good?). I found the rugged coastline to be very beautiful, the villages just meh. With limited time, Pompeii is usually a better choice than Herculaneum. However, if it's raining, Herculaneum might be better. Pompeii is quite difficult to walk in places - I went on a sunny day and some bits were not at all easy. I was at Herculaneum on a rainy day (take a picnic lunch) and it was still enjoyable.

Allow enough time at the Naples train station to get between the Circumvesuviana and the "real" trains. Yes, the Circumvesuviana ride is about 1/2 hour, the trains run roughly twice an hour and are usually not on time. In November they aren't likely to be crowded and wearing coats or jackets, you aren't so likely to be pickpocketed either. If you go to Pompeii from Rome, you can pick up sandwiches and drinks at the train station in Rome or Naples and not worry about what you will or won't find at the Pompeii cafeteria.

Hi Chani! An arch musuem. Interesting! Realized when thinking about your comment, that I actually have 3 nights in Sorrento. I have a split reservation since booking.com, which I don't use that much, erred and to fix it, the inn and I just booked directly for the first night of our stay. So, I think I will have enough time to get a sense of Amalfi. It wasn't a priority, but I think it will be relaxing. I think I will still try to make Pompeii work en route from Rome to Sorrento. Then if we have interest, we can see Herculaneum on the way back to Rome. Given your discussion of the local trains, I'm not going to prebook for the faster train back to Rome and will just make use of the local trains. It sounds to me like I'd have to build so much of a buffer because of the inconsistency of the local train that its not worth purchasing the expensive ticket. I'm still going to use the fast train Rome to Naples to get us to Pompeii faster.

I don't feel as stressed about itinerary/choices for Italy. Its so small and long and thin. To return to pick up some things on another trip, doesn't take as much time as trying to go back and pick up a few things we would have liked to do in Spain's pueblos blancos!