Looking for suggestions. My husband and I are staying in Rome in June and looking to head to Pompeii for the day. Question is, should we book a day tour with transport and a guide, or simply go on our own?
Looks like getting to the area is easy on the train, but then heading to the actual site is the larger, potentially more tricky part. Any suggestions for great guides (or ones to steer clear of) or other ideas would be very helpful!
Thanks all :)
Personally? What I would not do is a bus tour from Rome. They spend abt. 6 hours of road time (3 each way) for an average of just a couple of hours at the scavi....which is HUGE and benefits from more time. With a bus tour, your time is not your own; you need to be back on the bus when the tour is over.
High-speed train to Naples and then local Circumvesuviana commuter train to the site is the way to go, IMHO. Covering the bulk of the distance by 'fast' Trenitalia or Italo train shaves off some serious time. The Circ. commuter is a battered, un-lovely, un-airconditioned thing but it's cheap and gets the job done. You do want to keep a tight hand on your valuables when taking that one but heck, you want to do that on ANY sort of non-reserved public transit so no big deal.
You would take a 'fast' train to Napoli Centrale, and walk inside to the attached Napoli Garibaldi station; that's where you'll get the Circumvesuviana. You'll buy your tickets for that one at the station, they'll cost you just a few eruo, and you'll want to make SURE to validate them before boarding. You'll take the train to Pompei Scavi - Villa dei Misteri; the station right in front of the main entrance to the scavi. To go back to Naples, reverse the process. Below is a link to the current Circumvesuviana schedule; it's about 30-40 minutes between Pompeii Scavi and Naples. It's about 70 minutes by fast train from Naples to Rome; use the Trenitalia or Italo websites to explore your ticketing/timing options.
https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule
Guides: Mondo Shared Tours is a Rick Steves endorsed business that has seen many good reviews from posters who have used them plus they're very economically priced small-group tours. You'll meet your guide at the scavi, and when the tour is over you can do some more exploring on your own before heading back to Rome.
If interested in doing it this way, we can provide some greater detail on the hows but it is not difficult; lots of folks take it on themselves. :O)
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
https://www.italotreno.it/en
Personally, I would book a tour with transport and a guide. Pompeii from Rome is a very long day, and it will be less stressful if someone else takes care of the details and logistics, leaving you with more bandwidth to enjoy the ruins. Here is a link to a previous discussion on this topic.
We took day bus ride and was disappointed both with the lost time on the bus but also with Pompeii, guess I was expecting...more. What there was more of was tourists, and that was 20+ years ago. I would advise going on your way to or from somewhere as a stopover, maybe overnight etc.
I've done Both. Certainty the train from Rome is faster than when i did it in 2005. That said, i was really tired at the end of my pompei exploration (no guide but the RS book) and just didnt enjoy switching from the circumvesuvius to the Rome train. Not that there is anything complicated about it; i just didnt want to move once i sat down.
The tour - taken in 2013-included Vesuvius and lunch. I was with three others as wel. I thought it was convenient. Of course the time spent at Pompei was shorter; i think 2- hours max, i cant recall- and not enough time to see as much as i did on the first visit.
But the ride back was enjoyable. i slept! Overall easier.
Its a matter of preference.
You know, there's no right or wrong to it as long as it works for you. :O)
I just figure that too many hours spent sitting on transport are hours I could otherwise spend sightseeing, and a better per-day use of the $$ it took to get us to Italy. It's perfectly OK to feel otherwise.
How about a short trip to Ostia Antica just outside Rome, and save Pompeii for the next trip, which would spend adequate time in southern Italy?
