Pompeii in the afternoon

You can easily hire a guide once you get to Pompeii. Just take the circumvesuviana to the Pompeii Scavi stop. The walk to the entry of the ruins is about 5 minutes. At the ticket center you'll be able to hire a guide if you wish to do so. Wear a hat and bring some water. There's not much shade at the site and it gets very hot. Donna

You can also take your RS book and walk around yourself. Tour guides will be all over you begging for your business at the entrance. $450, seriously???

You can also get a lot out of the visit without hiring a guide. We arrived from the Pompeii Scavi station, looked for someone who sold the guidebook recommended in the Rick Steves' guide (at least it was a few years ago.) We didn't find it and bought by mistake a different guide book, not as good, but still in English and fine enough to guide us for several hours through the ruins. Ten bucks was all we needed to spend. As someone else advised, be sure you're prepared for the heat and sun. Also be sure to arrive early enough to give yourself time to see it all. Pompeii was much bigger than I imaged. I was not prepared for it at first. We spent four hours and enjoyed every minute.

As others have said, there's no shade to speak of at Pompeii and it's a big, spread out site. I would urge you to reconsider getting up early! (Especially as you'll be there in July.) Do Herculaneum in the afternoon instead - it's smaller and more complete so does have shade (I also found it more interesting than Pompeii). Instead of a live guide I used this for Pompeii: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/italy/article827664.ece

RS also has a downloadable podcast for Pompeii that we used. Mostly follows the book. Take lots of water-but here are fountains throughout the site.

Ditto....big place, go early......no shade,bring hat and water.....don't pay that much for a tour......the ticket office gives out a booklet and map.

For the $450 I assume that must include transportation. Don't do it. Train from Naples train station only takes about half hour and about 5 euro. Get off at the second Pompeii stop and ruins are only 5 minute walk away. Please try to get there early, we went in June last year in AM and it was very hot. We also took wash clothes in plastic bags and used the fountains there to wet ourselves down every once in a while. There are numerous guides waiting at the entrance if you choose to go that way. We did it on our own. Enjoy.

YOu guys are awesome...thanks for the help and confidence that we can do it on our own!!

So I am looking at the trains from Raileurope.com and there is a train from naples Napoli Centrale, to Pompei....but I was thinking RailEurope did not sell regional trains. I want to a make sure this is what I should be purchasing..or should I wait till I am there. I keep reading about this Circumvesuviana, a local commuter train - is that different then what is on RailEurope. Is there only one station in Pompei http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/point_to_point/schedules.htm?rows=&itemId=-1&fn=fsScRequest&cobrand=public&c=USD&roundtrip=0&from1=&to1=&fromCity1=&toCity1=&v=S&isAtocRequest=0&from0=naples&to0=Pompei&deptDate0=07%2F12%2F2011&time0=anytime&nA=1&nY=0&nC=0&nS=0&noLock=1 Thanks.

Ignore Rail Europe. You buy your ticket for the Circumvesuviana right before you board, and there is more than one Pompeii stop - you get off at Pompeii Scavi, as noted above.

You can also rent an audioguide at the ticket booth, they're pretty good. Last time I was there had for different amounts of time you wanted to spend, I think 1 or 2 hours, then 3, then 5 or thereabouts. Not too expensive. You do need to leave a passport (don't) or driver's license tho.

It is very easy AND affordable to hire a local guide at the entrace to the Pompeii site. They will give you a private tour for about 2 hours which is a great introduction considering how HUGE the area is to be covered. It will help you a lot to get oriented and will make it so much easier to explore the excavations on your own afterwards. We did 2 hours with a guide, had a picknick lunch and then did 2 hours on our own with just a guide book.

The train from Napoli Centrale to Pompei will deposit you in downtown Pompeii - you want to be in Pompeii Scavi to see the ruins. Only the Circumvesuviana goes from Napoli Centrale to Pompeii Scavii. Why do people keep on using RailEurope???

I would NEVER plan a tour of Pomeii on a July afternoon. Pompeii is horribly hot, and the cobblestones are punishing. You are going to need some excellent walking shoes, and lots of water. If you had to do a afternoon tour, Herculaneum is much better, because it will afford you a little shade. We really enjoyed Herc, because it is not just a barren, huge, burned out Roman city. Don't forget the museum in Naples. It is facinating because it has all of the artifacts that were found in Pompeii. It is a great place to spend a hot July afternoon! (and Pompeii could be fun in the early morning hours.)

The Roman city had two "i"s in its name and still does. "Scavare" means "to excavate" and in archeology "scavi" means "digs". Hence "Pompeii Scavi". Pompei (single "i") is the modern town that is one train stop away from the digs.