Ciao! We are staying in Sorrento the end of August and will have a rental car. We'd like to visit Pompeii. Can you show up and tour? Do you need to purchase tickets in advance? I'm not sure how it works.. is there good parkign for our rental car?
Grazie!
Kelly, if you're staying in Sorrento, don't drive to Pompeii. Take the Circumvesuviana local train. It stops right at the entrance to Pompeii. You don't need advance tickets. At the entrance, all kinds of free-lance guides will approach you. We toured it on our own & I don't think we missed much. It's an extremely interesting place to visit, as you might imagine.
take the train to to Pompeii
download the RS podcast and you are set to go!
as others have said, you just pay the admission at the entrance
when I was there a few weeks ago, I did it on my own and listened in on other tours where I could....cheap I know but it allowed me to go at my own pace and see all I wanted to see
Indeed, very cheap, considering how little the tour guides actually earn ... and NO, going with a tour guide does not mean that you cannot go at your own pace and don't see all you wanted to see. Quite the opposite! Having a guide will allow you to actually FIND what you want to see in this huge maze. And after your 2 hour tour is done you can stay as long as you like to see anything else you desire.
you can also pay and use the audio guide which is there
or
stay close enough to one of the tons of group tours
when I was there a few weeks ago, I did it on my own and listened in on other tours where I could....cheap I know but it allowed me to go at my own pace and see all I wanted to see
I don't know why everyone here is so anti-car. A couple horror stories from timid drivers scares everyone away from the freedom of having your own wheels. Makes no sense to pay for a rental car and then pay again for public transportation or taxis. There are plenty of lots around Pompeii. In fact, you'll see many eager lot attendants trying for your business. And, with a car, it makes it VERY easy to also climb Vesuvius and see Herculaneum that same day.
There is parking at Pompeii but very expensive. We paid 20 Euro for the day. You can get the parking fee reimbursed if you purchase a full meal at the adjacent restaurant. However, for the 4 of us that would have been even more expensive. And we had brought a picknick lunch anyways and had a wonderful experience eating it right in the middle of the site :-)
You can just show up and purchase your tickets. I highly recommend to hire a tour guide as well. The site is HUGE and you get so much more out of it than touring it on your own. My cousin is a history buff and told us that skipping the guide was the biggest mistake during his Italy tour (he used a comprehensive guide book and audio guide). And these guides aren't very expensive, I think we paid less than 50 Euro for a 2 hour tour. They are accredited by the authorities, have their badges and will be waiting for clients right at the gate.
