Pompeii train station

Get off at the Naples Centrale, head downstairs and take the Circumvesuviana train to Scavi station. Pompeii has lockers for luggage. It's the Circumvesuviana train you'll need anyway to get you to Sorrento.

Just did this trip last week (Rome to Sorrento with stop in Pompeii). As Allan said, take the train from Rome to Naples Centrale. When you exit the train, look for signs for Circumvesuviana (different, local train that connects Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento). The Circumvesuviana is technically in Garabaldi station, but that's located in the lower level of Naples Centrale. Signs will point the way. Buy your Circumvesuviana tickets on site that day.

From there, the Circumvesuviana stops at Pompeii Scavi. This way you avoid having to go to Pompeii town and making the trek to the ruins. The station here is small and manageable and is located immediately across from one of the main entrances to the Pompeii ruins. There is luggage storage at the train station and at the entrance to Pompeii ruins. If one is full, you can use the other.

When you're done, just head back to the same Pompeii Scavi station, buy tickets for Circumvesuviana again and head to Sorrento. It's very easy to use and the Circumvesuviana is cheap.

Happy travels!

Steve - is it easy with luggage to do the local train? What’s weird is the train from Rome to Naples costs like 150’euros for the 4 of us but the same train to Pompei is only 95 euros - weird - that’s why we thought about staying on to pompei and making the trek

Well, it's certainly not easy with luggage if you go to the modern Pompeii city stop on the long-distance rail line! You need to give us the Month and Year of your trip, but in general, it is difficult to find room on the Circumvesuviana, even without any luggage! Pompeii Scavi has excellent bag check options. And the Circumvesuviana stop is only 200' from the place.

As it happened, we went from our hotel, without luggage.

We are going in may - may 26th - that is why why planned on taking the train from Rome to the further train station and getting a cab to scavi to store our bags

since your next destination is Sorrento, you probably do not want to check your bags at the "Amphitheater" entrance to the Ancient City because you wish to exit by the "Porta Marina" exit of the ancient city. That has the Circumvesuviana train, which will take you to Sorrento. The train you took to modern Pompeii doesn't go to Sorrento. It goes to Salerno. Two very long busses or long ferry to Sorrento from Salerno. Is that your plan?

Not get off at modern Pompei to the ruins then either the local train - the circum … one - or maybe cab to sorrento

You are getting some conflicting and confusing advice up thread. Give us your schedule. Departing Rome, arriving Naples, or Sorrento. There maybe some other options. Days in Sorrento, etc. Steve's info is good but not sure about your ticket pricing. Exactly what are you trying to do?

Ok the plan is leave Rome on the 8:53 train on may 26th - it arrives in Pompei -not Pompei scavi - the other one - at 10:40 - we want to stay on the train from Rome since it will be easier with our bags - my original question is how to get from pompei station to Pompei scavi - taxi or walk ? Where we will store our bags - while we tour the ruins - then we are staying that evening and the next few in sorrento - we will either take the circum… local train - or a cab to our apartment - so my question Was mostly how to get from Pompeii station to Pompei -

You have to tell the Pompeii city taxi driver you want the longer and costlier ride to the Porta Marina entrance, so you can get the train to Sorrento. I'd print this on paper with a Google Map before you leave home, in case he has no English. He has never been asked to do this before. This is not walkable with luggage.

Alternatively, you could change to the Circumvesuviana in Naples. Be ready for heat and sun at Pompeii. There is food inside the ancient city if you need it.

If your apartment address is not an AirBnb secret, you might think about whether you need a taxi in Sorrento. Pompeii to Sorrento taxi could be 100 Euros, I don't know.

Do you know how crowded and hot the Circumvesuviana can be? Have you considered visiting Pompeii from Sorrento?

Edit: Note that the reason for this suggestion is that the train from the station you got off at continues on to Salerno, and doesn't go anywhere near Sorrento. It's not incredibly farther by taxi to the "other side" of the ancient site. You just have to be sure the cab driver takes you there, instead of to, perhaps, his usual destination, the Amfiteatro entrance closest to the Italo train stop!

You said you wanted to stay on the train. In fact, while it IS a long way to the Circumvesuviana from the regular train platforms in the Naples main station, it's all on newish marble tiles, with an escalator to go downstairs to the Circumvesuviana level. Does your luggage roll? BTW, posters on this board say the Pompeii scavi ticket booth luggage check counter is safe and reliable. It's up to you whether you stop at Pompeii on the way to Sorrento or not. As you can read, we think you are underestimating the time and heat to visit ancient Pompeii mid-day.

The reason I mentioned a taxi in Sorrento is that if you're staying at a discount hotel (like up on the mountainside), you might have a 20 Euro or more taxi in Sorrento. That would make a 100 Euro taxi from Pompeii scavi easier "to take", maybe?

Do you know how crowded and hot the Circumvesuviana can be? Have you
considered visiting Pompeii from Sorrento?

C'mon Tim, at least on the CV there's a floor show!

I would definitely take Tim's advice to check in at Sorrento and drop your bags, freshen up, before going to Pompei. Even if it's the next day. In fact, I'd get an early start from Sorrento, hop on the el cheapo Circumvesuviana, and getting on at Sorrento will guarantee you a seat. The 'floor show'--not all the time but quite often, are itinerant beggars & ragamuffins with marginal musical talent, usually banging on a pot or pan, and a concertina/accordion that looks like it's been run over by a train. They may badger you, usually only once, for money, and just ignore them--they're used to that. Giving them a Euro might help, or it might encourage them to play louder.

You get to Pompei Scavi entrance in about 40 minutes, and the ruins are right there. Depending on weather, I think 3-4 hours should be about max, and then you'll only see half the ruins, the site is that vast.

The problem is that you are traveling with luggage from Rome to Sorrento with a stop in Pompeii along the way. I agree with the previous posts that it is much smarter to travel directly from Rome to Sorrento and then do a day trip from Sorrento to Pompeii on another day. I would also avoid traveling on the local commuter train that serves Sorrento from Naples -- called the Circumvesuviana -- with luggage. It can be very hot and very crowded with no air conditioning. Also, with luggage you are an easy target for the pickpockets that prey on tourists. I've ridden this train and it reminded me very much of the New York subway in the 1970s.

Here is an easy solution. The Italo train company runs a high speed train from Rome to Naples with connecting bus service to Sorrento. It's all on one ticket and the bus meets the train at Naples' suburban station, Napoli Afragola. This means no hassle carrying luggage in a crowded urban train station and avoiding the miserable Circumvesuviana. There are two train/bus options on May 26--a 7:40 departure and a 12:30 departure. For more information, check out the Italo website at https://www.italotreno.it/en.

While I probably wouldn't do it again, we did exactly what has been described above not to do. No easy way from Salerno to Pompei, so we said whatthehell & took the train to Pompei town station. We decided that we'd try walking it only because was a picture-perfect day, 55-60 and sunny. It actually was quite the pleasant stroll, maybe 3/4 mile through Pompei-town, and past--I guess near their city hall--a sculpture in honor of 9/11, using one of the twisted girders from the World Trade Center. Unexpectedly, quite the charming little town. BTW, this was March 2015.

Got to the Porta Marina entrance, into the ruins and had a fabulous time. In 2015 you were allowed to bring a picnic but were sticklers on cleaning up after yourself, which we did, after setting up shop in some shade near the Colisseum, the one Pink Floyd played. So cool. The dogs were tired after 3 hours, however, and we took a cab from Scavi to Pompei-town station, and home.

Moral to the story is that if you have enough time in the day, and the weather is cooperating, you can get to the ruins a lot of different ways. Enjoy your planning!

Hi
As far as the circumvesuviana is concerned , do we need to buy the return ticket from Naples itself or there is ticket office at Pompei Scavi as well ??

Btw - what about the Campania Express ? Does it also come in the same circumvesuviana line ?

Naples rail station has an attended window downstairs that prints up Circumvesuviana tickets as you buy them. But if you are in Sorrento, Herculaneum, Pompeii, or Massa Lubrense, you buy pre-printed Circumvesuviana tickets from a newsstand near the train station, and validate it in a machine on the platform before boarding. The stations tend to be unattended. Fares are different Naples-Pompeii Scavi and Naples-Sorrento.

Edit: I should add that it is not true that no one can visit Pompeii on the way somewhere with luggage. A typical such visitor might be a sure-footed person with only a convertible back-pack-carryon, who only wants to spend two or three hours at Pompeii. Most of this long discussion thread is not about such a traveler. Luggage is not permitted inside, but Pompeii has reliable, staffed, luggage storage counters near the ticket booths.

Note that if you do not have public transportation in your home area, you may be unaware that it is a breach of etiquette to WEAR a backpack on public transportation. After you have been hit in the face by such a traveler's backpack, when they suddenly turn around, you will understand why that intrusion on your personal rights exists.

Thank you . That gives a clear picture .

BTW - any idea how long you need to wait at the Naples ticket window during summer season ? And do the counter staff speak or understand any English ?

I would be coming from Rome on a half day trip , so was trying to estimate the journey time .

kundu, I wonder if this might be your first trip to Europe? Your trip will be less effort, and your welcome warmer if you keep some basic courtesy word translations handy before you interact with locals anywhere.

It's not reasonable to expect working-class ticket sellers to speak fluent English. But they know the English pronunciations of words like "Pompeii" and "Sorrento". This ticket window sells nothing but Circumvesuviana tickets, and has much shorter lines, with much simpler transactions than the long-distance ticket windows upstairs, and in other train stations. I would also hold up my fingers to emphasize my mispronunciation of (see the back of your Rick Steves or any other travel book) "due", "biglietti", and so on. You will make the "mistake" of saying "andate e rittorno" (because public transit tickets are typically identical for both directions), but they understand that you want "two tickets for each rider, for the Sorrento" (or Pompeii) Fare Zone.

The pay toilets in the Naples station are an equally long walk in entirely the opposite direction (left) from the bottom of the escalator that leads to the (right) Circumvesuviana level of the Naples Centrale station. Do not be confused by the other, historical, Garibaldi name for the lower level of the station.

Daytrip from Rome:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-day-trip-from-rome-2c38f926-9036-480d-95fd-403dd7694e4a

It is my vague memory that tickets bought at this window may not need to be validated in the machines on the platform, but I am not sure about that. For example, they may not "fit" in the slot on the validation machines. You might ask other travelers about that, if there is no sign telling you. But if they fit, it can't hurt to validate them.

Thanks Tim for your explanations .

No, not my first trip to Europe . But the train station staff at Paris as well as Amsterdam was pretty cool . We could get by with English only .

Why I am getting a bit paranoid is what I am reading on the Naples station and the trains to Pompeii being over crowded .
And a bit concerned on the safety as well as people are reporting unpleasant transactions even with ticket office staff ..

I can only say that our Naples ticket experience was satisfactory. And a kindly "local" managed to convey the information that we had stupidly failed to read the ceiling sign, and had sat down (!) on a train that was NOT going to Sorrento. (i.e. if you can sit down, the train is not going to Sorrento!)

You need to distinguish between "incredibly hot and jammed" and "dangerous". If you usually sit in a giant SUV's Captain's Chair to go to a mall, traveling by public transportation, anywhere, can be intimidating. I didn't worry about being asked for money (as I am every time I go to New York City weekly) by the accordionists, because I know they cannot possibly reach me in the elbow-to-elbow crowd. And if they had asked me, I would have shaken my head and said, "No, sorry." Because you have been to Europe before, you will know that street crime, possibly with the exception of pickpocketing, is vastly lower in Europe than in the USA.

It's a bad comparison, but when I asked my company's paid translator, in 1987, in Granada (my first trip to Europe), "Why is that guitarist allowed into the restaurant?", she looked at me like I was from another planet, and said, "But ... he has no other ... work."

Like hotel reviews, you need to get a broad sample of comments, not just rely (sorry to stereotype you) on a Facebook post about something awful that happened to "my sister's nanny's cousin". Southern Italy has been starved of infrastructure money and government grants "from the North" for decades. It is simply not run with even the (Ironica typeface) limited ... rigor ... of Northern Italy.