Positano to Pompeii

There are a few ways to do it. 1. Take a ferry, bus, or taxi from Positano to Sorrento. From Sorrento, take the "Circumvesuviana" local train directly to the Pompeii entrance; 2. Take a ferry or bus from Positano to Salerno. From Salerno, take a train to Naples Central station, from which you can catch the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii; 3. Hire a private driver to take you door to door. Possibly your cruise line will have pre-arranged trips to Pompeii?

I would have thought Oceania would offer a Pompeii excursion, but they don''t. Rick's new Cruise Ports book doesn't include Positano but does detail the Circumvesuviana train from Naples or Sorrento so will look into booking that. Thanks for your help!

Are you docking in Naples and Positano? In my opinion, it is far easier to get to Pompeii from Naples. From the main train station, take the local train about 1/2 hour away and you get off at what I think is the second Pompeii stop. From Positano, you need to walk, no climb literally up the hill to the bus, then it is an hour by bus to Sorrento and then half hour by train to Pompeii. Take plenty of water, wear comfortable shoes and a hat, it will be hot.

Beth, You either want to see Pompeii via a tour booked from the ship, or you want to hire your own driver. A tour thru the ship means you switch your brain off and go where you're told when you're told...and that's cool. Otherwise, if you want to pay extra (or not) and do your own thing, a driver may be your solution...it can be more stressful, but the benefit is that you will see more and see what YOU want to see. That said, there are several approaches to your own driver...a driver/tour guide OR a driver and you do your own tour. The price will vary of course and I'd use tripadvisor.com to see what options may be out there and use their ratings as a guide. That's what my Mrs. and I do all the time and we've been fortunate to be stationed in Naples with the U.S. Navy for almost 3 years. I do have a driver (not tour guide) I can recommend out of Sorento...guy will take you like a champ and his price is reasonable, but you're on your own with regards what you'd like to see. With regards Pompeii...I wouldn't hire a guide when I get there. Instead, I'd buy Rick's book and do his walk from the Marina gate...it's the same walk the guides/cruise ships will take you on and it won't cost you 10 Euro a person...and Rick's walk hasn't changed since 79AD so a cheaper yesteryear copy of his book (check USED on amazon) will do you fine. Let me know if what I'm saying sounds like your cup-of-tea and I'll elaborate some details...also, Rick recommends a guy for the Amalfi coast drive in his book. We've used him and I'm sure he'd do Pompeii from Positano and he's great...but not free. Post up if you're interested and I'll go into greater detail. Pearse

So far I can't get an answer from Oceania about where exactly we dock but it seems like it might not be Positano regardless of what the itinerary says. Will research that further. Meanwhile thank you to everyone who replied!

I did a little reading on cruisecritic.com The info I gathered (about a year old) is: If the port listed is Amalfi/Positano - they mean Amalfi and list Positano as the nearest better-known place. Neither Amalfi nor Positano has docking facilities for cruise ships. They anchor off the coast and tender you to shore (small water craft). In Amalfi, you are dropped off at the dock in the middle of the town. From the Oceania website: some of the Oceania cruises have stops in Sorrento/Capri and Amalfi/Positano. The ships offer day trips to Pompeii from Sorrento. My guess - it's a lot closer/easier to get to Pompeii from Sorrento.

I am currently in Positano on vacation and have been researching this. So far the 2 best options I have found are: Hire a private driver. I contacted several and the best fare I got for the trip was from La Mammola-Positano (lamammola.com). They charge 35 euros from a sedan per hour with a 4 hour minimum. Take a bus from Positano to Sorrento and then a train to Pompeii. From the main square in Positano, you take the orange bus (Positano Interno) to the stop Bar Internazionale (a 5 minute trip). Then from there you take the Sita bus to Sorrento (a 20 kilometer trip). There you board the Circumvesuviana train to Naples which makes a stop in Pompeii (Pompeii Scavi). The fellow we are renting a house from tells us this is the cheaper way.

Just to follow up on my previous post. I made the trip from Positano to Pompeii today (amazing, amazing visit!). My sband opted to stay back in our villa so since I was ttraveling alone with my two young kids, I decided to splurge on a private car. The hotel up the road recommended Positano Car Service (www.positanocarservice.com) and they sent a wonderful driver named Gaetano. The drive from Positano to Pompeii is just under 1 hour and we spent 2 hours on site (in this heat, we couldn't do more) for a total of 4 hours. The fee was 40 euros per hour. A bit extragavant but well worth it.