Wife and I are staying in Positano late May 2016. We want to do a day trip to Pompeii, Mt Vesuvius and/or Herculaneum. Pompeii is a must and we can choose between the other two. What do you recommend:
1. Should we go to Mt Vesuvius or Herculaneum?
2. Public transportation? If so what? OR Tour? if so what do you recommend?
Thanks,
Joe and Cindy
Of the two- Herculaneum.
That being said, this is a day trip. Please consider sticking with Pompeii if your time is very short. Pompeii itself is worthy of multiple hours- even on a day trip. Getting beyond the forum and "must" sights of Pompeii is well worth the time. The goal IMO is getting a sense of this doomed city that was already 400 years old when it was destroyed. You can't do that in a couple of hours since you have to get on to another site. In short, I'd hate to see you rush through Pompeii just so you could tack on Herculaneum or Vesuvius.
Joe,
Transportation in Positano is a bit "limited". In the same situaiton, I'd probably take the Bus to Sorrento and then Circumvesuviana to Pompeii Scavi station. As I recall, you can reach Herculaneum on the same rail line. That would be the cheapest method. If you have a larger budget, you could hire one of the private car services listed in the guidebook.
When you arrive at Pompeii, you'll probably be approached by local guides at the gate. I'd recommend taking a tour of the site, as you'll learn far more than by just wandering around on your own. You could also hire one of the guides listed in the book (Gaetano Manfredi or Pina Esposito).
We did exactly this, there were 8 of us so it made the cost reasonable. We hired a car (van actually) and driver. We saw Pompeii and Herculaneum (which is fantastic) in a day and still had time to stop in Sorrento for a drink. This was an easy trip and I would recommend it.
Really no reason to go to the mountain. Pompeii and Herculaneum are the priorities.
Because of Positano's location, this trip should not be done by public transportation. The best plan is to order a car and driver, for 10 hours if possible, and do all three. (I personally couldn't care less about Vesuvius, but that's your choice.) An 8-hour car and driver was about 260 Euros for us, from Sorrento, to visit the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in the less glamorous Sorrento because of the Circumvesuviana train service and other transit connections.
My friends go to Positano every year because it's so out of the way. So consider that daytrips other than Capri can be a challenge.
We went to Pompeii from Positano by bus and then circumvesuviana. This takes all day from getting there and back and seeing the sight. I would not recommend trying to fit in more than Pompeii if you are using public transport.
Joe, bus to Sorrento and then Circumvesuviana to Pompeii (you get off at Pompeii Villa dei Misteri right in front of the site and not at the modern town of Pompeii) is the logical choice from Positano. And I'd also agree that Pompeii is really all you can comfortably do in one day from Positano.
Private car, of course, is an option but an expensive one.
We toured the ruins on our own with a book purchased at the entrance. It made a nice reference once we got home, and allowed us to move around at our own pace. It's a very large site so in-depth exploration takes considerable time.
If you are going by public transport, you can also take the ferry to Salerno and catch the Trenitalia train to Pompeii. The Trenitalia stop is a 20-minute walk to the ruin, but the ferry is much more pleasant than the bus to Sorrento IMO.
"less glamorous Sorrento"...??? Sorrento is just as beautiful, wonderful and charming as Positano... more so imo.
And I disagree that Mt Vesuvius is not worth it... we loved walking to the top. Amazing views. And how often do you get to experience an active volcano?
We also loved Pompeii and Herculaneum so if you can do both, I would.
I know this thread is a little old but many of you have great knowledge. We are a family of four checking out of our hotel in Positano in late May and staying two nights in Naples. We leave from Naples to fly back to the USA on May 25, and we leave Positano on May 23..
We will have our luggage and would like to see Pompeii and possibly Herculanem on this day in which we check out, because that would leave us with one additional day in Naples to see the Museum of Archaeology or go on a Kayak trip in the bay. It seems to make some sense since it is on the way. Ischia is another consideration and we could go there for a day trip, and then to Naples (seeing Pompeii and Herculanem on our last day with a bus type tour or using the train). What advice would you give us since we will have our luggage? Does it make any sense to go on the ferry to Salerno and take that train with our luggage? Do you think a driver would take us from Positano and then Pompeii and then would we be able to take the Train to our Hotel in Naples This is the Naples Hotel I booked because it is close to the airport and we leave very early in the morning: Europa Grand Hotel & Restaurant -
Corso Meridionale 14, Central Station, Naples, IT.
Thank you, as this seems to be a complicated decision for us.
Kelley
In regards to whether a driver could take you from Positano to Pompeii...yes, quite easily. You could even hire a driver to pick you up in Positano, take you to Pompeii, wait while you tour it and then take you on to Naples. It all depends on your budget. I've done a lot of complicated "budget" transfers. As I get older, they lose a bit of their appeal. For my upcoming trip, I've hired Aldo Limos to pick us up at the train station in Naples and drive us to Positano via Herculaneum. Three days later, they'll drive us back to Naples. 220 Euros, cash, roundtrip. Waiting time at Herculaneum is 35 Euros per hour. I might have done public transport for all of this if I'd been staying somewhere other than Positano, but this is the end of our trip, Positano is our "relax" final destination and I really wanted to stay there specifically.
Expensive? Yes, but I get to split it with my travel companion so that helps a bit.
I would recommend hiring a private driver and tour guide. We stayed in Sorrento in 2013 and used Sasha Bianco as our guide and his brother as our driver. Sasha's web-site is http://www.tourspompei.com. We were extremely pleased with Sasha and his brother (whose name escapes me at the moment!). His brother picked us up at our hotel and drove us to Herculaneum first. HIs brother was top notch; very professional and friendly and enjoyed giving us information about the area, economy, etc. on our way there. Sasha met us at Herculaneum and gave us a wonderful tour. Afterwards, his brother drove us to a winery at the base of Mt. Vesuvius where we had a nice lunch. After lunch, we were driven to Pompei where Sasha again met us. Sasha speaks excellent English and had a wonderful sense of humor which we very much enjoyed. He really gave us a good understanding of what life was like at the time and pointed out really interesting things that we would never have seen on our own. While it was an expensive day, we definitely saw more than we would have on our own and we would have been stressing over the logistics of getting from place to place. Pompeii is so large that I would have been overwhelmed if we didn't have a guide. Sasha's reviews on Trip Advisor are stellar and I would definitely recommend him. He will facilitate you being able to see Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius and Herculaneum in one day which otherwise would be darn near impossible or very stressful to say the least! Have a wonderful trip!
