Private day trip guide for Rome?

That is 8 hours ( minimum) of just driving the route you propose. Add 2-3 hours at Pompeii to tour the site, and you have time in Amalfi or Positano for a quick lunch, and a stop at an Autostrada cafe for "dinner" on your way back to Rome.

If you do find a driver to do that, you may have a "be careful what you wish for" day.

Most folks on this forum would discourage a day trip to Pompeii from Rome, but trying to add Amalfi and Positano is brutal.

Lisa, I'll vote with Joe: the trip you are proposing covers much too much ground for a reasonable day trip. Yes, I know there are 14-hr tours which offer Pompeii+ the Amalfi from Rome but, IMHO, I think that's next to insane as it's SO many hours inside a vehicle for so few outside of it. The most I'd attempt in a day would be Pompeii (train) with a stop in Naples on the way back.

That said, I'd save the entire Amalfi Coast/Pompeii thing for a future trip when you can give it the time it deserves. It'll be much more fun to stay a few days on the coast, take the ferries around, spend more than just 2 hours at Pompeii (the site is vast), go to Herculaneum, spend a day/night on Capri, do the Archeological Museum in Naples - which should be done AFTER a trip to Pompeii - etc.

I don't know how long you're going to be in Rome but it's so packed with things to see that I can't imagine ever running out! If Roman ruins are your thing, Ostia Antica is a much easier (and inexpensive) day trip from Rome, and a day on the Appia Antica has been our favorite so far of our time in the Eternal City. Orvieto is another reasonable day trip from Rome that ranks high among the RS posters who've done it.

Thank you for your replies! My friend and I will take your suggestions into consideration. I've been to Rome before but my friend has not. She's not so much into history but big into scenery and architecture. I'm the history buff, but who doesn't love ocean views? We have 2 1/2 days in Rome, so thought to compromise with one day at Pompeii/Amalfi. Obviously we can't do justice in one day, but it does check off two bucket list items. The travel time is a bit daunting, but I guess I was comparing it to the many hours we spend on the RS bus. It just doesn't seem like so many hours when you're stopping to see some amazing things- even if only for an hour or two.

Lisa

Its rare for bus time on an RS trip to be as much as 6 hrs. And it does not backtrack to where you came from, so that you are looking at the same scenery twice.

With just 2.5 days is Rome, I doubt, you will run out of stuff to do.

'''it does check off.....'' OUCH, fingernails on the chalkboard..... please plan a subsequent trip.

The saying, "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right" comes to mind. Don't cheat yourself.

Instead of staying in Rome, head straight to Naples for 2 1/2 days. Train Rome-Naples 1H10m.

1/2 day will get you to Pompeii.
Luggage storage at site.
Continue on to Sorrento. Stay 2 nites.

Day 1 use the ferries from Sorrento to visit Positano and Amalfi. Or hire a private driver.

Day 3 head back to Rome.
I assume your flying home from there.

This is still an EXTREMLY fast pace, but easier than your one day blitz. It will tick all your boxes plus a few you didn't know you had.

but it does check off two bucket list items.

Ouch. "Checking off" is not what you should do with the Amalfi. The view out the bus/car window and a quick stop here and there doesn't mean that you can experience it at all. Just my humble opinion, of course, but what if those few hours pours rain? That happened to us: we got off the train in Naples in a downpour that started in Rome and followed us all the way to Capri. Fortunately it eventually quit - and we had 2 nights on the island, and 3 in Sorento - but the day-trippers weren't so lucky. On one of those days we spent 5+ hours at Pompeii, not including transport, and didn't cover it all!

We probably wouldn't have liked Capri that much if we'd only day-tripped it. Like the CT, the magic starts when the day-trippers leave, although you can lose most of them if willing to hike/walk. There's a LOT to absorb in this region, and I'll humbly admit that we couldn't begin to do it justice in 5 nights but gave it our best. Next trip.... :O)

but who doesn't love ocean views?

Sure, they're very nice but you can see ocean views elsewhere in the world. What you can't see in much of it? 2000 year-old architectural relics of the Roman Empire, in what used to be the CENTER of the Roman Empire, and artwork from some of Italy's most famous painters and sculptors, some of it still in situ many centuries later. You've seen some of Rome but your friend has not, and there's more to see in The Eternal City than can be covered in a lifetime!