I just wanted to share that Antonio’s tour (Pompeitour.com) group is fantastic and highly recommended! I was looking for a tour for Pompeii and Antonio was recommended in the Rick Steves book so I sent him an email. The prices were fantastic (200 Euro for a 2 hour private tour is great) but he then recommended for our group of 8 (ranging in age from 83 to 9) for us to book an all day tour… the tour included a private driver that picked us up at our rental house in Positano, dropped us very close to the entrance of Pompeii, a fantastic tour in Pompeii, followed by lunch at a local winery with a tour and really great food and wine (lunch was a separate cost but they offered kid meals also), followed up by drop off at Mt Vesuvius for a hike to the top (only buses can drop off at the very top and parking yourself is a much longer walk) and then an nice AC ride back home - all for only 800 euro (or $100 a person for our group)! The driver was so great and Antonio’s communication before and during was fantastic. We ended up reaching out to see if he could also provide us with airport transfers to and from our place in Positano the day before and he made it happen! We ended up not renting a car as planned and all with awesome service. Plus the Pompeii tour was fantastic - the guide was very knowledgeable and got us to see all the top sites and understand everything much more! A must for anyone going to Pompeii… I cannot imagine touring without a guide and we skipped all the lines which was a huge benefit. Thanks Antonio for all your help and fantastic drivers and guides!
Posted by
2 posts
Hi honeybee2424, coupla questions for you. How long were you inside Pompeii? What time did you start? Were you with the guide the entire time?
Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
8413 posts
Honeybee, could you be more specific about line-skipping please? Did you skip the line for the Pompeii Brothel?
What month of the year did you go? Was it sweltering on Vesuvius?
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Hi! We just went in June. They picked us up from our place in Positano at 8 am and so we were at Pompeii around 9:30. We met with Antonio prior at a small cafe outside the entrance and met up with our guide. Everyone purchases their own Pompeii entrance tickets so this is not included in the cost of the tour. You can purchase on the official Pompeii ticket site about a month in advance. We had our tickets and I emailed them also to Antonio which he had printed and gave to our guide for us. She then knew how to navigate into Pompeii and we skipped the large lines of people trying to buy tickets in person at Pompeii. Definitely if you plan to go buy them online in advance and don’t wait in the lines. They can also sell out when it’s busy because they are limiting now the number of people visiting each day to limit human impact. We were with our guide the entire 2-2.5 hours and she walked us through all the key sites plus some extras. I believe that visiting without a guide would be very difficult and you would miss so much. We saw all the big things you read about in guide books and such and then so much more. After she said we could stay inside if we wanted or leave and since we were on the all day tour with them we left and she escorted us back to where she knew our driver was waiting to take us to our amazing winery lunch at Cantina de Vesuvius winery which I would highly recommend.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Oh and yes it was hot at the top of Vesuvius so no need for layers in June! We did go to the top of Mt Etna earlier in June on the same trip and it was rather chilly up there (it’s above 10k ft and still had snow on it) but Vesuvius was hot climbing to the top. There is a cafe with drinks and souvenirs at the top near the crater. We opted just to view the crater and didn’t walk all the way around it and headed back down. The loose gravel and steep inclines did make for our older members of our group decide not to go with us to the top but they hung out at the cafe where we were dropped off.