Rome to Pompeii

My husband and I just did a day trip from Rome to Pompeii on Thanksgiving Day. We had already been in Italy for 12 days at that point and didn't just arrive from a flight. I would have been too beat to do it directly from an overnight journey.

In case you decided to do it from Rome, this is what we did:
Slower, regional train from Rome to Naples leaving just after 7AM. We wanted the fast train but it wasn't available until after we made our arrangements. (We think it was because of track work.) That took a little over 2 hours. From the Naples station we took the Circumvesuviana train - that took about 30 minutes. We stayed six hours at Pompeii and only got through half of it. The weather was not hot (it was very pleasant) and there was no crush of peak crowds like you will have in June. On our return trip we took the local train back to Naples and a high speed train back to Rome (leaving at 6PM - took one hour).

The day we went to Pompeii my FitBit clocked us walking 11.5 miles, and most of that is on the uneven cobblestones in the excavation. If you want ruins, go to Ostia Antica. I was there ten years ago and it is pretty fantastic. Pompeii really deserves time, attention and energy, not when you are exhausted and it's brutally hot.

Thanks erodgreg, really appreciated your reply. Sorry I got the flight wrong, we actually fly in from Abu Dhabi in the morning and arrive at 1pm in Rome on the 28th of June, we have the afternoon of that day and whole day of 29th of June before having to go back to Rome on the 30th to join the tour. Hopefully that'll give us enough time to explore Pompeii? Does staying 2 nights there make sense?

Ostia Antica is much closer and better preserved than Pompeii. Either way you'd better prepare your 13yo + 9yo for what they will see at Pompeii. It was the Sin City of the Roman Empire :-)

Michelle,mis Abu Dhabi the origination point? How many time zones of change?

If you read the good reply, it will be at least 4 PM by the time you get to Pompeii, lugging your bags on a jammed local commuter train. (Pompeii does have a bag check) Pompeii closes at 7:30 in June. This is a poor plan. Read other Pompeii threads about how arduous Pompeii is, especially for a 9 year old. Do not do this.

Learn something of interest in Rome that is NOT on the tour. Or, if you really want an ancient site, go to Ostia Antica or Hadrian's Villa for the afternoon. Do not go to Pompeii for the afternoon.

Thanks Tim and Tim, had a look at other posts, since we have 1 whole day of 29th, we should have enough time to see Pompeii, which both my kids are looking forward to visiting. My next question is whether it's possible to travel from Rome's International Airport to Pompeii instead of going to Rome first?

Rome airport has an excellent train to downtown. It does not have any direct carriages to Naples without a change to the long-distance lines in Rome proper. You could hire a very expensive car service, but it would be slower than the Frecciarossa fast line to Naples (advance purchase, no changes or refunds on the tickets.) Some people take the main train line to the modern city of Pompeii (instead of Naples) but then you cannot walk to the ancient city with luggage, it's too far. The Circumvesuviana stops across the street from the main (Porta Marina) entrance to ancient Pompeii (Pompeii Scavi.)

You are right that Pompeii is a unique attraction, but it is fiercely hot and sunny (no, not hotter than Abu Dhabi!) in the summer months, and very crowded with tourists. It is also a huge site. It is not beside a lot of hotels.

Thanks Tim, maybe we should stay in Naples or Sorrento then?

Since you need to be back in Rome, stay in Naples. To get to Sorrento, you'd take the train to Naples, then the local (slow) Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento (which stops at Pompeii on the way). Going to Sorrento with luggage just adds a lot of travel time and hassle. Take the Leonardo Express from FCO to Roma Termini, then Trenitalia to Napoli Centrale (you need to put in the Italian names on the Trenitalia website, even the English version). Check into a hotel near the train station, settle in, go out for a walk around and dinner, get a good night's sleep. If you get to Naples early enough, you'll have time to visit the National Archaeology Museum. You'll be able to get an early start to Pompeii (a slightly shorter ride from Naples than Sorrento) before it gets real hot. When you've had enough, head back to Naples. You may want to stop in Herculaneum (Ercolano) to see MAV, a multimedia experience. It's a short walk from the train station and might be a nice break in the heat of the mid-afternoon. The link is to the Italian site, I couldn't find it in English but google translate worked okay. Then the Arch. Museum if you didn't see it on arrival.

You can decide whether to spend your 2nd night in Naples, considering it's going to be a long, hot day, or going on to Rome that evening. Or take train anytime in the morning (30th) to Rome. You could even go to Herculaneum ruins on the 30th in the morning, or see some of the sights in Naples. Decide in advance so you can buy discounted train tickets to Rome (about 4 months in advance).

Adding afterthoughts -

Rome and Naples will be less hot than Abu Dhabi, but more humid.

"Sin city" - except for the brothel, it's not a big deal - even that is pretty tame, though there are frescoes with the "menu" in pictures. More "sinful" is the adult collection in the Arch. Museum. It's in a separate room. You can have a look and decide if it's okay for your kids or not. For sometime it was restricted to adult visitors only, but I think that's been relaxed. There's still a sign and a door so you can't wander in by mistake.

We are traveling with three boys (14, 13, 12) in April and Pompeii was a huge "MUST" hit for them when we started trip planning. Since this is their first trip out of the country, we are concentrating on seeing things well and not dragging them everywhere to see everything. Because the impressions we make will be important to give them a 'taste' for travel, art, history and culture - we are trying to do it up right.

You may want to consider a guide specifically geared toward children. We are actually doing a tour with https://rometourswithkids.com/ that picks us up in Rome, travels to Pompeii and then takes us to Ms. Vesuvius. They also have tours where they meet you in Pompeii, etc. Just a thought :-)

Thank you Chani for all the tips. Great, Naples it is!

Thank you pacinggoamy, totally agree with you, with kids, seeing well makes more sense than seeing more

If you have a full day available, Walks of Italy has a terrific tour leaving Rome around 7:30 am that spends 3-4 hours at the Pompeii complex and then goes south down the Amalfi Coast to Positano for lunch and wandering around the town. Their tours are small ( ours had 10 people) and the travel in a small, comfortable bus is a great way to avoid some tricky driving. Their guides are marvelous. Arrival back in Rome was around 8:30pm.

I saw Pompeii with an audio guide, but many others have said there are licensed guides at the entrance who are reasonably priced and will give you a personal 2-3 hour tour (or more, presumably). You can "interview" them (chat with them) and get a sense of how good their English is and ask if they can tailor the tour to the kids and see how they interact initially with the kids. If one doesn't suit, go on to the next.