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Sorrento, Herculaneum, Pompei

Hello fellow travelers,
My husband and I will be staying one night in Pompei. We will be taking the train. If we leave early from Sorrento is it possible to see the Herculaneum in the morning and then visit Pompei in the evening? I know it's possible to take the train to Naples. Is there a train that stops at the Herculaneum? I also know there is atrain from Naples that takes us within a 5 minute walk to our bnb in Pompei which is very close to the Pompei archeological site. Has anyone done both in one day? Another option would be Herculaneum one day and Pompei the next morning before catching our train at noon to Rome.
Grazie!

Posted by
4434 posts

How long will you be in Sorrento? I would have advised to just do a day trip from there. Yes you can do both in one day, but Pompeii is very large--and if the trip is in summer, it is scorching hot. Just things to consider.
There are two train lines along the coast, Trenintalia and a commuter train called Circumvesuviana. We need to know your bnb location to advise on which one to take. The Trenitalia stop in Pompei is a short walk from the site (less than 20 minutes), but the commuter train stops right at Pompeii.
I am less familiar with Ercolano stops, but you can see all on Google Maps.
If I was going to stop en route to Naples in the morning, it would be to Herculaneum.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you for the reply. We are spending two nights in Sorrento.

The bnb is 5 minutes from Pompei Central. Apparently a train does not stop that close coming from Sorrento. With the heat, it sounds like I should choose one or the other and go early in the morning.

Posted by
4434 posts

The bnb is 5 minutes from Pompei Central. Apparently a train does not
stop that close coming from Sorrento. With the heat, it sounds like I
should choose one or the other and go early in the morning.

I don't know what you mean by Pompei Central. The best I can tell you without knowing the location is to map the walks to and from both train stations to the bnb and to the site. With luggage, a shot taxi ride will not break the bank.
Another thought: the last entrance to Pompeii is at 5:30. You could see Pompeii on arrival day, in the evening, and then the next morning, stop at Herculaneum en route to Naples.

Posted by
4117 posts

The Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento stops at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Pompeii is about a 35 minute ride and Herculaneum is 45 minutes. It will depend on your level of interest if you should do both in one day. Personally, we spent parts of 2 days at Pompeii and one at Herculaneum.

As another option, consider the Villa at Oplontis after you're tired of Pompeii. http://pompeiisites.org/en/oplontis/ It's one train stop north of Pompeii or you can take the shuttle bus that is run by the archeological site for free. Oplontis is not crowded and is a stand-alone villa that was also buried in the explosion. It's an amazing site showing how the rich and famous lived 2000 years ago.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you both. I appreciate your help and think we can figure it out. The translation from the air bnb host was Pompei Central. It sounds like the commuter train is the best bet. I like the idea of pompei in the evening and Herculaneum the next morning.