Tour of Pompeii and Amalfi coast drive combo

Why not just book a guide at Pompeii and then do the driving tour separately with a private company? Also, are you trying to do all of this on the same day? I don't know that it's going to be possible unless you short change both experiences.

Donna

You have an imperfect idea of how far the Amalfi Coast (... cliff overlooking) is from Naples, Pompeii, and even from Sorrento. Do you know that if you're late on the boat's expensive excursion, they won't leave without you? But if you go on your own and don't get back on time, the ship will leave without you.

I suggest you settle for a drink on the cliff in Sorrento, maybe on a hotel patio (which is inferior to Positano, I admit) which is still at least one hour by car from the piers (or do you you have to tender-out, in a little boat that has a line of late-comers waiting to get on to the 29 seats in the tender?) But by private car, this is likely to run 250 Euros or more for the day. Have you allocated this much in your budget?

Have you been on a cruise before? Couples do plan excursions together, but it requires tact, luck, and cooperation. The bad part is that a sedan is very crowded with four guests and a driver. Many people hire a tourguide outside the gates of Pompeii and are very happy with the results. You should use the Search box at top center to read some of the many posts here about on-your-own visits to Pompeii. And use Google Maps to look a the road trip you are proposing.

Amalfi Coast and Pompei, in one day? Doable I suppose, but not advised.

I really think, unfortunately, it should be one or the other. If in your heart you want to sit at a café overlooking the sea, then find someplace on the AC and do that. I will say, however, that we just returned from Italy. We based in Salerno, took the bus an hour to Amalfi, had lunch at a pier overlooking the water, and it was beautiful indeed.

But check the map of the AC--Amalfi is only halfway down the south side, and that took an hour by bus, with no traffic. In high season, if you start on the south it might take an hour more than that to Positano. Sorrento's out near the tip on the north coast, so if you come from that way & want to do the whole drive around the perimeter, and make a stop or two, that's gotta be 5-6 hours easy.

We also took a day and took the train to Pompei, which was absolutely magnificent, and I'm not even into that stuff. Like the Louvre (which we saw earlier in the trip), the ruins were a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Simply mesmerizing. Now--it helped greatly that the temps were moderate--about 60--and there were few tourists. In August that will probably not be the case, so you better factor that in. There will be plenty of tourists, group tours & hot sun on 2000-year old stone--yikes! Not to dissuade you, but know what is in store.

How many hours away from the ship will you have in total?

This may be an option...http://www.jackthedriver.com/

Carol, there are some very good points by all of the above. An important missing piece here is exactly how much time you're going to have: what time can you get off the ship, and what time do you have to be back on it?

Also, while most ships dock in Naples, that isn't a given. If the port is very full (as could be the case in August) you may have to tender into the docks. In many cases, the first passengers to be tendered are those who've booked tours with the cruise line so you could have a wait. And yes, the ship won't leave if, say, a tour's bus gets held up in traffic but that's not the case for those sightseeing independently.

Pompei is terrific but it will be very hot in August, and likely to be very crowded. It's also much, much larger than you may think: we spent the lion's share of a day there sightseeing on our own and didn't see it all. I won't tell you not to do it - a several-hour tour will hit the highlights - but to try and do that AND the Amalfi is trying to pack in an awful lot. It may be more possible to get an independent tour just to Pompei, and then return to Naples for your sit in a cafe; Naples IS on the sea, and maybe someone can recommend a cafe with a great view?

Another idea may be to go to Herculaneum instead of Pompei. It's closer to Naples, is a smaller site, will probably be less crowded, and is in a better state of preservation than Pompei. Do it in the morning and return to Naples to see the Archeological museum during the heat of midday/early afternoon, and end up at a cafe before returning to the ship.

We had to take a shuttle from Sorrento to Naples to catch an early flight (too early for the first run on the Circumvesuviana) and it was a good hour at 4:30 AM with no traffic. The Amafli Coast is even farther away.

Good note, Kathy. We should have but never got to Naples on our trip, and found out when we visited Pompei that a lot of the neat stuff that was excavated is actually in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. So from that standpoint, leave that as an option.

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate the advice and insight. The heat is not something I had factored in which really has an affect on the day's activities and the enjoyment of them. Crowds are another. I am really re-thinking about trying to cram so much into one day, leaving us overwhelmed and exhausted by the end of the day. Our ship arrives early morning and leaves early evening. Some of the cruise tours are 8 hours. It would be safer to take a cruise tour of the area and know that we would be back in time and not be at the mercy of heavy summer traffic. I also hadn't realized how large Pompeii is. Most tours advertise it taking 2-3 hours. I like the idea of seeing Pompeii in the morning when it is cool and we are fresh, visiting the Archeology Museum and then wandering around and grabbing some famous Napoli pizza, ending the day at a cafe by the sea. I looks like the Amalfi coast may have to wait for a future trip. Wow, this forum is invaluable! Thanks again!

Why not the cruise line? We did a Mediterranian cruise a few years ago and choose the tour of Pompeii, I don't think in one day we could do both. We wanted to see the Amalfi Coast but it wasn't possible to do both and we always wanted to tour Pompeii. We were only in port in Naples for one day. Also Rick Steve's has a cruise tour guide for that area, he may have some suggestions in it. He wrote it purposely for people on these cruises to maximize their experience.

Carol, most Pompei tours are 2-3 hours as they hit just the highlights. Nothing at all wrong with that but there's a lot more to the site than is covered in that amount of time. I guess it all depends on how much depth one wants to get into? I've done it twice: once in July and another in October, and can vouch for summer heat! It was also crowded both times by late morning. Anyway, the sheer size, heat, number of other tourists, quality of preservation etc. is a reason I threw closer, smaller Herculaneum out as an alternate. Like Ostia Antica outside of Rome, a significant amount of tourists have actually preferred either of those archeological sites to Pompei - although seeing them ALL is best if possible! :O)

But Pompei is entirely possible in the time that you have, with plenty left over for pizza in Napoli.

To Jay's very good point, a lot of the mosaics and valuable artifacts from Pompei are in the Naples Archaeological Museum (closed Tuesdays).

Side note: I would assume that you'll be docking in other E.U. spots and so will be equipped with a supply of euros? Not every cafe, museum, etc. take credit cards so it's a good idea to have a fair amount of those else you may have to find an ATM.

Caroljoy, sounds like you've got a plan, and if you have a guide for Pompei you will touch on the highlights (and a guide is good in that almost nothing is marked) & in the morning it shouldn't be so beastly hot. We utilized the RS podcast for Pompei, in that we downloaded it before our trip and played each chapter on our iPhone with earbuds depending on where we were, which made it seem like we were actually in a RS show--pretty neat! Don't know if the podcast would conflict with what the guide is saying, or how much you can wander off and do your own thing if you want. Oh, and bring plenty of water. There may be only one place to buy water, and don't try refilling a bottle at one of the ancient fountains--while it may be drinkable, the color was a foul shade of yellow.

And if you go from the Pompei tour, after getting some historical perspective, to have a great pizza in Naples, then fill in the details at the museum, that sounds like a pretty good day to me.

Yeah, that area is just a treasure trove of history--we missed Naples, Herculaneum and Paestum as well. But we loved Campania as a whole. Very warm people, like a different country from the north.