Tours to Pompeii and Vesuvius from Rome

Andrea, a tour that will take you from Rome to Pompeii and Vesuvius will cost you hundreds of euros each. The day will be spent on the bus with very little time at the actual sites. My advice would be to take the train to the sites yourself and either pick up a guide there or arrange for a guide to meet you there. This will save you a huge amount of money and you can set the terms of your tour. You won't be on someone elses schedule. Donna

Donna, if we do it that way do you think it's possible to do both in one day? I was thinking there must be some organized tour that would load us up in the early morning and bring us back at night so we don't have to deal with train times or missed connections and getting from one place to the next, just for the ease of it. But if it's very expensive,we might have to settle just for Pompeii.

Several years ago we used enjoyrome.com for a low cost-no frills trip to Pompeii. We left Roma at 7:45 a.m. and returned at 5 p.m. Basically, it was a down and back trip spending 4 hours at the Scavi (ruins of Pompeii). IMHO, I do not think this is such a good idea to try to jam both places into one visit even if you could piece them together. The day trip from Roma to Pompeii is a really long day without factoring in Vesuvius. Maybe a better strategy would be to plan on spending night in the area where seeing both places would make more sense. Buon viaggio,

Thanks, RB. Unfortunately we only have one day for this, so it looks like we will focus on Pompeii alone, and figure out how to make it a great experience vs trying to cram both sites into one day.

Andrea, there are basically no connections to make. You take the fast train to Naples. Once there you buy tickets for the commuter train. It's like the metro. There is one every half hour or so so you can't miss it. The cirucumvesuviana drops you at the entrance of the ruins. It's less than a 5 minute walk to get to the ticket counter. If you're unsure of what time you want to come back then just wait to buy the return to Rome until you get back to the station in Naples. You can print out the schedule the night before you go to Pompeii so you have an idea of what trains are available and can plan your day accordingly. I don't think you'll have enough time to see both in one day. It would be better if you can do it as an overnight and do one on the day you travel in and one on the day you travel out. Since you only have the one day I would concentrate on Pompeii and leave Vesuvius for your next trip. Donna

We did a day trip and didn't do Pompeii, but Herculaneum..much smaller scale, walking distance fr the train stn, less crowded when we visited, had time for a pizza on the way out, then paid for a van ride up Vesuvius...I think they gave us 60-90 min (this was in 08, so memory is rusty)...and just to give you a time idea - we are not early risers (maybe out by 9am)...and we got off one stop past where we should have, so had to wait 45-60min for the next train to take us back...and we still got back to Rome in time for a late supper...

Nicole, I hadn't thought of Herculaneum. I have a wide age range travelling-- 13, 22, 27, 50+ and 80+. Is it good for all ages?

I enjoyed it - there were some nice 'paintings' still on the walls in some of the houses...one thing I do remember...things seemed a little...unkempt...like there was a display that was quite dusty, small things...nothing major...but it is much easier to traverse as it is more compact then Pompeii...make sure you eat before going...I do believe when we were there, some renos may have been going on, but there was no canteen or anything...again - things could be improved. Google it and check out some photos. Read the wikitravel guide as well - good info on how to get there (which train stn) and about the Vesuvius tour as well. Smaller, less congested, better preserved. One other thing - if you do get to Vesuvius (I am thinking of your 80+ year old) you only get about 3/4 of the way up - the rest is kinda steep and walking on loose rock/soil...I was 33 at the time and in relatively good shape - lets just say there was some huffing and puffing going on!