Visiitng Pompeii from Naples

Stash your bags at the Naples station, grab sandwiches at Cafe Vyta, and take the next Circumvesuviana to Pompeii. With any luck you'll be there before 2:00PM. That gives you plenty of time to see Pompeii. You can check in tot he hotel she you get back to Naples.

Do the ruins close at a certain time? Also, I thought the train fron Naples to Pompeii Scavi was pretty quick, less than 1/2hr.

It's about 40 minutes. Trains run about every half hour so other could be some wait time. Last admission 18:00 summer and 15:30 winter. Plan 2-3 hours to see the site.

In general, your plan is unrealistic. Pompeii is a huge site, and in an hour you'll see less than 25% of it. You can't hurry because the Roman streets are uneven stones, and during tourist season it's very crowded. (It's unclear what happens if you don't get back by 3PM.)

You have also discounted the "overhead" of the excursion. The Naples station escalator to the Circumvesuviana is midway on a long, 5-minute corridor separating the toilets (1 euro) and the Circumvesuviana ticket booths. The Circumvesuviana, besides running only half-hourly, is not two-track for its entire length, so trains sometimes wait on a siding for the opposing train to pass it. While Pompeii (unlike Herculaneum) is very close to the train station, we waited 15-minutes in line to buy our tickets. i.e., a trainload of people were ahead of us. It's a 5-minute uphill walk to the Forum, the heart of the city.

You'll be able to say you went to Pompeii, but you'll miss the brothel (which has a line to enter, on a distant one-way pedestrian street not explained in any book) and the Villa of the Mysteries, which was, to my astonishment, OPEN last week. But it's too far into the site for your excursion. Even if you just do Rick's book tour, navigation can be tricky, since the many modern signs tend to be generic. And you never know which Villas will turn out to be closed for conservation.

A slightly more realistic idea would be to see Villa Poppea/Oplontis, which is a one-hour visit, and only 5 minutes from the train station. But since it's considered a poor third after the biggies (although I found it a great visit, better than Hadrian's Villa, for example-because it's less destroyed, and the Marine Theater is closed at Hadrian's), you'll feel disappointed when you get home. Another equally unsatisfying (!) idea would be the superb Archaeological Museum in Naples, where the "real" statues and frescoes from P and H have been put to protect them. The area around the train station is under major transit construction, and we found it confusing and called for long-distance walking to get anywhere.

I don't think I was clear.

I plan on arriving in Naples at 1130. I spend the night in Naples so I have until 1800 (last entrance in to Popmeii Scavi) to get to Pompeii. I don't see that as a problem. So if I arrive in Rome at 11:30, drop my bags off at my hotel (10 min walk from the station), grab a sandwich, and walk back to the station to hop on a 2 or 3 o'clock train to Pompeii...does that sound reasonable?

Visiting Pompeii from 3:00PM to 6PM is reasonable, if not ideal, so I suggest you set out by 2:30 But I suggest you buy a sandwich to eat earlier, or while waiting for the train. (You can't really eat on the Circumvesuviana because it's a subway-like commuter train with no tables and can be unbelievably crowded. We often had to stand and hold-on.) Crowds at Pompeii might well be thinning out by 3PM, but it will also be the hottest part of the day. Bring plenty of sun protection. You can buy more water at the fully-equipped snack bar near the Forum in Pompeii. However, half the plumbing fixtures in their bathrooms were broken last week.

We walked from the Historic Center (Hotel Palazzo Decumani) to the train station, but it was a long walk. We passed several cafes even after we entered the transit hub construction zone in front of the station, as well as earlier, on the city streets. But you know it takes a long time to have a sit-down lunch in Europe.

About quick meals, my motto in Italy became: "when in doubt, eat gelato".

All of this advice is pointing toward making the connection to Pompeii as quickly as possible and not dawdling around Naples. Going to the hotel and finding lunch in Naples will ruin your momentum and sounds like a poor use of 3 hours sightseeing time. You can buy enough food in Rome to last you most of the day, and eat most of it on the first train. Explore Naples in the evening.

Well said Laura @RS!

Please read Tim's responses again. To be at Pompeii by 3.00, you will have to be on the train no later than 2.30.

If Pompeii is a high priority, then sacrifice a pleasant lunch. There are also food stands next to the Pompeii train station and site entrance and a cafe inside the site. An alternative is to visit Herculaneum instead. It is a smaller site than Pompeii and gives a better idea of what an ancient Roman town was like.

A couple of notes here:
In case you don't have it, here's the current visitor's info for Pompei:

http://www.pompeiturismo.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=28

And you can find the Circumvesuviana schedule here (click Napoli - Sorrento)

http://www.eavcampania.it/web/content/scarica-orario-ferroviario

Buy a round-trip ticket in Naples, and remember to validate it before getting on the train. You'll want to get off at Pompei S Villa Misteri station.

As already mentioned, please don't underestimate the size of the scavi: it is HUGE, and you'll only see a part of it in the time that you will have (we didn't cover it all over the better part of a day) so going earlier rather than later is highly advised.

Unless you already have some sort of guide to help you through the maze of streets and tell you what you're looking at (RS has to a downloadable audio tour if that's your preference) buy a good guidebook from the scavi's bookshop. Also hit the restrooms: there aren't any on the train, and they're few and far between at the site. Wear sturdy shoes (surfaces are uneven), wear a hat and sunscreen, and bring lots of water!!