Hello,
My family will be traveling in June; we are considering touring Pompeii on the day of arrival from our flight from the Eastern US. We will obviously be dealing with travel fatigue but our kids are teenage boys and hardy travelers. We arrive in Naples at 10am. Doing Pompeii that day, as opposed to a day trip from Rome (our first real stop), buys us quite a bit more time in Rome but I don't want to be overly aggressive in our plans for that first day. Would welcome thoughts!
If you’re already in the neighborhood by being in Naples, that would certainly appear to be an efficient strategy. If you spent your time just at Pompeii, and dealing with travel fatigue, you’d be missing the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, where the treasures recovered from Pompeii are displayed. At least a couple of hours at the museum would enhance your Pompeii experiences a great deal, so another day in the Naples area, either at the start of your trip, or as a daytrip from Rome, could be worth considering.
Hi Catherine -
You might also want to consider the heat factor along with travel fatigue? It appears that your trip is in July (I took a peek at your other post) and the heat will be considerable. I've been there in July and in early October and while the latter trip was mighty warm but bearable, the site was an oven July. With some of your starch already lacking due to the transatlantic flight, I think you're at risk of wilting in a fat hurry under the midday/afternoon, mid-summer sun (assuming it's shining). It's a fascinating place but it's also vast and offers little shade.
There's no opportunity to spend arrival night in Naples and do the scavi the next morning before heading off to Rome? Am I missing something in your itinerary? Doing it the next AM would mean a little cooler temps and a more rested family for a more enjoyable visit. I'm not a fan of day trips to Pompeii from Rome either - especially if it's a bus tour that spends many hours on the road and few at the scavi - but if you HAD to do it from Rome, I'd use rail. Still, I get it that backtracking from Rome gobbles a lot of time (plus $$ for train tickets) if you will be in Naples to begin with.
the pp made a good point, how about staying in Naples that night and doing the Pompeii site on arrival day (because people always say to get outside walking around on your first day) and then doing the archeological museum the next morning and heading out to Rome or wherever you're off to the next afternoon, getting there probably just in time for check in!
I usually want to punch people by about 6pm on my arrival day, so I wouldn't want to do TOO much that day.......and after thinking about the other person's suggestion, you could museum that first day and then morning in Pompeii before heading out too!
If possible, consider doing other things in Naples on the arrival day (or what will be left of it), and going to Pompeii early the next day. By the time you get out of the airport and to the site, you might not have as much time as you anticipate. And it will be in the heat of the day. Even teenage boys get jet lag, and I'm sure at least some of you will be zombies by 2 p.m. Just food for thought.
Thank you for the replies! We will actually be there the first week of June, so we anticipate heat but hopefully not quite as hot as July! Anytime we spent in Pompeii comes off our itinerary in Rome, so checking that box upon arrival gives us more flex for what we want to do in Rome (only two days there before heading farther north). Appreciate the replies!
One other thing to consider: Pompeii is paved with what look like the world's largest cobblestones. There are sidewalks, but they're way, way higher than normal (Google for photos to see them), and hopping up and down between cobblestones and sidewalks is physically challenging. I gather yours is a young family, so you won't be dealing with balance issues like mine, but I am unusually trippy when I'm sleep-deprived and jetlagged. The very challenging footing in Pompeii could be something of a concern on arrival day when it wouldn't bother you at all later in the trip.
Pompeii Scavi weather -- June 2023
Pompeii Scavi weather -- June 2022
Pompeii Scavi weather -- June 2021
Pompeii Scavi weather -- June 2020
Pompeii Scavi weather -- June 2109 << This was an especially bad year for most of the month.
No, no, no. You will be terribly jet lagged. Visiting Pompeii is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Stay the night in Naples and visit Pompeii the next day.
I haven't been to Pompeii, but it is something I have always wanted to do. We will go there on our next trip to Italy when our youngest daughter graduates from high school. There's no way I would put this site on the first day of my itinerary. I agree with the poster above who said it is a once in a life time thing.
In my travels I've learned not to put important things on the arrival day. If you want to enjoy it, understand it, and remember it, I would at least try to have one night of sleep before your arrival and your visit.
I took your "hardy travelers" to mean you've been to Europe before. So I won't tell you you can't go to a major attraction on your arrival day. (I'll be really embarrassed if it turns out you meant "... in SUV Captain's Chairs, going to Six Flags.")
And while it's nicer to see the originals indoors, instead of the replicas left at Pompeii Scavi (and the erotica that's only in Naples!), I don't agree that the Archaeology Museum is even remotely as important as Pompeii Scavi itself. Opinion. I found the museum crowded, badly laid out (as in, flat display cases keeping you away from stuff on the wall behind them), badly lit, and hot.
Indeed, I suspect that many readers of this board completely overlooked the equally important Farnese Marbles, in the same museum. I would add that your departure from the US EAST coast is a big difference from a west coast departure. (Please fill in your home area in your public profile.) 2.5+ hours of door-to-door travel, each way from Rome, is an awful daytrip (to Pompeii.) And two days (does that mean one lousy night?) in Rome is way too little.
This board has so many first-time-to-Europe posters that it vigorously warns against driving on arrival day. But after fifty (50) trips to Europe, I can make my own decisions. (And I rarely drive, even later in the trip.) This is the first time, in many years, that I've heard the idea that one attraction or another is too important to see on arrival day from the US.
We found the sun and heat at Pompeii punishing, even in the last week of May. Our best investment was a Sorrento hotel with savage air conditioning. Yes, they sell water (and food) inside Pompeii, but no food inside Herculaneum. But you don't want to waste time in line for it.
Thanks to all for the replies! Yes, we've been to Europe before and our hardy travelers do not enjoy sitting still. We need to stay on the move and spend most time outside. I've been to Pompeii before but want my kids to see it. However, at the end of the day we've settled on making this a big day trip from Rome later in our itinerary primarily because our flight over requires a layover in the US and we all know how that can go (or not) so I'd hate to have this set aside for arrival day and then miss it. It's not ideal, but we are willing to 'settle' for this plan so we can fit it in!
I suppose I already know the answer to this but no way you'd consider the much closer scavi at Ostia Antica instead, given you've so little time in Rome to begin with? Lots of folks have reported positively on that one, it wouldn't eat as much of a day to do, nor cost what a day trip to Pompeii for a family will involve, not involve backtracking to Naples. Just a thought?
https://www.ostiaantica.beniculturali.it/en/opening-hours-tickets/
Hi Kathy, yes I have looked into Ostia, and it looks amazing. A very viable alternative if we decide Pompeii is too aggressive. But Pompeii is Pompeii. I still remember it vividly and it's been a LONG time!
While other posters have some valid points, nothing in your itinerary is written in stone, you get to Naples, drop bags at the hotel, how do you feel at the moment? Wiped out and it is a 100 in the shade, maybe not. Feel good, weather is temperate, why not get it out of the way. You might even want to grab a pizza first. Pompeii closes at 5:00, if you are there by 2:00 you will get to see most of what you want to see. I know many think that 8 hours is too few for Pompeii, but believe me, the majority of people get an excellent experience in about 3 hours, believe me, your teenagers will be ready to move on by 3 hours, even well rested and well into your trip. I would definitely do Pompeii while you are in Naples, and not as a Daytrip from Rome.
As for Ostica Antica, it is not a substitute for Pompeii, and vice versa. While in Rome, it is an easy ride out to there, 2-3 hours at the site, and back in Rome, about the same time allotment as the Colosseum/Forum or the Vatican Museum.
Thank you Paul; I suspect your time frame of sustained interest is on point for my teens. I am actually at a decision point (did not share earlier) of determining whether to fly into Rome or Naples. Naples adds another hotel/stop on an already busy itinerary, hence my hesitation with starting there.
