South Italy tour specific questions

I've done the South Italy tour.
The Vieste boat trip was fun, and I'm not generally a boat person. I don't recall how long the trip was, or how many the boat held, but more than our group. We went into 4 or 5 caves and we did stop at a beach on the way back.

I only recall luggage issues at Matera, and we had our luggage delivered on a smaller vehicle that could negotiate the sassi. Oh, I think the same happened at Vieste. I don't recall a RS tour that did that twice.

LIZinPA :

Does that mean you walked to the hotels from where the tour bus let you off but without luggage? Were the walks difficult?

Also, how did you feel about the Pompeii tour in terms of time allocated?

Thanks for your initial reply and any other comments you care to make.

We did this tour last April. We did not do the boat in Vieste because of motion sickness issues. It lasted about 3 hours, but it was a windy day so I understand they could not do any caves due to choppy water. Friends who did the boat felt it could have been skipped (it was a small, open boat). It was a longer walk to the hotel in Vieste, but not terrible, although there is some uphill to be done. Matera had rougher footing, but you only had to manhandle the luggage at the hotel. You will be walking a lot in Vieste and Matera.

Pompeii was terrific. We were there for close to 4 hours. I thought that was plenty of time since you have a guide. Personal choice if you want to spend your free day there.

Hope you have fun, it was a great trip.

We did this tour a couple of years ago. We enjoyed the boat ride in Vieste. As I recall, it was a smaller boat so just enough room for our group. We did not stop at a beach. We have been to Pompeii twice - once on our own in 2001 and then with the tour. The time allotted on the tour was not sufficient. Many tour members said they were expecting more and were not impressed with Pompeii. We spent most of the day in Pompeii when we went on our own in 2001 and really got a good overview of the site. Bear in mind that if the weather is hot spending an entire day in Pompeii may not be pleasurable. If it is important to you, go on your own on your free day in Sorrento.

Walking without luggage was fine in Matera and Vieste. Steps, but nothing unusual on a RS tour.
I guess our group was lucky on the boat ride. Great weather and it was fun going into the caves. Some people swam at the beach stop, I just walked along the edge.

I was happy with the amount of time at Pompeii, but of course others may want more.

nhlindberg:

Thank you for your comments.

Did you feel Vieste was worthwhile without doing the boat trip?

To clarify the luggage question, you walked to the hotel in Vieste without the luggage?

Since you have some motion sickness issues, did you have any problem with the ferry from Salerno to whichever town you stayed in on the Amalfi coast?

I took the tour several years ago. We had a couple hour core tour at Pompeii as part of the overall tour itinerary. I used my free day (when most went to Capri) to take the train back to Pompeii and spend the day. There was so much to see! I had a wonderful day exploring. It was an easy trip to do via train from Sorento.

I took this tour in early May 2024 and loved it! I’ve been on 11 RS tours and this was one of my favorites.

As others have stated, luggage was loaded onto small vehicles and transported to the hotels in Vieste and Matera. The group walked from the bus to the hotels, a bit of a hike, up to the Vieste hotel, down to the Matera hotel. I was 73 and hardly an athlete, yet had no problem dealing with luggage on this tour.

The boat ride in Vieste was on a small, private boat for our group only and lasted about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. We entered some caves and got some wonderful views of Vieste from the water. We did not stop at a beach (if interested, you can walk to beaches from the town during the afternoon free time). It was a bit chilly out there, but you are going in June, so it will likely be warmer. I enjoyed the boat ride. The town of Vieste turned out to be one of my favorite stops on the tour, a bit of a surprise since I knew nothing about it prior to the tour. It happened that the town was having a local festival while we were there, with a parade, dancing, music, so that was fun.

Pompeii was a highlight for me, and our half-day tour was just right for me. We had an exceptional local guide who gave us vivid descriptions about what happened there and knew how to pack a lot of highlights into the time allotted. He knew all the shortcuts and also knew where every bit of shade was - important on a sunny day since Pompeii has little shade. He even made jokes about other tour guides making their tourists stand out in the sun LOL. June may be very hot, so keep that in mind. If the tour doesn’t satisfy you, you could certainly return from Sorrento on the free day, or add time from Naples at the end of the tour. I think some people in my tour went to Herculaneum from Naples at the end, another good option. The RS tour also includes the archaeological museum in Naples where many Pompeii artifacts are actually displayed.

Just to note the RS tours are not always “exactly the same.” We did this tour 2 1/2 years ago and we pulled our bags from the bus to the hotel in Vieste. In Matera we walked from the bus while our bags were dropped at the hotel. Yes, they were both longer walks because the bus had to park on the outskirts of the towns. On the boat ride in Vieste, it was a smaller boat with just our tour group. We went in several caves, no beach. I don’t remember exactly how long it was but probably a couple of hours. Also, the day we went the water was really choppy and we were all soaked from the salt spray. I was a little irritated that we weren’t advised to wear our rain coats but our guide wasn’t the type to hold hands. I think there was a couple that did not go because they were prone to motion sickness. We spent a number of hours in Pompeii, again I don’t remember exactly how long and had a wonderful and very knowledgeable guide. We were there in May and it was warm. I would have liked a bit more time but there’s little shade and it might have been a bit too much for everyone. I can’t imagine enjoying being there when it’s hot. No problem getting to hotels on Amalfi Coast, short walks from boat harbor in Maiori and bus dropped us off right next to hotel in Sorrento.

Many thanks for the helpful insights on this tour. I am somewhat surprised at the differences from tour to tour on the aspects of the tour I asked about from recent timeframes. I would expect differences at longer time intervals. It’s good to know my experience could be quite different from even recent tour members.

I really appreciate people taking their time to comment on their experiences and welcome any more feedback someone wants to give.

Lizcat
We were in Vieste very early in the season, so there were few people. Skipping the boat ride we walked the beaches in town and generally roamed around. I liked Vieste and don’t feel it was diminished by not going on the boat. I honestly can’t remember if we hauled our suitcases to the hotel in Vieste.

Motion sickness is my husband’s curse and the boat from Salerno almost did him in. It was very choppy with intermittent rain and a fairly small boat. After the boat ride he didn’t have much problem with riding along the Amalfi coast in the bus when we departed!

It’s been a while since we did this tour. The boat ride in Vieste was fun. We were there pre Covid and shared the boat with a group of Italian school kids. We did not stop at a beach but walked there after the boat ride. As far as Pompei, if you are really interested in it go on your free day. We had been there before and had spent a whole day. The tour covered only a part but in depth. We chose to go to Capri but it was a holiday weekend and was very crowded with Italian families (May 1).

I was on this tour in April 2025 and we had the option to take the boat ride in Viesta or tour the local area. No beach trip since it was early in they season and water was still cold. Sarah Corfield our tour guide sent everyone a link to Pompeii and its history.

Sounds like I can decide on the Vieste boat trip depending on the sea conditions on that day but that exploring Vieste would be fine too.

Pompeii is more of a dilemna. I am hoping to book a private driver for the free day in Sorrento to go to Ravello and perhaps a bit of time for Positano. Any return to Pompeii would be done from Naples after the tour ends. I won’t know if I’m satisfied with included tour of Pompeii until it’s too late to book a private tour. I will have to mull that over.

Again, thanks for the opinions.

I like your idea of going to Pompeii on your own, even after the last breakfast. When we went to Pompeii we went on our own and it was easy from Naples. I think we just used a guide book.

We’ve done 12 RS tours over the last ten years and at almost every initial group meeting we have heard that they cannot guarantee that each tour will be exactly the same. That we need to be flexible and realize that the weather, traffic, unexpected closures, etc. do occur that’s beyond their control. And true, we have missed scheduled activities that were highly anticipated such as our cruise along the Cinque Terra coast and more. You need to be able to go with the flow. No grumps policy!

I did this tour in September 2024 and had the best time!! When we were in Vieste the seas were too rough for a boat ride, so we had the day to explore and do our own thing. Vieste was a surprise favorite for me, it's absolutely beautiful. I spent half the day exploring and the other half at the beach in front of our hotel.

Luggage - we also had our luggage moved from the bus to hotel in both Vieste and Matera.

I thought our time in Pompeii was sufficient but it sounds like you'll want more time there! The guide we had was fabulous, his name started with a G but I can't remember it. Returning to Pompeii from Naples sounds like a good option. I stayed an extra day in Naples after the tour ended and went to the top of Mt. Vesuvius.

Several of us from the tour group went in and got a private driver together on our free day in the Amalfi Coast area, we were staying in Minori. We went to Amalfi for a few hours and then up to Ravello. 100% recommend Ravello, it is breathtaking. We did the same in Sorrento and split the cost for a private, all day guide for Capri.

We just returned from this tour not quite 2 weeks ago. Vieste was at the end of their season and we were the last group to be staying there- our guide was picking up another group after ours and they were going to a different town. The bags were driven up to the hotel due to the potential for the path to be slippery - it was raining some while we were there and it was slick, but doable. The boat ride was wonderful - just our group on a medium sized boat I would say and we were able to go into several grottos which was great. I do tend to get motion sickness at times but didn't have any issues with this boat ride. It was probably about an hour and half to 2 hours, we turned back before the weather turned stormy. ‘
We had been to Pompeii on our own in 1999 so this was our second visit and while it was great having a guide that took us to several of the highlights, we did not end up with any time on our own to look around and it started raining pretty heavily as we were finishing up. We were there for about 2 hours and we would have liked some extra time. We had to have our schedule adjusted due to a change to the family dinner so that is likely why we didn’t have more time in Pompeii. One family from our group stayed an extra day and went to Herculaneum which they said they liked even more than Pompeii, I think if it is important to you an extra day after the tour would be a great choice.

The bags being delivered in Matera was also a nice feature to this tour- the bus had to park quite a ways from our hotel. The walk would have been ok with bags but it was a lot nicer without. None of the other hotels were particularly difficult to manage with our bags. We stayed in Minori on the Amalfi coast and our hotel was not up much of an incline. Hope this helps.

Sorry for my delay in seeing the latest comments. They are very much appreciated. I have booked the tour for June.

I am planning to book a car and driver, not guide (maybe Mondo tours) for the free day in Sorrento to drive the Amalfi Coast Road and to Ravello to spend a few hours there and return to Sorrento. From reading the itinerary, it seems the RS tour does not actually drive the Coast Road. Is this correct? I realize Ravello is
closer to Maiori but want to keep the free day there open to possibly try the Path of the Lemons and to relax.

To those who stayed an extra day in Naples to re-visit Pompeii: how did you get there? There is so much negative feedback about the train.

We are doing this tour in 2026 mid to late October.

Would love to hear more from posters who were there recently on Oct 2025. Were there any days warm enough to enjoy beach? Swim? Did it rain most days?

Also did anyone do the Rick Steves aligned Mondo day trip to Capri? The one where you sign up as small group on Mondo Web site and private tour with min of 6 people? It is in his guide book.

Also similar to original poster would love to hear more thoughts on Naples activities and restaurants etc you may have done in free time along the way on the tour.

We have done two prior tours and like to have several things researched for free time and then adjust to weather and our energy level when the time comes.

Any insight would be appreciated.