Day trip to Pompeii

cajun1

My husband and I will be on the October 23 Tauck tour of Venice, Florence and Rome. We are planning to stay two days extra in Rome and want to do a day trip to Pompeii. We have contacted the concierge at the Rome hotel and have gotten two different choices--one a group of 30, the other a private car for 1100 euros for the day.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to a good group tour or small group tour to do a day trip to Pompeii? We understand that it would probably be too much to try and see the Amalifi coast as well in one day so just Pompeii (or Naples also).

Any suggestions would be gladly appreciated.

smarks50

Viator.com offers various group and private tours from major cities around the world. They do have several trips from Rome to Pompeii. You can decide if the pricing and arrangements are better or worse than that offered by the hotel. Nor sure about the traffic on the Amalfi Coast in October - in summer it is bumper to bumper but may have quieted down by then.

British

Cajun, I suggest going back to Italy and seeing another part of the country which is nearer to Pompeii, going once to Italy is not enough.

Sassy-Skier

We just came back from a Tauck Bridges tour of Rome to Amalfi. They took us by high speed train from Rome to Naples and then a bus over to Pompeii. It may be quicker to do the train and hire a guide to meet you at the train station.

AlanS

I concur with British and Sassy.

You will probably be able to do Pompeii but not Amalfi- too far, too little time. Sorrento is at the start of the coast road, depending on road (and tunnel) traffic can be almost an hour from Pompeii!

To visit Pompeii, take the train to Naples have a driver and guide take you from the train station to Pompeii. To save money (and time?) it might be cheaper take a taxi from the Naples train station and meet your guide at Pompeii, even cheaper take the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii, but the train isn't the nicest. In any case, decide and make arrangements for a "licensed guide" and buy your tickets online as soon as possible!

All the licensed guides we had (Ercolano (Herculaneum), Pompeii, Capri) were great. Though more expensive than the guides that typically hang out at Pompeii, licensed guides are generally better and you have them all to yourself. It was really nice to have a guide for just the two of us! (A licensed guide gets in free)

You should also have time to visit the National Archeological Museum in downtown Naples, too- it has all the good stuff (sculpture, mosaics, even frescoes,, etc.) removed from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a few other archeological sites. We arrived a few days early for our recent Classic Italy tout and had hired a guide, car, and driver for Herculaneum (Pompeii is part of the Tauck Tour), the Archeological Museum, and the Colosseum in Pozzuoli and also hired a "City Guide" for a day on Capri months earlier. We worked with Driver in Italy (Google them- great reviews on Trip Advisor) - they provided excellent service, communications (email and toll free phone from the US), and superb guides. They offer both standard and custom tours.

For more discussions on this topic, see the Classic Italy and Classic Italy, Small Groups forums.

Note about licensed guides- In Italy and likely other European countries, it is very difficult to get a coveted official license (signified by a medallion which must be worn when working)- they must pass a difficult test and the number selected are strictly limited.

Ken from Vegas

Pomepii is fabulous, but a bit far for a day trip from Rome (doable, but far). An alternative might be to see Ostia Antica. This was Rome's seaport in ancient times. Not as impressive as Pompeii, but pretty good and much closer to Rome. You can take a train from Rome yourself, or go with a day tour. Enjoy your trip!

need2travel1

We came in a day early last year & did Ostia Antica with Viator before our Tauck Rome trip last year & it was great. They picked us up at our hotel, took us to Ostia (about 25 min away) & we had a very knowledgeable personable guide take us around. We booked a private tour so it was just my husband & I walking with the guide, he really made the sights come alive.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!