As soon as I booked my flight to Rome, I knew I wanted to do a day trip to Pompeii. Like so many others, Pompeii caught hold of my imagination at a young age when I first heard the story of the city covered in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The idea that so much was preserved and still being discovered fascinated me, and I really wanted to see it for myself. So I started researching right away.
Would I try to visit Pompeii on my own or would I book a tour?
If you've followed me for a while, you might know that my default is almost always to avoid a tour. I know... I know... there's nothing wrong with a tour! But I just love being able to visit places on my own timeframe - stop when I want to stop, rest, go faster if I want to, etc - and I get frustrated following someone around. But at the same time, I knew I would get a lot more out of visiting Pompeii if I had a guide. I decided that I would definitely get a tour guide for Pompeii, but I knew you could just hire one when you arrived. So....
How would I get to Pompeii?
I am pretty comfortable with traveling on my own and generally feel confident about my ability to navigate places, but as I read about the journey to Pompeii from Rome, I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the hassle of stopping in Naples and then changing over to a local train that was often described as crowded and slow. While I actually really wanted to spend some time in Naples, I didn't think I would have enough time to combine it with a day trip to Pompeii. So I decided to make it really easy on myself, and I actually booked a tour!
This post contains affiliate links. If you decide to book a trip using the link above, I will get a very small percentage with no additional cost to you.
What was the tour like?
The tour I chose combined a visit to Pompeii in the morning with a few hours in Sorrento before returning back to Rome. It started quite early in the morning, and I took an Uber to the meeting spot where I met our driver and the only other people on the tour - a couple enjoying their honeymoon. How fun is it to be the third wheel to that? (answer: not fun) Luckily, I could just listen to music as I enjoyed the lovely countryside from the back seat of the van.
After a few hours, we arrived in Pompeii and met up with our guide, Sasha. I definitely made the right choice by booking a tour guide in Pompeii! Sasha was amazing and explained so much about the history and architecture. If you want more details, check out this post. We spent about two hours in Pompeii, checking out some of the most famous sites as well as some newer excavations. I had no idea that Pompeii was so large!
From Pompeii, we went to Sorrento. Our drive, Daniel, had grown up nearby and told us that Sorrento was his favorite place to visit during the Christmas holidays. He offered up plenty of suggestions for where to get lunch and dropped us off at Piazza Tasso to explore for a few hours. I had plenty of time to do some window shopping (sadly, some of the stores I most wanted to visit were closed because it was Sunday), check out an amazing seaside overlook, get some gelato, and wander some of the narrow alleys of the old town.
Then it was time to head home. I got to relax again in the van for a few hours and then Daniel dropped me off near my AirBnB in Rome.
Would I do it again?
I am absolutely glad that I took a day trip to Pompeii with a tour! That said... this was in 2021 when there wasn't a direct train to Pompeii. As of 2024, there is now a direct train from Rome to Pompeii!
While 2 hours in Pompeii was plenty of time to see the highlights, I found myself really wishing I had more time after the tour was over to explore on my own! No surprise there, perhaps. If I were to do it again, I would take the direct train to Pompeii from Rome and hired a guide at the archaeological site. Then after the tour, I'd have all the time I wanted to take more photos and explore the massive site.
Sorrento was beautiful all decorated for Christmas, but I could have easily saved visiting Sorrento for another time, along with Positano and more of the Amalfi coast.
If you are someone that wants to visit Pompeii in the convenience of an air-conditioned van (and who doesn't, really?), then I would definitely recommend booking a tour. If you tend to want a little more independence, the direct train has my vote.