Naples Travel Answers

I've never heard of them but touring Pompeii on your own with a guide or audio guide is extremely easy. In fact, Ed and I agreed that we would've absolutely have hated being part of the large tour groups we saw being led around. No everyone can hear and is not fortunate enough to be at the front of the line when the guide is pointing into small rooms, etc. We rather enjoyed going at our own pace and having our own learning experience,..also, a lot cheaper!

When we were there, we rented audio equipment for a self-tour. That suited me much better, since we could meander around at our own pace and explore all the nooks and crannies we wanted to. I would probably have been left behind if I had been with a tour group. The price was reasonable - I think it was something like 5 Euros per person.

I recommend using the audio guide. With your ticket you will also receive a leaflet which will give you options for diy tours depending on how long you want to take e.g. two hours, five hours, etc. I agree with not bothering with a formal tour - the groups are large, they go at a fair clip and not all can benefit from hearing the explanations before moving on to the next point, let alone having time to absorb the info with the visual. Take water with you into the site, also a snack. There is a cafe but it is expensive and will likely not be anywhere near where you are when you want a break! The loos are also in the cafe. There are loos just before you enter the site.

More support for not taking an organised tour. Pompeii is extremely easy to explore by yourself. The map, info booklet and audio guide are excellent and...to be honest...being herded around seeing only what the guide wants you to see will not allow you to enjoy the site to the full. Imo. It is very easy indeed to get from Naples to the site. Just go to Napoli Garibaldi station and take the safe, cheap, frequent Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii Scavi Villa dei Mysteri station...a journey of around 30 minutes or so, costing less than 5 euro one-way. You can't go wrong: there are even signs in English in Napoli Garibaldi telling you which platform to use and where to catch the train (the Naples>Sorrento train). And the trains show you the next stop ('prossima fermata') on an electronic display, so that's easy too. http://www.vesuviana.it/web/en The station is directly opposite the site entrance and there are a couple of cafe/restaurants there too. All very easy indeed and I genuinely think you will have a *much* better experience exploring the site at your own pace with the audioguide (or even without it, using just the booklet and maps) than you will with an organised tour group.

Thanks for the feedback. I will be traveling with my mom (her 1st trip to Europe), & she likes things easy & planned out, which is not usually the way I travel. We were looking into a private tour & this company would meet us at the train, hold the luggage, take us on a private guided tour of Pompeii & Mt. vesuvius, then drop us off back at the hotel, which my mom really liked. I'm fine with this, as it's really mom's once-in-a-lifetime trip, but now my mom's nervous (& therefore getting ME paranoid - thanks, Mom!) that we're being scammed or set-up. Yeah, crazy, I know, but... It didn't help to read all the safety precautions for Naples, either. I did check with our hotel & while they were not familiar with the tour, they did seem to know the company & said they were well organized. Then again, it sounds like there are many private guides in this area, so it very well be fine. Really - I'm not a nervous person - it's just that when mama ain't happy, nobody ain't happy :)

Don't quite follow your schedule..... are you arriving in Naples from somewhere else, hence the luggage? Could you not go to your hotel and check in, and then do the tour? Honestly, I would rather travel by train to Pompeii than do the road bit - the traffic can be snarled and I mean SNARLED and you would spend a lot of your time just sitting going nowhere. If you are coming in from somewhere else and doing the tour the same day, what time do you arrive in Naples?

I sortof see why this company might appeal and if your mother requires it to be so then it will be so. She really need not faff herself about being scammed or set up if the hotel knows of the company. There are indeed plenty of 'private guides' available, especially around Pompeii site entrance, but I wouldn't advise you to use them. The audioguide is perfectly adequate. Hawkhead is absolutely right about Neapolitan traffic. What should be a fairly short drive may well not turn out to be so. As for crime...please, don't fall for the internet horror stories and persuade your mother not to do so. Naples, for the ordinary visitor who uses normal city common sense, is no more or less dangerous than any other large European city and, I venture to suggest, considerably safer than many US cities (guns not being the norm in Europe). I speak as a solo middle-aged female traveller, probably much the same age as your mother, who has visited the area 3 times now and had no problems of any type whatsoever. Leaving your bags at your hotel and then making your own way to Pompeii would be the best option by far, imo, but I can see that you may have to go with the flow on this one.

Funny thing is, my mom grew up in NYC! (but has lived in the midwest for years). We will be coming on on a train from Rome that morning (thankfully, we will not be doing any driving in Naples). The driver is going to meet us at the train station, so the fewer transitions for mom, the better. Thanks for the advice - very helpful to hear for those who have been there!

Tell your Mum that I was more scared when I visited NYC and New Haven (especially those two) and Boston last year than I have been *anywhere* else I've visited (and I've crammed a heck of a lot of travel into the 9 years or so I've been travelling abroad). And, of course, I ended up having no bad experiences in either place, although I have to be honest and say I did see things which shocked me. That may help her get things in proportion. :-)

Imho, Naples has an unwarranted bad press. It is no better and no worse than a great many other cities. I have been a heck of a sight more 'uneasy' in other places, especially in small towns in the USA. Just employ the same ground rules as you would in any other town/city/metropolis. I am a huge fan of Naples, have explored all over with not one whiff of an 'unease' and in addition, Naples has some stunning art. Definitely a place to do more than pass through.