Pompeii Travel Forum

We will be in Rome during September. What's the feasibility and
degree of difficulty in getting from Rome to Pompeii for the day?
We have no overnite accommodations in Pompeii, just in Rome.
Do the trains run late enough into the night to get us back?
Thanks much!

It is a long day, but it's no problem. You take a train from Roma Termini to Naples. (Check www.trenitalia.com for schedules.) I recommend the Alta Velocita (AV) train that leaves at 7:30 a.m. and takes less than 1 1/2 hours. You might want to make your reservations a couple of days ahead of time, as this is a popular businesspersons' train. If you intend to take the AV back, I'd make reservations for this, too. I suggest going early because Pompei is HUGE, much larger than you can imagine until you see it. You could easily spend all day. Of course, some people just take a two hour tour and leave...so it's up to you.

From Naples, you take the Circumvesuviana (local commuter) train (the one headed to Sorrento). It leaves about every half hour. It takes about 35-40 minutes to get to the Pompei Scavi - Villa dei Misteri station, which is about 100 meters from the main entrance to the excavations.

I also recommend taking a couple of hours at the end of your day to see the National Archeological Museum in Naples - it's easy to get to, just one metro stop from the main train station in Naples. Most of the treasures from Pompei and Herculaneum were taken there, along with other incredible ancient works. It's really a remarkable collection. It's closed on Tuesdays. Open til 8 p.m. usually.

You might want to check the day before as to whether or not they are on strike - "sciopero" - prounounced SHOW' pair roh.

Maybe I'm just unlucky, but in half a dozen day-trips to Pompei from Rome, twice the site personnel were on strike until 10:30 or 11 a.m. (including a parade and banners), and once, all local public transit in Naples, including the Circumvesuviana was on strike. Think I'll follow my own advice next time!

what a great answer cristina - i still have your train tickets in my wallet - every time i open up my wallet i see your train tickets and think of the time you couldn't make it

Jen, what a nice compliment! Grazie, mille!

I would recommend you do it as a day trip from Rome. On our first trip to Rome we caught the morning train to Naples and the short ride to Pompeii. It makes for a great day trip. The train back offers a good way to rest after the day at the ruins.

Be careful of the station the train you select to take to Naples stops at. Some trains from Rome stop at a different station than the one where the trains back to Pompeii depart from. We made this mistake and got really confused in Naples. I can't remember if we walked or took a taxi to the correct departure station...

For our upcoming trip with family who have not been to Italy we will take the same trip once again. You should consider the train pass if you are traveling more than once or twice. If you buy one you should purchase it before you leave for Italy.

Have a great trip,
Gottagocit

Gottagocit is right. Yes, you want a train that stops at Napoli Centrale or Napoli Garibaldi. These are both physically the same station, but Centrale is at street level and Garibaldi is underground. The Eurostar trains (generally the fastest) all stop at Napoli Centrale.

I don't know which train pass Gottagocit is talking about, so perhaps he knows something I don't, but I've never found a pass that makes any financial sense in Italy. Point to point tickets in Italy are very cheap. It makes sense to check prices on www.trenitalia.com before buying a pass.