Small Group Tour Pompeii and Herculaneum from Rome

Fabio was an engaging guide despite the language barrier. Google translate works well. We went in a small van (6/7 seats) Pompeii guided tour was quick but informative & worth doing. Bring change for the toilets. The afternoon in Positano (changed from Herculaneum after consultation) was wonderful. Try the limoncello & pasta at lunch. The Amalfi coast is gorgeous. Thoroughly enjoyed the day.

If you have an older person or someone with foot problems or unsteady, they should not go on this trip. I'm older (72) in fairly good shape, and a walker. I'm glad my daughter was with me because she helped me up and down the high ancient "curbs" to the "roadway" which was uneven large cobblestones. It is an ancient roadway that was buried for thousands of years and ground that would naturally become uneven, it is awesome that it exists, but can be difficult to navigate. I was surprised that the rest of the ruins weren't explained by the excellent guide, but I also had Herculaneum to go to. Herculanum is so interesting, smaller than Pompeii, but there was no guide for the tour there, and I was very surprised and kind of disappointed in that. There were no plaques in Italian and English explaining what I was looking at. Since there was a rail strike, my daughter, another woman and I were picked up by a driver who stayed with us the whole trip (more than 12 hours) and he was excellent. At the end of the excursion he dropped us off at our hotels in torrential rain and Rome traffic. However, this was not the way the rest of the group that met in Pompeii. They did come by a train that was running, it was a large group, and larger than I expected. I stayed an extra 2 days in Rome at the end of the 9 day Viator tour of Venice, Florence, and Rome that was totally excellent in every way. I am still glad I booked Pompeii and Herculaneum, but I think I was a little spoiled by the other A+ attention my daughter and I received, and I'm glad I'm somewhat young and fit enough to do this.

Visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum WITH A GUIDE is a must. Our guide at Pompeii was an archeologist and was wonderful. When we go to Herculaneum, a guide was not included. We hired our own private guide once there at an extra cost. He was an archeologist as well. Herculaneum was AWESOME. Once done with both tours, we wish we had more time to explore the rest of the area, but it was not on the itinerary. With this booking, you will note they had suggested places to be picked up. The day before the trip we were called to cancel because Herculaneum was closed. We rescheduled for a different day without issue. They picked us up at our hotel. The same driver buys the tickets and sends you off with the guide. Then he drives you to Herculaneum. The ride back was uneventful except that we could not get back to our hotel in the historic district of Rome until after 6:00. We ended up walking 0.9 miles back to our hotel. This was unfortunate. We could have sat down for lunch instead of getting it to go, or stayed in Pompeii longer. It’s HUGE. The overall cost of going to do this yourself with the train from Rome vs a private driver is higher. But then we didn’t have to worry about transfers and it was very convenient. I would do it again.