Advice on getting to Pompeii and Herculaneum from Naples

Hi,

We are going to be on a cruise shortly, disembarking at Naples for one day and would like to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum on our own rather than with an organized excursion. Has anyone done this? Would you advise taking a taxi or train and could we fit in both in one day? We arrive early morning and depart early evening. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you.

Hi

A new train started this year called the Campania Express linking all the key sites on the coast, a quick check on line should get the details.

It was written up in the Sunday Times Travel earlier this year

The cheapest way to do it is take the tram from outside the cruise terminal, to Porto Nolana station, take the circumvesuviana (now known as EAV) to the Pompeii scavi stop or the Herculaneum stop. If you buy a combined ticket that lasts for 140 minutes, it will cost around €3.20 each way including the tram. From looking at the timetable, the EAV only takes around five to ten minutes longer than the Campania Express. The main difference with the Campania Express is that it is a tourist train with comfier seats and video screens showing the area. The Campania express has only three trips each way per day so it is likely that the EAV will be more convenient as it runs every thirty minutes

For Pompeii, take the bus rather than the train.

It goes from immediately next to the cruise port, is airconditioned, and you will get a seat. None of which is true for the train.

The only downside is a less frequent timetable, so needs better planning.

For those who want to take the train, you will have more chance of getting a seat at porta Nolana station as this is where the train starts from, a lot of passengers will board at the main garibaldi station

We spent a week near Naples last October and visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum during our break. I would not recommend doing both in one day, you will not enjoy either as you would have to follow a gruelling and relentless pace to see everything you want to.

We spent five hours at Pompeii in blazing hot sunshine (there is very little shade to be found) and still did not see everything. If you choose to visit I would recommend taking a small fold up umbrella in your bag as it will provide some welcome shade from the midday sun.

Herculaneum was smaller, easier to negotiate and, we felt, better preserved and more interesting. If you have time to spare, you can leave through the main gates into the town for a wander round shops or a bite to eat.

Enjoy your trip! :)

Hi,

Thanks to everyone who replied. It seems we would be better off going to just one site to do it justice, rather than trying to cram in the two sites. Also taking the Campania Express sounds like a good idea, will look it up online.

It's really helpful to know there are people out there willing to share their experiences! Thanks again.

We had no problem at all doing it on the train. Really easy.

Just got back from oceana today, and called in Naples. I was going on the train, however the bus right outside the port was only €15 and cut out the hassle of the tram and train.

Pompeii was great but very hot, buy some frozen water on the way in.

We went to Herculaneum by tram and train. You get your combined ticket from a booth / newsstand just across the road from the port. We spent 3 hours at Herculaneum and to try Pompeii too on the same day would have been too much (for the brain as well as the feet!) It was nice and quiet. I think Pompeii is busier.

One word of warning, we travelled with a couple we met on the ship and the man was pickpocketed on the train on the way home. Beware of people crowding around you on the train or tram, and hold onto your valuables.

Dallas 16 is spot on about the train and the station is walkable if you are up for an adventure. Trains and stations are somewhat scruffy and graffiti ridden compared to UK. I would suggest choosing one site or the other unless you are unlikely to return to Naples. There is so much to see at both sites that to do both on your own will inevitably end up as a bit of a route march. if you are likely to cruise in the area again then Naples is a very common port and thankfully has a long list of possible days out. Vesuvius, Capri and the amalfi Coast should go on your list and the city itself has a good few sights if you do your homework plus you have to get a proper pizza. hope you have a great time.

Hoping this works but the local transport company have replaced the majority of the older trains on the circumvesuviana line to Pompeii/ Hercalaneum and the new trains are very modern and a lot less scruffy than the older trains on the route. The trains start their journey at porta nolana so you should be able to guarantee yourself a seat boarding the train then. Porta nolana is around twenty minutes walk or five to ten minute tram ride from the cruise terminal.

If you come out of the cruise terminal and cross over the main road to the tobacco/ newspaper stand you can buy a transport tickets that covers both the tram and the train to Pompeii/ Herculaneum (ercolano in Italian) for €3.20 each way

For the best info about Pompeii, I would definitely recommend the Rick Steves Mediterranean cruise ports guide which can be picked up for a reasonable price on Amazon and has a lot of information and walking tours of Pompeii/ Herculaneum , the Rick Steves website also has MP3's of the walking tours that can be downloaded to most devices.

Also the new trains now have toilets and also have screens showing the route that you are on along with the next stop. They are much improved from the older trains that are still used on some services. The current timetable has a service every 30 minutes. Journey times to Herculaneum from Naples porta nolana are 20 minutes, journey time to Pompeii is 38 minutes and sorrento is 1hr and 8 minutes. The Campania express timetable is currently not really suitable for cruise passengers as looking on the website, the trains depart at 8.38/ 12.09/ 18.36 from Naples and return to Naples at 9.57/ 13.50 and 19.53, as far as I am aware, most ships sail from Naples at 7pm so the Campania express would mean returning on the 13.50 train which is too early to allow enough time to see Pompeii/ Herculaneum or sorrento properly. The Campania express train is virtually identical to the new trains that are used on the normal circumvesuviana EAV service

Also forgot to add that all of the new trains have air conditioning. The older trains don't have this as far as I am aware

My only comment is those places are the one example of visit not no do on your own. Not done Herculaneum yet, but in my opinion Pompeii would have been pointless without a guide. Our guide brought the place alive, he captured the imagination of the entire group. As he said at the start, "I am going to transport back in time" he certainly did that

We sat on a table in dining room that evening with a family who did Pompeii on their own at same time we did a tour. They knew very little and were surprised about the detail we told them they had missed

For us Pompeii was one of the highlights, Don't spoil it by just walking around a heap of old ruins, as the family we dined with did. Get a tour

We did this last year. We walked from the cruise ship to the station, took a good 20-30 minutes then took the train to Herculaneum, which is spelt Ercolano locally. We purchased a ticket at the station, you need to go downstairs to pick up the Circumvesuviana line, don't join the queues upstairs which are for the mainline stations. It takes you through some pretty rough areas and you will need to watch your belongings. Once off the train, it is a 5 minute walk downhill to Herculaneum. We chose this over Pompeii, because, as a previous poster has said, it is better preserved and less busy with tourists. With regard to a guided tour, we always use some of the money that we have saved to buy a good guide book beforehand, either in the UK or from one of the many shops which invariably line the streets near tourist sites.

Thanks for all the information from so many people. It's so helpful to hear first hand experiences. In answer to the last post regarding using a guide rather than exploring on our own, can we book a tour guide in advance from the UK, though expect suppose this is difficult to tie in with arrival time at Pompeii as don't know when we will be allowed to disembark. Can you pay on arrival to join a guided tour?

As I remember, you can hire those audio guides in Herculaneum.

Thanks for all the information from so many people. It's so helpful to hear first hand experiences. In answer to the last post regarding using a guide rather than exploring on our own, can we book a tour guide in advance from the UK, though expect suppose this is difficult to tie in with arrival time at Pompeii as don't know when we will be allowed to disembark. Can you pay on arrival to join a guided tour?

Yes I am quite sure you can pay for a guide when you arrive. I believe there are licensed guides who gather groups near the ticket booth at Pompeii, don't know the cost but bound to be cheaper than ships excursion

As I remember, you can hire those audio guides in Herculaneum.

You can also hire the personal audio guides at Pompeii too, but as I recall, you would be expected to leave your passport as security for their return :eek:

You leave your passport as security for audio guides at Herculaneum too. We started to go round on our own, but there are no interpretation boards so we had no idea what anything was. We quickly went back for the audio guides (6 Euro each or 2 for 10 Euro) which were very detailed. You put in a number for each building, and you were often offered an additional set of info eg on Roman food, Roman roads etc. Informative but long, so allow plenty of time..

My advice remains the same, get a real life walking talking licenced guide, the audios don't answer questions. They have them at Pompeii, I'd be surprised if they are not at Herculaneum

The guides are very good, ours was as well as informative very entertaining and humorous

Do the ships tour far fewer problems !!!

But much more money!

It was very quiet at Herculaneum (we were there in November). There were probably no more than 20 visitors on the whole site, and no sign of a physical guide!