Pompeii or Herculaneum???

[JATeesside]

Hiya All,

First time cruisers, Century, Western Med, 19/09/09. Very excited, just researching for tips and excursions.

Can't decide whether to do Pompeii or Herculaneum? Does anyone have any suggestions? We are definitely going to do Florence and Rome, we intend to book the ship excursion for Rome, but the private train. Do you think we will manage the Vatican and the Colusseum in the time allocated?

Thank you all.

 

Julie

[Keith1010]

I would highly recommend doing Pompeii.

 

Keith

[cruisemom42]

Pompeii or Herculaneum -- It's kind of like asking which child is your favorite! ;)

 

You'll find opinions vary. I recommend Pompeii for a first visit, I feel it gives you a greater scope of the disaster that occurred when Vesuvius erupted. You realize just how much devastation was caused.

 

On the other hand, if you are not that into ruins and a little taste is what you are looking for before heading elsewhere (like the Amalfi coast), then Herculaneum is also very nice and has more in situ decoration.

[CintiPam]

Pompeii, this cruise, and Herculaneum next cruise!:)

 

I do as I preach: First time, in June, we had a fantastic (five-hour; yes, we love ruins) visit to Pompeii. Next time, in May, we plan to visit Herculaneum and then the Archeological Museum in Naples.

[bobyng]

We've done both on our own. Simple and cheap. Disembark cruise ship and take taxi to railroad station. Take train to Pompeii [do it first because it is much larger and because it is further from Naples]. Either hire guide or do audio tour. Allot 2 to 3 hours on-site. Get back on train and go to Herculaneum, which is about a 10-15 minute easy walk from the station. Can easily see everything there in 45 to 90 minutes.

 

NOTE: you are not going to be slowed down in either place viewing museum stuff because almost everything portable [and much that isn't] is in museums. Since you are looking at buildings, statuary, streets, grounds, ruins etc it is easy to extend or to shorten time-spent at both sites depending on time constraints.

 

BTW, there is an inexpensive lunch place inside Pompeii that won't take much of your time.

[gunther]

As per my last experiences it's better to visit Pompei for the 1st time cause it's a big site able to give you a good idea of ancient Roman City.

Then it's understood that Rome must absolutely be visited for its history and its beauties.

I suggest you to rent a car and drive it on your own or to book a private limousine tour as I recently did with www. italydrivinguide.com to better enjoy your trip.

Bye Gunther

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Hiya All,

First time cruisers, Century, Western Med, 19/09/09. Very excited, just researching for tips and excursions.

Can't decide whether to do Pompeii or Herculaneum? Does anyone have any suggestions? We are definitely going to do Florence and Rome, we intend to book the ship excursion for Rome, but the private train. Do you think we will manage the Vatican and the Colusseum in the time allocated?

Thank you all.

 

Julie

[bobyng]

Hiya All,

First time cruisers, Century, Western Med, 19/09/09. Very excited, just researching for tips and excursions.

Can't decide whether to do Pompeii or Herculaneum? Does anyone have any suggestions? We are definitely going to do Florence and Rome, we intend to book the ship excursion for Rome, but the private train. Do you think we will manage the Vatican and the Colusseum in the time allocated?

Thank you all.

 

Julie

 

As to time constraints on visiting Vatican and Colosseum:

1. Define "Vatican". Vatican City is an open air area of Rome with shops, apartments, churches, streets etc. If you mean St Peters, usually there are very long lines. We've been there 3 times and only once was the line merely long [took us only half an hour to get in] rather than horrendous. We have no idea if length of line affected by time of year, time of day etc [but Sunday will be impossible]. Visiting the Sistine Chapel is another very lengthy line. When we visited it, our tour company purchased advance tickets for a set time and we went to the head of an extremely long line.

2. There are two lines to the Colosseum: one line to buy a ticket and a shorter second line to enter the Colosseum itself. When you arrive on site you will be approached to buy a tour of the Colosseum. Buy it. They will already have the tickets so you can bypass the long time-consuming first line and you will get in almost immediately. In addition their price also includes a guided tour of the Forum which is adjacent to the Colosseum. We've done this twice [plus a third time with a group tour we were on] and it is well worth the price and you will save a ton of time.

[swalm22]

Hiya All,

First time cruisers, Century, Western Med, 19/09/09. Very excited, just researching for tips and excursions.

Can't decide whether to do Pompeii or Herculaneum? Does anyone have any suggestions? We are definitely going to do Florence and Rome, we intend to book the ship excursion for Rome, but the private train. Do you think we will manage the Vatican and the Colusseum in the time allocated?

Thank you all.

 

Julie

 

We visit last year Herculaneum, it's a good location not to crowdy and better preserve then Pompei. There is also a vitual museum you have to see. We made a flashmovie of it just go to my weblog and click the button "Norwegian" and then "Gem"