Naples to Pompeii 'on your own' questions!

[dizzneebabe]

Hey everyone! We are headed out to the Med on NCL Prima, Nov 1. 

Anyways...we had planned a private tour to Pompeii and Herculaneum. How realistic is it for us to be able to meet our guide in front of Starhotels Terminus, right near the train station at 9:45am? We are in portt 8:30-7pm, . Are there cabs/busses near the port? Will we be able to get off the ship early enough? 

Or should we just take the train to Pompeii on our own and hope they have guides there? Being November, it seems like we don't need to skip the line tix, but I'm not sure of timing/schedules and can't seem to find anything definitive. 

Would love to pack more into the day, but have to watch the clock.  Cruise line shore excursions seem to be a bit meh. Half of it seems fine and then the other seems to just killing time.

Thanks!

[euro cruiser]

You could walk to the hotel in that much time, but there are also bus, tram and metro options.  

 

However, if the only thing pushing you towards this tour is availability of guides at Pompei, that's not an issue.  They are guaranteed to be available every day that the ruins are open until at least 2 PM.

 

Also, ticket lines are not an issue at Pompei.  According to their charter, no one waits more than 15 minutes in line.  You can easily purchase tickets on line in advance, if you want to, from the offical site here:  Timetables and tickets - Pompeii Sites

 

The tickets were just expanded, for a visit just to the main ruins you'd want the Pompei Express ticket, 18 euro.  Until the end of this year there is an additional 1 euro fee to help with the flood recovery efforts in Emilia Romagna.

 

So, if you want to, you can do this on your own using public transportation.

[euro cruiser]

There is a public SITA bus that leaves from the Varco Immacolatella depot, less than a half mile on foot within the port area from the cruise terminal.  There is a ticket office at the depot where you can buy the tickets, 3,30 euro each way.

 

These are comfortable long distance buses (more seats than city buses) and there is one that leaves at 9:30 everyday (except Sundays, no service on Sundays/holidays) and arrives to Pompei Scavi at 10:05.  The walk from the bus stop to the main entrance to the ruins (Porta Marina) is about 250 meters/two-tenths of a mile.

 

Bus schedule here:  0 (sitasudtrasporti.it)

 

In my opinion (and I think I've tried them all) this is the most comfortable and easiest public transit route to Pompei from Naples.

[euro cruiser]

To make your visit as efficient as possible and give you the most options for getting from Pompei to Ercolano to visit Herculaneum, I suggest exiting Pompei at Anfiteatro rather than doubling back to the Porta Marina entrance/exit.  This puts you close to the Pompei Santuario station for the Circumvesuviana local train line (Naples-Poggiomarino line), which you can take to Ercolano.  

 

On the offical map of the ruins you can see the Porta Marina entrance/exit on the left, near the middle, and the Anfiteatro entrance/exit on the bottom right:  Pompeiweb2023.pdf (pompeiisites.org)

[euro cruiser]

From the Anfiteatro entrance/exit it is a 700 meters/four-tenths of a mile walk to the Pompei Santuario Station for the train to Ercolano.

 

The fare is 2,40 and you can buy the ticket from a machine in the station or just use Tap & Go with any Visa, Mastercard or Amex credit card.

 

The train schedule for this line can be found here:  ORARI NAPOLI -TORRE ANNUNZIATA - POGGIOMARINO_13 settembre 2023_5.pdf (eavsrl.it)

 

The walk from the Ercolano Scavi Circumvesuviana train station to Herculaneum is just under a half mile.

 

You would take the same train back to Naples.

 

I would get off at the penultimate stop, Napli Piazza Garibaldi, and switch there to the #1 metro to get back to the cruise port (three stops to Municipio/Porto):  ANM Web Site

 

You can also use Tap & Go for the metro.

[dizzneebabe]

34 minutes ago, euro cruiser said:

You could walk to the hotel in that much time, but there are also bus, tram and metro options.  

 

However, if the only thing pushing you towards this tour is availability of guides at Pompei, that's not an issue.  They are guaranteed to be available every day that the ruins are open until at least 2 PM.

 

Also, ticket lines are not an issue at Pompei.  According to their charter, no one waits more than 15 minutes in line.  You can easily purchase tickets on line in advance, if you want to, from the offical site here:  Timetables and tickets - Pompeii Sites

 

The tickets were just expanded, for a visit just to the main ruins you'd want the Pompei Express ticket, 18 euro.  Until the end of this year there is an additional 1 euro fee to help with the flood recovery efforts in Emilia Romagna.

 

So, if you want to, you can do this on your own using public transportation.

Thank you for the detailed info!
I wasn't sure if the guides were more of a seasonal perk or not.
Is the same true of Herculaneum? There has been some discussion in our group that we pick one vs going to both in one day.

[euro cruiser]

Guides are not guaranteed at Herculaneum but they are often there.  It's a much smaller site and easier to understand on your own with a decent guide book, if that's any comfort.

 

It's a lot to get to both in one day but I think it comes down to your interest level.  They are very different from one another, so it's not like you're going to see more of the same by going to both.  

 

Some people spend all day at Pompei and still want to go back, others take a two hour tour and are satisfied.  It's pretty personal.

Edited October 13, 2023 by euro cruiser

[ViajeraFeliz]

On 10/13/2023 at 11:10 AM, dizzneebabe said:

Thank you for the detailed info!
I wasn't sure if the guides were more of a seasonal perk or not.
Is the same true of Herculaneum? There has been some discussion in our group that we pick one vs going to both in one day.

I visited Pompeii by train years ago.    The train stops right in front of the entrance. No line to buy tickets or to find a tour guide for a very reasonable price.