How challenging is Mt Vesuvius Hike???

[Beally]

We will be traveling on Royal Caribbean to the Med in October. We were interested in hiking Mt Vesuvius. How challenging is it? Do you have to be an experienced hiker to make it up?

Also has anyone done the Royal Caribbean shore excursion with the Mt Vesuvius hike and Pompeii visit????

 

Thanks

[kate52]

We went up Vesuvius at the end of May this year while on a land holiday to Sorrento. The tour bus (or minibus if you do it yourself) takes you to a height of 800 metres, leaving you with the last 200 metres of height to walk. We are 2 middle aged smokers and managed it ok, though the time schedule to get up there, have a look around, and get back down again was a bit tight for us. Many older folks doing the same walk, and a large party of Germans who seemed to run up! Walking sticks are handed out as you begin the walk- you might not feel you need a stick to get up there, but you will be glad of it on the way down as the path is very shingly and quite slippy.

Minibus tours leave quite regularly from either Herculaneum station or Pompeii station, but when on a cruise with time constraints, I would be inclined to go for the excursion. You can buy postcards etc at the summit, which they stamp for you to prove you've been there!

[Bassethound]

200 meters doesn't sound too bad, but is that 200 meters vertical or 200 meters walking? If walking, as long as it is not too vertical should be OK.

[lisiamc]

It's not that it's that far, or really all that steep, but a lot of it is like walking in deep sand. The pumice gets ground up by so many feet walking the trail, so it's more effort than you might think at first. And like Kate52 said, you'll be glad of that walking stick on the way down. The fellow who gave it to you on the way up will be waiting for it when you come back, and he would quite like a Euro or two. Well worth it, in my opinion.

 

We're a middle-aged, not-too-fit couple, and we did fine, but we were glad we brought hats, water and sunscreen. It can get very hot there, and there is no shade.

 

Lisa

[eab]

We did the hike the end of June with our 3 kids and it was fine. No you do not have to be a hiker to do it. Not vertical - just walking up a sandy steep path. My daughter and I did it in Chaco sandals which was fine going up, but got rocks in our shoes going down. My kids are 10, 12 and 17 and had no problem, and as another reader said, there were a lot of older people going up also. It was a highlight of the trip for our family. How many people can say they have hiked Vesuvius?