Cheaper land excursions at the Ports of Civitavecchia, Naples, and La Spezia?

[toystar88]

Besides booking with cruise line and private tour operators for excursions, I was wondering if there were other cheaper land excursions at the Ports of Civitavecchia, Naples, and La Spezia?

 

Did you guys remember if there were solicitors or land tour businesses at the shore ports offering excursions at a cheaper price?

 

Thank you so much.

 

Tommy

[SuiteTraveler]

There are taxis offering rides at much higher prices. You are better off taking the train into Rome and meeting a day tour guide at the train station. We used www.througheternity.com last year - came to about 100 Euros a person- very reasonable if you ask me. The guide really helped to maximize our time in Rome - her name was Janet. Lunch and entrance fees are extra.

[Hlitner]

The cheaper way is to simply do it yourself...which does require some research and a little spirit of adventure. At the risk of repeating prior posts here are a few simple examples. In Civatavecchia you can take the free port bus to the main port entrance and then walk 4 easy blocks to the train station. You then can buy a BIRG ticket for 9 Euros (about $13) which covers round trip region trains to and from Rome and all days use of the Rome's metro (subway) and buses. In La Spezia you can grab the local train for the short ride to Riomaggiore (the closest and southernmost town of Cinque Terre) and explore that wonderful area with its 5 villages. Getting between the villages can be accomplished by walking the trail, using the train, or taking boats. In Naples there are so many options it would take pages to list everything. Depending on what you want you can also save a lot of money on your own. You can get to Pompeii or Herculanium on the train, go to Capri on the jetboats or hydrofoil, etc.

 

Hank

[moyaroo]

In addition to Hank's suggestions in Naples you can continue the Circumvesuvia train to Sorrento which is a very pleasant if crowded at times Italian city or at the train station catch a SITA bus (all of them are blue) to Positano or Amalfi. If you do the bus be sure to pay attention to time as you are starting to get out a ways form Naples and need to figure in return times to make the ship. You can buy the bus tickets at the tabac in the station.

[T.O. Tony]

We took a taxi for 7 in Naples. (I'd pre-arranged private tours for Rome and Florence, so we didn't see what was available there.)

 

At the pier, there were dozens of taxis. We used one for Pompeii. Our driver talked us into using him for the entire day, so he wasn't that inexpensive, but it was worth it.

 

On the other hand, it seemed really easy and relatively inexpensive to take a taxi to Pompeii and taken another one back to the ship.

 

Much of the rest of Naples is a very short walk from the pier. Of course, you need to cross a few streets and the drivers in Naples can scare the ever living xzs$%x out of even the bravest of souls. (The first ten minutes of our taxi drive was way more exciting than any amusement park I've been to, ever!)