Our Day in Naples

[beeandkmon]

Hello could use a little help. Six of us will be arriving on our Holland America Cruise ship in June. We would like to see Pompeii and Vesuvius. A few quick questions:

 

1.) What hikes are available around vesuvius? Is it just one main path?

2.) What is the easiest way to get to these two locations?

3.) We would like to have an English speaking guide at Pompeii. Any recommendations?

 

Thank you!

[euro cruiser]

There are multiple hiking paths at Vesuvio but if you want to see the crater, the Grand Cone, there's only one way up.

 

You can read about the Grand Cone here: http://www.parco****onaledelvesuvio.it/grancono/index.asp

 

The easiest way to get there would be to hire a car and driver service for the day. This would also be the most expensive, however.

 

It can be done by public transit but it's a little convoluted. If you can tell us what time you arrive and what time you depart we can be more specific.

 

English speaking guides are easy to find at Pompei; they create groups of about ten at the entrance and charge about ten euros per person for the tour.

[beeandkmon]

Thanks for the information. We get in at 8 and leave at 6.

[euro cruiser]

The ideal way to do this would be to hire a car service for a half day, to take to to Vesuvio in the morning and then on to Pompei. You could then get yourself back from Pompei via public transit. However, I doubt that the car services are interested in half day jobs.

 

There is a fixed fare taxi system in Naples; for perspective a round trip to Vesuvio with a two-hour stop is €90. It's the same price for a round trip to Pompei with a two-hour stop. There's no fixed fare for what you want but I'd start by offering them €100 and see how it goes.

 

If you'd rather do it all by public transit, you can take the #1 tram in the street in front of the cruise port to the Porta Nolana Circumvesuviana train station, from there you'd take the train to Pompei Scavi. (I prefer the bus but you arrive too late and will miss the two early buses, the next one isn't until 10:30 AM, arriving Pompei at 11:05).

 

Assuming that you are off the ship by 8:30, you should be able to catch the 9:09 train arriving to Pompei at 9:47. Schedule here: http://www.eavsrl.it/web/sites/default/files/orariautomobilisti/NapoliSorrento_New2015.pdf

 

You will enter the ruins at the Porta Marina entrance (quadant C2 of this map: http://unicocampania.it/files/mappe/pompei.pdf). If you lay out your visit so that you exit at the Piazza Anfiteatro exit (quadrant C4) you can catch the EAV bus to Vesuvio right near the exit.

 

Assuming a two hour visit to the ruins you could catch the 12:10 bus (schedule here: http://www.eavsrl.it/web/sites/default/files/orariautomobilisti/Pompei_-_Vesuvio.pdf).

 

Climbing up Vesuvio is about a mile walk and it can easily be accomplished up and back in an hour. That would allow you to get the last bus directly back to Naples at 2 PM (schedule here: http://www.eavsrl.it/web/sites/default/files/orariautomobilisti/Napoli_-_Vesuvio.pdf).

 

If you want more time at Pompei and/or Vesuvio, you can simply take the circuit bus back to Pompei and the Circumvesuviana back to Naples from there.

[euro cruiser]

Going in the other direction, going to Vesuvio first, you could take the 9:10 bus from the stop in front of the cruise port (schedule in prior post), arriving at Vesuvio at 10:30 AM. After spending time climbing up to and seeing the crater you could catch either the 11:30 or 12:20 circuit bus to Pompei, spending the afternoon there and taking the Circumvesuviana train back to Naples.