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Tour Guide or no guide for Pompeii & other questions?

Tour Guide or no guide for Pompeii & other questions?

Old Apr 15th, 2010, 01:16 PM
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Tour Guide or no guide for Pompeii & other questions?

Is the free literature with your admission at the Pompeii site sufficient to guide you through the area? I also have a guide book that covers some of the highlights of Pompeii.
I also understand that the House of Menander is only open on Sunday . Do you need reservations to go through it? Is it worth while to see?
Where would be a good place for lunch near Pompeii?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
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Old Apr 15th, 2010, 01:32 PM
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Dear Cambee. For a world class site like Pompeii, I'd say a tour guide is absolutely essential. Most tour guides are fine but if you want a recommendation, I recently visited Pompeii with Fiorella Squillante from vesuviusvspompeii.com. It was incredibe, Fiorella brought the ruins back to life for me. Her understanding of Art and History was most impressive (I myself teach ancient history) and she still managed to give me lots and lots of new insider information that only a person dedicated to her work would know. She has obviously studied extensively and still manages to be a lot of fun. i didn't visit the House of Menander so couldn't tell you which days it is open. Ask Fiorella, she'll know! The pizza afterwards was excellent too. A good tour guide is like having a friend in a far off place.
Maria Lorel
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Old Apr 15th, 2010, 01:39 PM
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For my purposes, the audio guide that one can rent at the main entrance to the site was sufficient. I also read extensively before getting there.

The House of Menander is one of very few Pompeii sites for which an advance reservation is required. You can book it at:

http://www.arethusa.net/w2d3/v3/view...contenuto.html

I believe that site is in Italian only, but it's fairly simple to navigate even if you don't know Italian, and you can use something like babelfish to translate as necessary:

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/?fr=avbbf-us

Hope that helps!
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Old Apr 15th, 2010, 01:41 PM
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Tour Guide.

Thin
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Old Apr 15th, 2010, 02:00 PM
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tour guide is the way to do it...don't cheap out when are you ever going to be here again?
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Old Apr 15th, 2010, 02:34 PM
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I've been to Pompeii three times. The first time we used the pamphlet they provide, the second time we rented the audio, and the third time we hired a guide. The guide is by far the way to go! He was so knowledgeable and passionate about Pompeii, it was incredible how much more we got out of it by using him!
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Old Apr 15th, 2010, 04:32 PM
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Another vote for hiring a guide. We did and were so happy that we did. You can't ask an audio guide or pamphlet questions.
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Old Apr 16th, 2010, 03:05 AM
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Tour guide. But if you have any sort of interest beyond the most superficial, my choice would be to hire a private guide, NOT one of the guides who form groups at the entrance to the site.
On my most recent visit, I hired one of the guides on the spot, who then formed a group. Doing this allowed us to bypass the (long) ticket line at the entrance (yes, along line even on a weekday in early May).
The tour just skimmed the surface and the guide told silly jokes. But it was inexpensive.
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Old Apr 26th, 2010, 09:59 PM
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three of us are planning a trip in late September. It has been a life-long dream to visit Pompeii (I will be 49 on the trip!) I have a few questions:

1. How much (ballpark)should I budget for either a private or group guide?

2. I understand that there will be group guides at the entrance we can hire, but how do I go about booking a private one? Just Google it?

I did download a .mp3 audio guide, but would prefer to hire a human guide if I can!

Thanks,

Leslie
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Old Apr 26th, 2010, 10:10 PM
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I think a Tour Guide is essential however I strongly suggest that if you can afford it, find a private tour guide and do NOT join a group tour. My last trip to Italy, I used private guides everywhere except Pompeii and I regretted it. We wasted time early on in the very begining sections due to a large group asking too many questions, most of which were ridiculous. So splurge and get a private guide for your small group, you'll be able to see more and will get a better quality service.
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Old Apr 26th, 2010, 10:21 PM
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Topping for mid October, with thanks.
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Old Apr 26th, 2010, 11:33 PM
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I read "The Fires of Vesuvius" by Mary Beard before my visit.

http://www.amazon.com/Fires-Vesuvius...2352779&sr=8-1

Based on the book, I mapped out the places I cared to visit. Pompeii is extensive and the walks on those uneven pavements are tiring, so it is important to have a routing strategy or a guide.

From the book, I noted all the key features of the sites I wanted to spend time on. A good guide or studying about the sites beforehand on your own helps you imagine the life in Pompeii at the time of the eruption.
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Old Apr 27th, 2010, 07:42 AM
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Guide. And there's a restaurant straight out the back entrance to the ruins that was quite good, next to the Hotel Forum (but that was six years ago now). The main commercial street in Pompei isn't far from that back entrance. You could go out there and wander around to find something (or ask a local where they recommend). While you're out stop to see the Santuario. Many people overlook it on their visit but it's just gorgeous.
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Old Apr 27th, 2010, 08:21 AM
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At Herculanium we impulsively picked up a guide wandering about there (not something that I'd genrally recommend doing) who did not even speak English (more than a few words). But we had a blast with him and it was one of our favorite tours!!!
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Old May 17th, 2010, 03:41 AM
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I was there 10 days ago and we spent 7 hours using the audioguides and free map which covered our needs very well. The map gives you 3 different suggested itineraries using the audio guide, estimated respectively at 2, 4 & 6 hours, but we didn't end up following any of them as each of them - plus all the guided groups - were visiting the sites they did include in the same order as everyone else so that route was very crowded. We got off the beaten track and had a wonderful experience, sometimes having really interesting and/or beautiful areas to ourselves while still fitting in all the 'must sees' - just not following the same route as everyone else. On the occasions we did encounter small or large groups with guides, we found the guides quite annoying even though we weren't with them. Maybe we are unusual (evidently so on this site), but we'd always rather suit ourselves and visit places at our own pace, rather than be saddled with a stranger telling us what we should be interested in.

I had done quite a bit of reading beforehand, including everything on the official website which is very comprehensive, and noted what seemed most worth doing from that - but needn't have bothered. The website descriptions of individual buildings are basically the same as the audioguide, although it did save time and add interest to have read the background sections from the website first.

Re any specific sites you are thinking you must do - don't bet on anything, just accept that some buildings will be closed whether or not they are supposed to be open and even bookable - there's plenty else to see which is just as good or better so just go with the flow. Personally I'd say the Villa dei Misteri was the most impressive site, you don't have to book and it was almost deserted - maybe because it's too far for most of the guides to want to take people ?

Incidentally we got the train from Naples just after 9am so must have arrived at the entrance to Pompeii at c.9.45, and there were no queues at all, although I think there must have been later on.

In case anyone's thinking of going to Herculaneum too we spent 3 hours there the next day, just using the audioguide & map and doing the highlights in numeric order (since it's much smaller and there were fewer groups there). Although we could probably have covered it in 2 hours if the rigours of Pompeii the day before hadn't meant we had to keep sitting down !
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Old May 17th, 2010, 03:49 AM
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I very much regret not getting a private tour guide at Pompeii, i know we would have gotten so much more out of our trip there.
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Old May 27th, 2010, 01:27 AM
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I'm arranging a tour for a group of 10 where budget is important so have to have an eye on costs. What sort of cost is involved in hiring a pre arranged private guide? What do the guides waiting at the entrance charge?

Can anyone recommend a private guide with good English?

Thanks again
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Old May 27th, 2010, 03:39 AM
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Try this link for a private tour; I've not used her but she seems to be well respected:

http://www.katieparla.com/
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Old May 27th, 2010, 04:49 AM
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Unfortunately Katie doesn't do groups of more than 6 it says on her website. However, there must be others who do? I'll put this on a new thread as I don't want to hijack the OP's thread.
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Old May 27th, 2010, 08:39 AM
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why dont you email her? she may make an exception. we hired a private guide in Madrid who usually only catered for 6. I asked him nicely (told them we were well behaved) and they took all 12 of us!
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