15 people going on day trip from Positano to Pompeii, how difficult will this be to coordinate?
 

15 guests are coming to Positano with us for our wedding. We are doing a day trip to Pompeii the day before.

What I know is this

-take a bus to the train station at Meta...Which bus, will it be easy to find and will 15 of us fit? Will we have to go in turns and wait for the remainder of the group at th train station?

-then it's a 30 minute train ride to pompeii and we should get off at Pompeii Scavi.

Will it be easy to find our way from the train station in Pompeii to the actual point of interest?

How long is the bus ride from Positano to Meta?

Will this be a crazy trip for 15 people or is doable with little hassle?

Thank you so much!!

First of all congratulations on your wedding. I think it's a wonderful thing that you will be getting married on the Amalfi Coast. I think you have to look at the trip from Positano to Pompeii two ways. First of all you could ask your hotel about renting a small bus and driver for the day. If you do that he can take you other places like Torre del Greco to see where they sculpt cameos, etc. You wouldn't waiste as much time doing the bus, train, etc. and you wouldn't have to think about schedules. The other way is.....with 15 people you may all make it on the bus, but you may not. You may have to meet at the scavi entrance. You get off at the Pompeii Scavi stop. It is walking distance to the entrance. If you get off at the Pompeii stop, you can still walk to the scavi entrance but the Scavi stop is closer. Yes, it's easy to find your way to the Scavi entrance....It's all very close. With 15 people you may want to hire a guide in Pompeii or let everyone tour themselves and just tell them to meet at a specific spot at a specific time. Yes it's very doable with 15 people. Tours and schools do it all the time.

McW - The bus ride to META Station takes about 25 mins. (This is the SORRENTO bus from Positano).

You can find the current timetable here (valid until 9/9/05):

http://www.sita-on-line.it/costiera%...na/Q.%2014.pdf

If you're going in high season, it may be a problem for 15 people to travel together and get seats. That bus can be very busy ...

An alternative as Ann suggests might be to hire a minibus. If this idea interests you, try Flavio Gioia:

http://www.flaviogioia.com/

Another option, though slower, would be to go by ferry Positano-Sorrento (- or vice versa).

Hope this helps ...

Steve

P.S. There are also excursion buses which pick up in Positano ...

Bear in mind that depending on where in Positano you are staying & how fit everyone is, you may need to get the little local bus first to get to the SITA bus stop for the Sorrento bus, which is at the top of the town. Another reason why you may find it easier to organise a minibus or something.

If there was ever an occasion when a private driver (or two) was the way to go, this is it.

Because of the number of people, it will cut the hassle factor by two thirds. Many of the drivers in on the Amalfi coast have vans or minivans and some of them will split a large group into two and work in tandem with another driver. With 15 people, the cost would be reasonable.

If you want to check this option out beforehand, here's alist of a few Sorrento/ Positano based drivers who have had good reviews here:

[email protected]
338 338 7393
www.seesorrento.com (M.Maresca) ... [email protected]

www.tourofitaly.com (G.Gargiulo) ... [email protected]

www.positanocarservice ... [email protected]

www.flaviogioia.com ... [email protected]

www.positanolimoservice.com or www.limocarservice.net ... [email protected] (L.Paone)

www.sorrento.it (S.Astarita) ... [email protected] or [email protected]

www.cuomonet.it

Thank you so much for all of your responses. I will look into drivers. I'm curious as to how to hire a "minibus" are these drivers able to provide that option or would I have to find one seperately?

Also, how long would the ferry ride take us. Can I be safe to say that the total trip to Pompei, including the ferry to Sorrento and the Train to Scavi would be about 1 hour and 15 minutes?

I can't recall the length of the ferry ride from Positano to Sorrento, but I know that from the dock in Sorrento, you then need to make your way up to the train station, either by bus or cab (if you walk, it's a steep uphill walk to Piazza Tasso then another 5 or ten minutes from there.

If you decide in a private driver, send email with your request and the number of people in your party to all of the drivers, the ones who own minivans can organize the vehicles for you.

Besy of luck, and enjoy your wedding!

First of all, congratulations! Second of all, without any specific knowledge of public or private transportation in the area, I can just tell you that moving 15 people from place to place in Italy at once will be a huge challenge, and one that it will be worth spending some money on to minimize the hassles.
Follow up on all suggestions for private transport - minibus, private driver, whatever. Italy's a fabulous country, but not one where you'd want to go gallivanting around with 15 people from place to place and hoping things would work out and everyone would get there at the same time. I'm not sure ANY country would be good for that, but Italy, definitely not.
Good luck. Spend some money for peace of mind.

MC - For a minibus I suspect Flavio Gioia might be your best bet - he's Positano-based and provides buses and minibuses as well as limos.

http://www.flaviogioia.com/

If you go by bus/train it will take you 1-1.5 hrs depending on how long you have to wait for a train at Meta (- maxm 30 mins).

The ferry/train option will take you much longer ...

Steve