Thanks to all for such great information..I began reading this thread because we will be there next month and I hadn't done any research on Pompeii at all... <BR>We will be coming from Positano and will have a car. Can someone suggest what the best way is to get to Pompeii is from Positano? (Not the route, that we can find)..I am wondering if we should forgo driving and take the train from Naples or how long the drive is? Traveling with a 15 year old AND a TWO year old...thanks so much <BR>Roberta

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I feel a little embarrassed to introduce something so pedestrian here, because I loved seeing Pompeii, I'll always be grateful we decided to make a day trip from Rome, and I definitely want to return someday. <BR> <BR>However, I wish I'd known this before we went: pack a lunch or make up a picnic from the many food vendors outside. The food available once inside the site was truly horrible.

You should have a decent meal outside of the iste before you enter. Inside the site itself there is no food or restrooms. At the entrance, there are places to eat.Right outside the entrance, where cars park, there are restaurants. Also if it's warm, bring along water bottles. I did this trip with my family. We ended up on a group tour (there were no private guide when we got there, when we left, there were many). We stayed for about 2 hours. That was enough for my kids.

I don't mean to sound difficult, Marj, but the reason I posted my message above was because there certainly was a cafeteria/restaurant inside the site, and it offered the only awful food we encountered in three weeks in Italy. <BR> <BR>Mind you, this was in 1998. Perhaps the cafeteria was closed down since.

claudia, what did i say. i wasn't even responding to your post (i have no problem with your comment in any case). i was responding to the original just with some personal advise (i was just there with kids in march). i agree, the food vendors are pretty awful, but the restaurants on the main road are ok.

"Inside the site itself there is no food"

About which guide book to use - there are all sorts of stalls selling guidebooks for Pompeii, as I recall, even in Rome & Sorrento. Pick the biggest, most detailed book that you think you'll want - and make sure it has lots of pictures. Also, even more important, buy one of the smaller books that have less text but have overlays, so that you can look at a picture of what the site looks like now, then put the overlay on top & see what the site would have looked like back then. <BR> <BR>We did not hire a guide, and had a wonderful time. We spent all the time we wanted at the various locations, using the guidebooks as our sources. I, too, am not confident of the factual accuracy of the guides. <BR> <BR>I also agree with all the posts about food; that cafeteria is awful and there are no other choices.

Also about guidebooks: We bought a book on Pompeii at the train station in Rome and read it on the two-hour train journey to Naples; it made for a decent crash course and helped up identify what we'd most want to see. <BR> <BR>(And for Marj: I read your post as a direct contradiction of what I'd just posted. I didn't mean to sound hypersensitive, but there was TOO a cafeteria....)

Shortly after entering the site you come to the Forum, if look to the left at the far end you'll see the Temple of Jupiter, behind the temple is the building with the restaurant, snack bar, giftshop, and w.c. Regards, Walter <BR> <BR>

I'm horrible person for not enjoying Pompeii! It was hot, soooo hot and there was a wind storm with lots of dust,soooo dusty. I know I need to go back in cooler weather. BUT! I did discover the best granitas in all of Italy! Right across from the main opening there are several granita hawkers. They seem like they're just out to make a buck and they are but it is money well spent on a hot day. FRESH FRUIST LEMON AND ORANGE GRANITAS! The single most refreshing drink I had in all of Italy.(OK perhaps it was the hear, but they were awfully good!). <BR>Ruins yeah, but fresh granitas? They rock!

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