Egypt to Italy? Pompei or no?
 

I'm planning a trip in about a year to see more of Europe. I plan to travel for four weeks, and want to get a fairly good sense of each country I'll be in. My original itinerary was much too packed, so now I'm trying to limit it. For now this is a loose itinerary:

April 17: Fly into Cairo; spend one week

April 23 or 24: Fly into Rome--3 days Rome, 3 days florence, 3 days venice (I'm also considering flying into naples and spending a day touring Pompei..seems like a shame to miss it, but it would mean much more traveling time).

May 3 or 4: Train or plane into Prague; one week in Prague

May 10: train or plane into Germany; one week in Germany

I'm positing this on the Egypt board too, but I guess I'm inviting random comments on my general itinerary & asking if one day is enough to see the sights in Pompei, or how people's experiences were there.

If you don't mind walking, one day is enough for Pompeii. Get yourself a guide map and study it prior to your visit. Be prepared for a degree of disappointment since some of the sights may be closed. When I was there last spring the House of the Brothers Vetti was closed. But it is definitely worth it as one of the world's great sights. Read Harris' book too.

We had stopped at Pompei on one of our cruise stops. It was simply amazing to us. Yes, there is a lot of walking and on top of that it was very hot. I wouldn't miss it if I were you. You certainly are doing a lot of traveling and will be worn out from your vacationing when you get home, but you will kick yourself if you don't go to Pompei. Make sure you wear tennis shoes or other types of shoes that cover your entire foot. Since it was hot, I wore sandals-big mistake. I had a hard time with all the pebbles, dirt and other things getting between my sandals and my feet. Very uncomfortable.

I agree that this is a lot of traveling. But Pompeii is fantastic. Yes its hot... all the tour groups go there in the morning and are gone by mid day... wear comfortable shoes like the other person said. Try and see the Archeological museum in Naples. Most of the great treasures from Pompeii are located there. Its easy to get around if you use the "Circumsuviana" (sp?) local train that goes between Naples and Sorrento.

thank you so much for all of the help! i think i will fly into rome and take a day trip to pompei from there. awesome!

You can read a wonderful article on seeing Pompeii if you go to the NY Times web site and search for Maureen Fant's piece from a few years back. She tells you just how to plan your visit, where to eat, etc etc. This is her field so she is a good read.