Okay, now I know about the Pompei-Scavi stop...I know we take the Circumvesuviana that's headed towards Sorrento from Naples. Does that leave from the Napoli Centrale? Is there an English-language website where I can reserve my tickets or at least view a train schedule? My halting traveler's Italian is not good enough to navigate www.vesuviana.com. Thanks for the help.

Yes, the Circumvesuviana leaves from Napoli Centrale--downstairs. You don't need to reserve tickets for the Circumvesuviana, you can just buy them at the station. Not sure where you can view schedule online (someone else chime in if they know) but trains leave frequently. From Naples to Pompei Scavi it's about 30 minutes.

Oh, and there are loads of threads about Pompeii and how to get there, so if you want more detailed info, you could do a search under "Pompeii" here and see what comes up.

DejaVu: Thanks sooo much for the info. Our day trip to Pompei was great and the trains were suprisingly good. We went from Rome to Naples and then on to Pompei. On our way back to Rome, we stopped in Naples to visit the Archeological Museum. The stuff in the museum was lovely and worth the side trip, but the area around the museum was easily the dirtiest and most seedy that we encountered in our whole Italy trip. Personally, I wouldn't go anywhere near the museum after dark. The Metro between the train station and the museum in Naples was fine, but again, not a trip I'd make late at night. Just wanted to let people know my experience...

thanks for sharing! we'll be there next month and I'm mentally going through the details.