Pompeii
 

We are going to be in Rome for 6 days and plan on seeing Pompeii. Are we able to do this trip from Rome or should we stay close by?

It will be a full day but it's definitely doable (we did it). We had a car prior to arriving in Rome, so we kept it for the night and used it the next morning to drive to Pompeii. If we didn't already have a car, we would have most likely taken the train.

I just want to add, that if you want to stay closer to Pompeii, consider Sorrento. We actually thought of that after the fact, but if we were to do it again, we would have driven to Sorrento and skipped Rome that first night. Then after Sorrento we would have driven to Rome and gotten rid of the car.

Thanks for the tip on Sorrento. That sounds like a good plan.

On our last trip to Italy, we stayed outside of Rome for five nights, and then went to Sorrento for three nights. Part of the reason for staying in Sorrento was to make it easier to get to Pompeii.

There is a nice basic hotel in the town of Pompeii--Hotel Diana. We have been to Pompeii 3 times. For the first two we stayed along the Amalfi Coast. Last year we decided to just spend two nights in Pompeii (we were driving to and from Rome). It was fun staying in the town and in the evening enjoying the people and activity. It is quite different there than in towns in other parts of Italy. It is also not at all touristy. I am very glad that we did this.

If you want somewhere realy near to Pompeii, this hotel is 5 minutes walk from one of the entrances. It is also near the station. We used it on our driving tour, as it also solved the parking problem, having free car parking. The rooms are simply furnished but clean and comfortable.

http://www.villadeimisteri.it/

We did it as a day-trip by train. Quite do-able.

There are many other threads on this topic with good information--you should be sure to try a search.

If you are going to Rome for the first time and only have six days I think you should reconsider the idea of taking a full day out of that time for Pompeii. Ostia Antica is a much closer day trip, a short local train ride away.