Pompeii, Herculaneum one day?
Jun 16th, 2004, 06:41 AM
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Pompeii, Herculaneum one day?
Is it possible to do Pompeii and Herculaneum in one day (day trip from Rome)?
If so, any suggestions for which first, how to get from one to the other?
Thanks!
If so, any suggestions for which first, how to get from one to the other?
Thanks!
Jun 16th, 2004, 08:08 AM
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Hi!
There was a question this morning about daytrips to Pompeii that you may want to search for. There were numerous responses.
To answer your question, we did a day trip to Pompeii from Rome in March. We took an early Eurostar Italia train from Rome to Naples. From Naples, the Circumvesuviana commuter train will take you from the Naples train station to Pompeii, letting you off across the street from the ruins. Be sure to get off at Pompeii Scavi, which will take you to the ruins, as opposed to the other Pompeii exit. The train from Rome to Naples took about 2 hours, and the CV took about 40 minutes plus the wait for the train (about 15 minutes). We were able to spend three hours exploring Pompeii and were still able to get back to Rome by early evening. Pompeii is fascinating and I highly recommend it.
I'm not sure about Herculaneum as I haven't been, but the train stop for Herculaneum isn't far from Pompeii.
Good luck!
Tracy
There was a question this morning about daytrips to Pompeii that you may want to search for. There were numerous responses.
To answer your question, we did a day trip to Pompeii from Rome in March. We took an early Eurostar Italia train from Rome to Naples. From Naples, the Circumvesuviana commuter train will take you from the Naples train station to Pompeii, letting you off across the street from the ruins. Be sure to get off at Pompeii Scavi, which will take you to the ruins, as opposed to the other Pompeii exit. The train from Rome to Naples took about 2 hours, and the CV took about 40 minutes plus the wait for the train (about 15 minutes). We were able to spend three hours exploring Pompeii and were still able to get back to Rome by early evening. Pompeii is fascinating and I highly recommend it.
I'm not sure about Herculaneum as I haven't been, but the train stop for Herculaneum isn't far from Pompeii.
Good luck!
Tracy
Jun 16th, 2004, 11:00 AM
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Possible to do one of the 2, but not both. I've been to both many times, and I'm not sure I prefer one to the other. If you have never been though, you should probanly go to Pompeii. Both are on the same rail line, Pompeii being about 45 min from Naples, Herculaneum (Ercolano stop on the train) being only 15 or so minutes from Naples.
Jun 16th, 2004, 11:58 AM
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It's a really easy and really worthless thing to do. Just 2 stops on the Naples-Sorrento train line. While you're trophy hunting why not include a stop at Rome's Ostia Antica the same day as well?!
Pompeii is many times more grand, and includes neighborhoods similar to Herculeum. Herc and Ostia have some buildings in better shape than Pompeii, but are mostly redundant to Pomp.
Pompeii is many times more grand, and includes neighborhoods similar to Herculeum. Herc and Ostia have some buildings in better shape than Pompeii, but are mostly redundant to Pomp.
Jun 16th, 2004, 01:18 PM
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We just visited both in a day trip from Sorrento (much closer). We used the Circumvesuviana commuter rail first to Heculaneum (further from Sorrento, closer to Naples), walked to the site and spent about 3 hours looking around. I really enjoyed the frescoes and mosaics. We stopped for lunch at a cafe enroute back to the station. Caught a train to Pompeii. Much larger site that we spent at least 4 hours wandering through. We were getting tired, dusty, and bug bitten and both decided we didn't need to see every one of the listed sites on the walking tours, but felt we had seen enough to get a real feel for the place. I think on my own I would have spent a little less time and seen fewer buildings than we did at Pompeii (niece is archeology student).
You can check the rail schedules online as noted here in earlier posts to check how early/late a trip it would be from Rome and whether you want to make that long of a day trip.
You can check the rail schedules online as noted here in earlier posts to check how early/late a trip it would be from Rome and whether you want to make that long of a day trip.
Jun 16th, 2004, 01:40 PM
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It is possible if you push it, but not recommended. Pompeii is huge, there are so many quandrants of the ancient city to explore that you will think you have enough time and 4 hours later, still haven't made it to the other side of the town! Herculaneum (or Ercolano Scavi, in Italian) is much smaller scale and do-able in an afternoon, as it is only 15 minutes by Circumvesuviana train from Naples. If you can only take 1 day trip, then I would go for Pompeii. If you are planning to stay a couple days down in the south, then I would try to see Herculaneum at that time.
Jun 16th, 2004, 03:06 PM
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I've been to Pompeii 4x and Herculaneum 3x. I'm a bit of a history buff and I've tried to explore every nook and cranny at both sites 
.
That said, yes it is a long daytrip and yes I think doing both sites is a good idea if you have the stamina for an early AM departure, an evening return and and all the walking. With the Rome-Naples-Rome leg on the Eurostar very relaxing.
So in exchange for an 1 exhausting day you have visited 2 World renowned historical sites.
I would say the average tourist probably spends ~4hr actually visiting the Pompeii site (restaurant & giftshop visits excluded). And in many trip reports I've read people say they spent 3 or 4hrs visiting Pompeii from Sorrento, Naples, etc and no one takes them to task for doing a short visit. But if someone is doing a Rome daytrip it's either not worth the time (~6hrs R/T) or it can't be combined with something else usually Herculaneum or the Archaeological Museum which is open late IIRC.
You can have 4hrs actually onsite in Pompeii (the audioguide offers 2, 4, & 6hr tours) and 2hrs in Herculaneum.
Going at a snail's pace the Herculaneum audioguide takes 2hrs.
You will not see everything in Pompeii in 4hrs but you will see alot.
Leave Rome on the 0645 Eurostar train (eat b'fast from the train's snackbar), arrive Naples 0838. Take the 0909 Circumvesuviana, arrive Pompeii 0947.
Leave Pompeii on the 1423 Circumvesuviana arrive Ercolano ~1440. You will be onsite listening to the audioguide at 1500.
Pack a small lunch or grab a bite at the Pompeii station's snackbar or when walking down to Herculaneum (take away food).
Regards, Walter
.That said, yes it is a long daytrip and yes I think doing both sites is a good idea if you have the stamina for an early AM departure, an evening return and and all the walking. With the Rome-Naples-Rome leg on the Eurostar very relaxing.
So in exchange for an 1 exhausting day you have visited 2 World renowned historical sites.
I would say the average tourist probably spends ~4hr actually visiting the Pompeii site (restaurant & giftshop visits excluded). And in many trip reports I've read people say they spent 3 or 4hrs visiting Pompeii from Sorrento, Naples, etc and no one takes them to task for doing a short visit. But if someone is doing a Rome daytrip it's either not worth the time (~6hrs R/T) or it can't be combined with something else usually Herculaneum or the Archaeological Museum which is open late IIRC.
You can have 4hrs actually onsite in Pompeii (the audioguide offers 2, 4, & 6hr tours) and 2hrs in Herculaneum.
Going at a snail's pace the Herculaneum audioguide takes 2hrs.
You will not see everything in Pompeii in 4hrs but you will see alot.
Leave Rome on the 0645 Eurostar train (eat b'fast from the train's snackbar), arrive Naples 0838. Take the 0909 Circumvesuviana, arrive Pompeii 0947.
Leave Pompeii on the 1423 Circumvesuviana arrive Ercolano ~1440. You will be onsite listening to the audioguide at 1500.
Pack a small lunch or grab a bite at the Pompeii station's snackbar or when walking down to Herculaneum (take away food).
Regards, Walter
