Rome - Pompeii - Florence Vacation - Help! (Especially the Pompeii part)
 

I am trying to coordinate our family's first trip through Europe this summer. We only have 4 1/2 days in Italy and want to make the most of it. We have two active boys (ages 8 & 11). We arrive at 8:30am on a Monday morning into Rome from a direct flight from the USA. We have to fly out of Florence on Friday @ 2:55pm. Here are our thoughts so far:

Monday - Get settled, walk around a bit, take in a 3.5 hour Coliseum, Roman Forum, & Palatine Hill on a Tour @ 3pm.

Tuesday - Rent a car and drive down to Pompeii to do a private tour (2.5 hours) at 2 pm.

Wednesday - Take in the Vatican (St. Peter Basilica, Sistine Chapel, and Vatican Museum) 3.5 hour tour @ 1pm.

Thursday - Take the Train to Florence around 10am or 11am. Visit the Duomo and walk around a bit.

Friday morning - Go to see Statue of David @ Accedemia. Then fly out @ 2:55pm

My biggest question is on Tuesday (Pompeii trip), should we make this a day trip returning to Rome late that evening (and thus keep the same hotel in Rome for 3 nights), or should we spend more time in the Pompeii region (eg. Amalfi, Sorrento, Naples)??? My wife LOVES the ocean so I think I'd like to stay somewhere in the region for Tuesday Night and return to Rome on Wednesday morning. I just don't know where? Need some help please.

Also if you see any problems with my vision of a trip so far, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!!!

Personally, I would never survive your trip! The combination of jet lag and all the motion would mean I'd end up enjoying very little. I'm guessing you already have bought tickets, but if you have not, and you only have 4.5 days, I would not try to move around so much with kids.

Without knowing your exact travel dates it is really hard to make suggestions. At some times of year, traffic in the Amalfi and/or heat in Pompei requires special care in making travel arrangments.

But if you have already bought tickets into Rome and out of Florence, and you are determined to rush about, here is an idea to consider:

Arrive in Rome but go directly to the Amalfi coast. If you can afford a private car transfer from the airport, yippee, but if not, take the train to Naples and get a car transfer from there.

Next day, get a taxi to take you to Pompei for your 2pm tour. Store your luggage at the entrance to Pompei. Afterwards, head up to Rome by train.

Then do your tours of Rome and Florence.

I think you are overdoing in such a short period of time.

Not knowing how long your flight from US is [from 6 hours from East Coast to 11 hours or more from West Coast] but it is obviously overnight. Have your children ever flown this long and overnight? They [and you] will surely be jet lagged. This will impact your first day. To expect them - and you - to be up and at 'em for a 3 pm, 3.5 hour tour of Coliseum could be a real issue.

I would NOT drive to Pompeii/Amalfi; I would take train. Perhaps stay in Sorrento after Pompeii or head there first as Sandralist suggests.

We're travelling with kids this summer as well. Besides putting too many stops in your schedule, a few things jumped out at me. We considered getting a driver to take us from Rome to Pompeii. The drive is much longer than the train. Don't rent a car. Get the 7:30am train from Rome to Naples. You'll be at Pompeii in the morning when its much cooler than midday.

For your first day, I can't imagine doing a four hour tour, midday in summer, with kids right after a transatlantic flight. If you arrive at 8h30, that's the middle of the night for your bodies. The kids are going to crash. We plan to walk all day on arrival but nothing organized so we can have downtime, sit for a gelato, explore and then head back to the hotel around 7pm and just sleep til morning.

There is so much to see in Rome itself. We initially had five nights planned with a daytrip to Pompeii and I added an extra day because I couldn't fit in our 'must sees'. And I'm still having to pare things down. If we only had two days in Rome, I expect we'd skip the Vatican. Do your kids really want to visit? Our daughter loves art so we'll enjoy the museum but with only a little time, we'd spend it doing the Palazzo Valentini, exploring the fountains, visiting the Capuchin Crypt, visiting the Pantheon, etc.

I like the comments so far, thank you. The trip from Washington DC to Rome and the trip out of Florence to Copenhagen is already booked (we have a gathering to be at in Denmark).

I was concerned that Pompeii would be adding too much to the trip due to the 3+ hours there and 3+ hours back to Rome. Assuming we completely chill the first day, that leaves Tuesday & Wednesday to do more things in Rome.

We could even use all day on Thursday and take a late train to Florence not see as much there. I wish we had more time; but 4.5 days was all we could squeeze out of a 17 day trip.

Would anyone consider completely scrapping time in Florence to visit Pompeii? We could take the train from Rome to Florence on Friday morning and then fly to Copenhagen @ 2:55pm. That would give us Monday decompress time in Rome, Tuesday in Rome, Wed in Pompeii and Thursday back in Rome.

Thoughts?

Pity you cannot change your flight to Copenhagen and leave from Rome, because I think skipping Florence is the right choice on this trip. However, I'd be nervous (maybe needlessly) about taking the train from Rome on the day of the flight. Perhaps someone with more confidence in train schedules and performance will reassure you.

I think boys that age will find the drama of the ruined city of Pompeii far more interesting than the art treasures of Florence.

Agree that jet lag will pose a big problem on arrival day. You might want something less structured than a tour. I'd suggest a walk up the Capitoline hill for a panoramic view of the Forum and Colosseum, then a Roman walk-by like Trevi Fountain, and a short look into the Pantheon. For me, with lunch and dinner and an personally required nap and shower, that would take up your first day and whet your appetite for more.

We did nearly the same itinerary with our preteen girls, but over a few more days.
What I'd do for a quick Pompeii visit:
-Fly into Rome, hire car to take you to drop all your bags at your Rome hotel for storage & then get dropped off at Termini Station.
-Bullet train to Florence (nap on train) & hire a car to take you to Pompeii & back to catch the return train.
-You could take the slow train (Circumvesuviana) right to the ruins also for a lot less, but will take longer & be more stressful.

If you had a little more time, I'd suggest spending the night in Sorrento. Cheaper & would allow some down time to get over the jetlag (Your boys would love the Sorrento Hilton's pool). Hit Pompeii 1st thing in the morning on the way back to Rome.

it looks like your train tickets are not booked. Are your air tickets out of Florence separate from your other air tickets? If so, then check out the cost of flying out of Rome or Naples to Copehagen, even if it means just tossing the Florence air tickets and eating the cost. To go to Florence just to catch a plane is expensive -- so it might just be better for your overall trip to use the money you would be spending to get to Florence on air tickets from Rome or Naples instead.

sandralist, The train tickets are not booked; however, It was $600+ to fly out of Rome on Friday. I was able to get flights with miles out of Florence for only $200 (airport taxes). The family ticket (for two adults and 2 kids) on the train italiarail.com that seems to run almost twice hourly from Rome to Florence is between $99 and $129 depending on accommodations and only takes an hour and a half.

At this point, I agree with everyone that Day 1 should be a relaxed day in Rome (overcome jet lag).

That leaves Tuesday and Wednesday to do Coliseum/Ancient Rome tour and a Vatican tour.

We could head down toward Pompeii on Wednesday evening to stay in a hotel near Pompeii, and do an 8:30 am tour on Thursday morning. Then we could leisurely head back to Rome for a Thursday evening hotel stay.

We could then leave Friday morning on the train to Florence to fly out in the afternoon.

Does this seem like too much? It gives Rome time, Pompeii in the morning rather than the heat of the day, and Friday we could have an early lunch in Florence before flying out to Denmark.

Does this seem more realistic? Again, thank you for all the comments so far.

Ah, well. Sometimes there is a cheap flight, sometimes there is not.

I suggest that you not pre-book a tour to Pompei. First, see how your family feels about visiting the Forum and other sights of ancient Rome. If there is wild enthusiasm for more ruins, by all means go to Pompei. But maybe people would rather head to the beach or a hill town, or just see more of Rome in a relaxed way.

For a beach that is accessible from Rome, consider Sperlonga, which also conveniently has some Roman ruins.

For a hilltown, consider Orvieto, which also has a kid-intriguing Etruscan well plus an unusually gorgeous cathedral that is considered one of the great wonders of Italy.

Thanks sandralist!

I like the idea of skipping Florence on this trip and doing Rome and Pompeii only. Stay in Sorrento--the Circumvesuviano train goes from Naples right past Pompeii and to Sorrento.

Concur in not booking a tour in advance. You may find that you all like Rome so much you'll spend all your time there, or decide to go to the beach or Orvieto, as Sandra says. Or Ostia Antica, which is much easier to get to from Rome that Pompeii is, is generally less crowded and hot, and gives a good experience of Roman ruins. If you do go to Pompeii, talk to the guides at the entrance, pick out someone you like who speaks pretty good English, and hire him or her on the spot to take you around.

I think the kids would like Pompeii a whole lot more than the Vatican. BUT, you must know that in summer Pompeii is hot as hell and there is NO shade. If you must visit it (and we loved it) I would go straight to Sorrento from the airport and spend the rest of the day walking/exploring and getting un-jetlagged. Then be at Pompeii when it opens the next morning - with your luggage stored there - so you can grab a train right back to Rome. To really see the sight you will ned a good part of the day but very much doubt your kids will last more than 2 or 3 hours.

In Rome I would focus on ancient things rather than religious ones and be sure you allow the kids time to run around in some of the piazzas.

Also - before the trip be sure the kids have the basics of roman history (gladiator movies/books,etc) so they are not totally bored.

The John Germani,

You wrote: "We could head down toward Pompeii on Wednesday evening to stay in a hotel near Pompeii, and do an 8:30 am tour on Thursday morning. Then we could leisurely head back to Rome for a Thursday evening hotel stay.

We could then leave Friday morning on the train to Florence to fly out in the afternoon."

Not sure why in all your adjustments you keep including two stays in Rome. Following this plan, from Pompeii, why not head to Florence and spend one night?

I would consider a different path. Travel to Napoli on landing day and stay Monday night in Napoli.

The original itinerary hinges on being able to do “Monday - Get settled.” How realistic is this assumption? You land at 8:30am, then head to an accommodation in Rome, perhaps around 10-10:30am. Then what? What is the probability that you can actually “Get settled?”

I would convert this “perhaps we can get settled, but might have to leave luggage at front and walk around in zombie state” into a productive trip to Napoli/Sorrento. Many automatically assume this is too much to do with jet lag. Think about it. Compare walking around while jet-lagged in Rome trying not to fall sleep at cafe/restaurant vs. sitting on a comfy train seat zipping to Napoli while taking a nap on the way.

By the time you get to Napoli, your hotel is more likely to be ready to check-in and actually “Get settled.”

Your itinerary is still ambitious.

If you are likely to return to Italy, you might skip Rome. Unthinkable? Think about it. If you are coming back to Tuscany or Umbria, you will likely to land or leave from FCO unless you are from a city where flying to Milan offer significant savings. In this case, whether you like or not, you will be automatically in Rome without trying. Pompeii/Amalfi Coast always requires a special consideration for most people.

I haven't read all the comments, and lots of people love Florence, but I've been there three times now, and I just don't love it. I like the idea of Rome with a day trip via train to Pompeii and then high-speed train to Florence the morning of your departure. You can have a few hours there and then leave for Copenhagen. We took trains everywhere in Italy on our recent trip, and they were never more than 15 minutes late.

>>>> We took trains everywhere in Italy on our recent trip, and they were never more than 15 minutes late.<<<<

Fast trains in Italy have a well deserved record for punctuality. However, they can indeed be more than 15 minutes late, especially the trains that begin in Salerno or Napoli and travel all the way north (making a stop at Florence). Just a heads up.

Instead of going to Pompeii, you might consider visiting Ostia Antica, which is right on the southern outskirts of Rome. There are several advantages. First, it's not as hot, being right on the seaside, and there's a lot more shade than there is at Pompeii. Second, since it's right in Rome, if there's a heat wave and you don't want to spend time outdoors at all, you can just do something else that day without sinking expensive train tickets.

www.ostia-antica.org

If you really must see Pompeii, I think the idea of going straight to Sorrento on arrival is a good one. I'd take the high-speed train to Naples and then get a private driver to take you to Sorrento. Or, as someone else suggested, you could stop in Naples, but if your wife likes the sea, Sorrento might be better. By the way, Italy has no ocean coast. The Mediterranean is a sea, and there are usually hardly any waves at all, no more than you'd see on one of the Great Lakes.

You'd have just the rest of the day in Sorrento, and then, as suggested above, you should get to Pompeii as early as humanly possible to escape the worst of the heat.The Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento to Naples stops a few steps from the archealogical site. You can leave your luggage at a facility at the gate. Then, after your visit, pick it up and head to Rome.

You could then spend two nights in Rome (Tuesday and Wednesday), and head to Florence late on Thursday. That would give you almost two days in Rome, which is nowhere near enough, but I hope you'll return. You could also spend a few hours in Florence the next morning before your flight. Most hotels will hold your bags for a few hours after you check out.

Sperlonga may be very nice (I've never been there), but it's quite difficult to get there on public transportation, and I wouldn't think it worth renting a car just to go there. There's a beach in Rome, at Ostia Lido, just a few stops past the archaeological site of Ostia Antica. It's not bad at all, although maybe not as scenic as Sperlonga. I would avoid it on the weekend in the summer, though, because it's wall-to-wall Romans. Other beaches easily reached by train are Anzio, Nettuno, and Santa Marinella. However, I would consider these only if you decide not to go to Pompeii, and if you want to see Ostia Antica instead of Pompeii, I wouldn't go further than Ostia Lido for the beach.

With the short time you have in Rome, I wouldn't take any organized tours. They really gum up your schedule, having to be in a certain place at a certain time. They also take up too much time. You really could see the Colosseum in half an hour, but the tour takes two hours.

With such a short time in Rome, I wouldn't go to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel at all. It's unbelievably crowded all year, and much worse in the summer; it's also very hot and humid inside in the summer. I find it hard to believe anyone enjoys the art under those conditions. Since you really have at most two days in Rome, it would be a shame to spend such a big chunk of your time shuffling along shoulder to shoulder with several thousand other sweaty tourists in the long, long corridor leading to the Sistine Chapel.

A possible option for the Vatican is taking the Scavi tour under the Vatican. It is by reservation only. It is an extraordinary experience and the kids would probably think it is very cool to be standing on the Roman road looking up at the "modern" building.