rome to pompeii - drive or train?
 

We will be staying in Rome but plan on taking a day trip to pompeii. We are arriving in rome by car but planned on returning it upon our arrival. should we keep the car an extra day and drive or not bother and just take the train. how long is the drive vs train ride? There are 4 of us (2 adults and 2 children). <BR>Thanks i advance!

The drive from cental Rome to Pompei can be done in 2:30 hours if one avoids Rome city rush hours. If you count the time lost to get from your hotel to Termini station, and the (possible) time you have to wait to catch the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii in Naples the car is faster by 1/2 to one hour. <BR> <BR>In your shoes, I'd consider spending a night somewhere between Rome and Naples (or Naples itself) instead of driving into Rome twice, having to find a garage, etc. <BR> <BR>Paulo

I would recommend keeping the car one more day for the trip to Pompeii. The drive is about 2 hours (all highway once you struggle getting out of Rome). The trains would take about 20-30 minutes longer, according to recent postings. I think it would make for a less tiring day if you drove.

Just wondering what times are rush hours in rome? how early in the morning do we need to leave rome to avoid it? what time in the evening? <BR>

My experiences driving in Rome were all in July/August when (I would guess) traffic is somewhat lower than other months in the year year. In case you're lucky and your daytrip is on a weekend there's not much you should worry about. You shouldn't have much difficulties leaving and returning to Rome at any hour. Depending on time of year or long weekends, traffic i the outskirts of Rome may be problematic on a Sunday evening, though. On weekdays, I'd advise you to leave your hotel before 7:30 am, the sooner the better. Traffic in the center of the old town is a zoo from approx. 6 to 8pm. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR> <BR>

As usual, Paulo is right on the mark. We left our hotel early on a weekday and didn't have too much difficulty getting out of the city en route to Pompeii.

We made the drive in May, and I'd do it again. <BR>Shoot for an early-morning getaway -- as other posts have recommended -- or do what we did: Leave on a Sat. a.m. <BR>Once you get out of Rome, the highway south is good, and ride into the Pompeii area can be interesting. <BR>

Thanks you all for the info. I think we'll keep the car for an extra day although it will be a weekday. Leaving in the early morning is no problem for us, we would do that in any case. we will be staying near the pantheon. i'll check with my hotel (santa chiara) about overnight parking. We will be arriving in Rome on a Wed, 3/21 so we'll make this trip on the following day. Pompeii will proabably be the big highlight for my kids (they are very anxious to see it) so we want to make the most of it and the car gives us a lot of flexibility. Rome is the end of our Italy trip (we'll be coming from venice and overnights in florence and orvieto) prior to Rome. <BR>Thanks again, <BR>M

I think you are wise to take the car to Pompeii. If I am not mistaken, most of the relics found at Pompeii are in the museum in Naples. Does anyone know which museum for sure?

Museo Archeologico Nazionale ... which, if my files aren't outdated, opens <BR> <BR>August and September <BR>Monday through Saturday: from 9am to 10pm <BR>Sunday: from 9am to 6pm <BR> <BR>October through July <BR>Wednesday through Monday: from 9am to 2pm <BR> <BR>Paulo

My family will be in Rome for a week in mid March. We, too, are planning a day trip to Pompeii. Does anyone know the "hours of operation" for Pompeii? I'd hate to go all the way there and it be the one day of the week the site was closed. Thanks in advance.

If nothing has changed, Pompeii Scavi are open daily from 9am to one hour before sunset (tickets are available till one hour before closing). <BR>Paulo <BR>

website with pompeii hours of operations and other info is: www.pompeionline.net

I (and my two teenagers) thank you for your help and information.

Now that i decided to keep the car an extra day, where do i park it? Our hotel is near the pantheon (albergo santa chiara). I also will check with the hotel but any suggestions will be appreciated.

sending this message up since more pompeii day trip inquiries are showing up today. <BR>we're taking the car.

we're back and we did keep the car overnight in rome so we could drive to pompeii. driving into rome was pretty horrible although it was extra bad because of some student demonstration. Leaving the next morning wasn't as bad as driving in the afternoon before. it took about 45 minute to get out of the city and 2 hrs on the highway to get to pompeii. if we could do it all over again we probably would have not spent that night in rome. we would have stayed somewhere closer to pompeii that's easy to get in and out of. but we did survive and everything was fine. pompeii was great. there weren't any private ebglish speaking guides hanging around when we arrived (as mentioned in some pompeii posts) so we hooked up with a group tour and it was fine. all of us enjoyed it. we were glad we went in any case.