BarbaraAllison7911

We are planning to visit both Pompeii and Pasteum in September. Pompeii from Sorrento and Pasteum from Naples (easier to get there by train from what I have read). My question is: is it better to take a tour from Sorrento and Naples or just travel there by ourselves by train and try to pick up a tour or guide there at the site. If a tour from either city is preferable then can anyone help us out by recommending a company for either tour or both tours? If we were to take a guided tour, a smaller one of 15 people would be preferable.

As in the past, any suggestions are greatly appreciated and always used!

kybourbon

Are you staying in Sorrento or somewhere else on the coast?

marvelousmouse

How many are there in your group?

i didn’t get to Pompeii, but the tour company I had planned to use was Context. I know their Pompeii tour is expensive, so it’s probably not what you’re looking for. However, I used them for two tours in Rome and I was very impressed.

There’s an audio guide, so a tour guide may not be necessary at all, if that’s your style. Or something Rick Steves or an app. I would probably do that if I hadn’t been interested in context, as generally I’m not into tours.

thursdaysd

I didn't make it to Paestum because I was sick, but I would have thought a good guidebook was all that was nexessary.

For Pompeii I found a suggested walking tour with notes online, but it was an a UK newspaper and I think it has vanished. If I were going today I would do as mm suggests. If you insist on a guide I gather there are usually some waiting outside, so you could pick one you liked.

BarbaraAllison7911

We are staying in Sorrento after arrival from Canada for three days and then staying in Capri, Atrani, and then back to Naples for three days.

BarbaraAllison7911

Actually, there was a live streaming of Southern Italy on Rick Steeves’ website today and it showed Paestum and it seems you might be right that a guide might not be needed as you suggested. I will try to find more information on the internet regarding same.

kja

I found it extremely easy to visit both Pompeii and Paestum on my own, and I found the combination of advance reading in a guidebook and the on-site audio guides very helpful. FWIW, i visited Pompeii from Naples, although it is easily visited from Sorrento or Salerno. I visited Paestum from Salerno. I can't imagine trying to visit both in a single day -- I wanted at least 6 hours for Pompeii and 2 hours on site at Paestum -- not counting an hour for the small, but excellent museum (it only takes about an hour) and for the local fresh buffalo mozzarella (OMG!) -- and not counting transportation. Both are extraordinary sites and well worth your time!

kybourbon

>>>We are staying in Sorrento after arrival from Canada for three days and then staying in Capri, Atrani, and then back to Naples for three days.<<<

That's a lot of location changes. I don't think most people would bother with that. I would suggest two locations max.

From Atrani (you didn't say how many days you are staying there), you can take the bus (very scenic) to Salerno and change to the train or bus to Pasteum (both available from Salerno). I've taken the bus from there before, but it seems I had to catch it down by the water, not at the train station where the bus from Atrani would arrive. The bus from Atrani is the Sita bus and should take about one hour to the Salerno train station and another 30 minutes on the train (about 2-3€) to Paestum. FYI - There was a gap of service late morning for the train for several hours.

BarbaraAllison7911

Kybourbon.....the reason we have different locations as after our long overnight flight from Canada, we will acclimatize in Sorrento for a couple of days seeing Pompeii before taking a boat to Capri......spending a couple of days on Capri then taking a boat to Amalphi and staying in Atrani for a week or so. We like to do slow travel and enjoy all our surroundings with lots of walking. The reason I decided not to see Paestum from Atrani is because it seemed there was too many changes in route with different transportation .......just seemed easier to take a train straight from Naples. Do you think it’s easier to see from Paestum from Atrani? I didn’t want to miss Naples so it seemed leaving that city till the end when we were flying out back to Canada and take a day there to see Paestum.

isabel

I visited both Pompeii and Paestum (and Herculaneum) and didn't feel the need for a guide for any of them. I did them on different trips and spent about 5 hours in Pompeii and about two each in Paestum and Herculaneum. But I did extensive research ahead of time, which is easy to do online. There is an excellent free, on-line Yale University course - https://oyc.yale.edu/history-of-art/hsar-252. But if you don't want to do that much there plenty of shorter sites. Especially for Paestum you don't need a guide if you can just read a little bit ahead of time. At Pompeii there I saw a variety of groups - the private ones looked pretty good but the larger ones looked terrible. But then I hate being herded about and much prefer to go at my own pace.

Here's my photos of all three sites: Zenfolio | Isabel's_View | Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum

Paqngo

We went to Pompeii and used Nello @ [email protected] . Someone in my italian class had highly recommended him so we used him on our trip. We really enjoyed having him guide us and really learned a lot. Enjoy your trip.

kja

You can visit Paestum from Atrani -- but as you say, it will involve more complicated logistics than visiting from Naples. I think the question is how you want to spend your time. Naples offers SOOoooo much that it might be nice to focus on the city itself rather than taking lots of day trips, but either could work quite well.

I'm another person who moves around a lot, so I fully understand the benefits! (I stayed in Naples, Capri, Ravello, and Salerno.)

kybourbon

>>> The reason I decided not to see Paestum from Atrani is because it seemed there was too many changes in route with different transportation <<<

Visiting anywhere from Atrani will require transportation changes. I think I would be bored with a week in Atrani unless you have a pool and just want to lounge around instead of sightseeing. So yes, I would visit Paestum from Atrani because I would be bored in Atrani. People talk about views on the Amalfi coast road and they generally mean the road between Sorrento and Amalfi, but the other end between Amalfi/Salerno is also very scenic and the buses usually less crowded. I didn't have a guide for Paestum. FYI - If you take the train, buy a return ticket because the station at Paestum isn't manned and you can't count on ticket machines working.

I've been to Pompeii multiple times. The big groups you see touring are usually people traveling with tours and they have been set up with a guide in Pompeii (their tour company guides aren't allowed to tour in Pompeii as it requires a different license). The smaller groups are usually ones formed by guides recruiting at the entrance, but I would ask how many before joining such a group. I would also want to hear the actual guide speak (some are very hard to understand). The people recruiting at the entrance aren't always the guide that will take you around so ask about that too. In the past, you had the option of renting an audio guide. The sites are numbered and you just enter the number (you will need to leave an ID with them while you have the audio guide checked out). Their website no longer lists those audio guides so I'm not sure if they are still available. These days, they might expect you to download an app instead. I know you can d/l Rick Steves' guide for various sites from Itunes. I didn't have a guide for either Paestum or Herculaneum.

Do you also have a week in Naples? From there, I would visit the Royal Palace at Caserta for a day trip. It's about an hour train ride and is right across the street from the Caserta train station. For the reflecting pools and gardens, take the transport as it's a couple of miles walk (uphill) just to the end of the pools. Take the Palace transport out to the end of the pools and walk back (the English gardens are off to one side at the end).

Reggia di Caserta ? Benvenuto sul sito della Reggia di Caserta

BarbaraAllison7911

Isabel.....did you visit both Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same day? I will take a look at the websites that you kindly provided. The last thing I want to do is be a part of a big group! But sometimes you miss a lot in trying to do these sites on your own if you haven't Taken the time to research them first.

BarbaraAllison7911

Kybourbon......thanks for your suggestions. Perhaps your idea of going to Paestum from Atrani is worth looking into. The idea of a scenic bus ride to Salerno sounds good especially since we have lots of time. I thought we would go to Amalphi one day, Positano another day and hike up to Ravello another day. So......I will check and see how we actually coordinate the bus and trains. Do you have any other suggestions of what to see in the Amalphi area?

BarbaraAllison7911

Paqngo, do remember in what price range Nello charged, where you met up with him and did he provide transportation to Pompeii or did you just take the train? Thanks for this info. Always a help when planning a trip! There are four of us to share the expense unless he charges by the person.

kja

I hiked down, not up -- not only because of the challenges of that climb, but because I wanted to be facing the sea.

BarbaraAllison7911

KJA, good idea We will probably do the same. Did you take a bus up?

Paqngo

We paid €120 for a two hour tour. The price has probably increased in the past few years. There were four people in our group. We had a driver pick us up in Positano and went to Pompeii on our way back to Rome. Nello met us at the front entrance and spoke excellent english. Also, look at the boat schedules for your transportation. We used the boats and Sita buses a lot to get around the coast.

rs899

Thanks for this. We are heading to Rome later in the year and this will be useful.