I will be in Pompeii for a day in April and I am looking for advice about tours. Is a guided tour the best route to go or can you do it on your own with a guide book? I know there are paid guides at the entrances. When I was in Greece I never did a paid tour of the sites there but Pompeii is also much larger. Any advice is appreciated.

You can also rent one of the handheld audio guides (must leave an ID at the booth while renting). The sites are numbered and you just enter the number and listen.

Pompeii is huge and even if you have all the best intentions to see it all, after 5-6 hours your brain may shutdown on you , so the best approach is STUDY in advance the site and make a list of MUST SEE sites and tackle those first. I have done Pompeii with a guide hired for two hours by the entrance. I also did Pompeii by getting the audio guides and a map. No doubt paying a local guide for two hours guided visit and handing him the MUST SEE places is best. Typically guides will make up a small group of about 8-10 people before they head out, so consider that as well. The audio guides have great information, but it requires that you be good with a site map and focused in the narrative. If you are touring with kids or a bigger group the audio guides are not as effective. So, in a synosis, if in a group, go for the local guide by the entrance. If by yourself/partner the audio guides could be all you need.

We were in Pompeii last fall and used one of the guides at the entrance. I had done quite a bit of research before we got there but the guide was a great enhancer of our experience. He made Pompeii come alive. The tour was about 2.5 hours and we stayed for another hour or two with a guidebook. I think we had far more understanding of the entire site because of the excellent guide.

There are also site employees on the grounds who can provide a wealth of information and do so for free. I did a fair amount of advanced research, used the audio guide, and learned a lot from these very helpful personnel.

Thanks everyone! it will just be me and a friend. So maybe the audio guides are the way to go. I would rather not be in a large group

Rent an audioguide, do alittle homework beforehand, plan your route and you will have a great visit.
And perhaps book one of the 'reservation only' sites.

If Pompeii was never buried it would today just be a footnote in history books (Nero closed the amphitheatre for 10yrs because of a massive fatal spectator brawl).
It was just another Roman town with a new estimate of ~12,000+ inhabitants (I believe?; it used to be 20k).

In 62AD a major earthquake hit Pompeii and they were still rebuilding some structures when the end came.
Days before their 'Big Bang' they are experiencing minor earthquakes and rumblings/noises from underground.
The aquaduct and wells run dry.

Now personally I would do alittle research on Pompeii's final 18hrs and try to imagine living thru the different phases of that experience as you walk and visit the structures.
The timeline is; Vesuvius explodes at lunch and the fatal pyroclastic surge kills everything by breakfast the following day.

A nice book for historical info and 'day to day life' in Pompeii is 'Pompeii The Day A City Died' by Robert Etienne, it's not a guidebook so to speak.

Article with a nutshell version of the eruption timeline and a tour route suggestion.
http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa-2/w...ng-pompeii.htm
Regards, Walter