Naxos, Sorrento, Pompeii in April

[jaylea]

We are in the process of booking Sorrento (with a day trip to Pompeii and a boat tour to Positano and Ravello), and Naxos for mid to late April.

Any can’t miss recommendations or tips? We are going in to wander, explore, relax and eat good food. We do not want to be crazy packed and running around.

Also wondering if anyone has guidance Ont he best way to get to Pompeii, and if we need to be a part of a tour or if we can wander on our own?

Thanks!

[majesty318]

At Pompeii, there are normally tour guides waiting at the entrance looking to make a group of 20 or so people. I was planning to do that, but I was there pre-Covid in low season and there were literally not enough people to make a group. I highly doubt that would happen now   So I did it myself, I downloaded some app with information, but I think it would have been better to do a tour and then continue wandering on my own. My rec is a guide.

I went from Naples so no help on how to get there.

[mildop]

We did this trip last summer (Naxos - sorrento) and loved it! I will look up our favorites and reply back.

[gardengal]

Re: Pompeii. It's huge & so impressively sized.

Frankly, we did what everyone advises against & did Herculaneum & Pompeii in one day. We had younger kids & it was summer & Herculaneum is shadier & smaller. I was confident we could get through it. I did a "family" tour I found on Viatour & our guide was awesome. We learned loads & then we drove over to Pompeii & wandered around, noticing all the details we learned about at Herculaneum but mostly just took in the sheer size of the excavation (the H is only partially excavated but MUCH better preserved. Like, there's 2 story buildings & wooden shutters--carbonized--b/c the heat was faster & more intense there). It was a long day, but I'm so glad we did it this way (Pompeii was a bucket list place for me too! I'm still glad we did a tour of H).

I do really think if archeological sites and/or Roman history is an interest, to not miss out on Herculaneum & to do both. If Pompeii is all you have interest or can do, I'd definitely get a guide. The site is really large & it's mostly just, well, ruins with the occasional mosaic preserved. To really understand what you're seeing or to find graffiti or for any of it to make real sense, I strongly recommend a tour guide.

As for getting there, we rented a car & were staying in Pozzouli (sp? kind of an inner suburb of Naples & has 3rd largest ampitheater in Italy. If anyone is staying in Naples & didn't go underground at the Colosseum, you can do that here & it's just 3E!

[dutchgirl678]

I went to Sorrento years ago and just took the train to Pompeii and wandered around on my own. Our hotel had a shuttle to the center of town where the train station was.