Pompeii & Herculaneum Day Trip

A truly well-organized experience. Kudos to Miriam, our accompanying guide, Vincenzo the driver, Leopoldo the guide for Pompeii, and Glauco for Herculaneum. Tour recommended for anyone who wants to see these two sensational archaeological sites.

This tour is really two tours in one with a needlessly long intermission. The first tour was lead by Anna (I think that is her name). She took us on a nice tour of Pompeii. Pompeii is a large place with a significant amount excavated so there is a ton to see. Unfortunately that lead to a tour that felt like we were skimming our way through the ruins with barely enough time to see anything specific. Also, the place was crowded, very sunny and hot which definitely made it feel more like an endurance contest. Pompeii is pretty much a must see, but as it turned out, I was disappointed. I would rate this portion at 3★ The tour provided what amounted to an intermission between the two sets of ruins. We ate lunch as a group, this was fine. We then had about 90 minutes to shop. Unfortunately, there are few shops in the area and we didn’t have enough time in either set of ruins. This was a waste of valuable touring time and brings the overall rating down. This bit was awful, 1★. The second tour, Herculaneum, was lead by Thomas. He was amazing. Full of information and energy with a nice dose of humility. It was refreshing to hear a guide say they don’t know but then offer his own guess at an answer. Thomas rocks! The ruins of Herculaneum are so much easier to take in than Pompeii. What has been excavated is better preserved and more interesting, though part of that might have been from our excellent guide. Did I mention Thomas rocks? This bit easily rates 5★ and pulls the whole tour up to 4★ in my book.

Excellent guides Teresa (Pompeii) and Patricia (Herculaneum) and our driver Antonio Carola, very kind and concerned about giving us an unforgettable experience.

We absolutely loved our visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum. Nina was our guide and it was so obvious how passionate she is about passing on the knowledge of eruption in 79AD and respecting the sites we visited. Nina was friendly, well organised, funny and engaging and we learned so much from her. She was very aware of the heat and gave us shelter from the sun as much as possible on the tour. We did Pompeii first which really helped us see the similarities and differences between the two sites. The tour really makes you appreciate the history and immense power of Vesuvius which stands proudly over Naples and surrounding areas. We loved our visit to Naples and thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Thank you Nina for an amazing day!

The trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum was beautiful! Extraordinary places, rich in history and charm, narrated with great expertise by two truly fabulous guides: Mario and Diana. A special thanks to Diana, who accompanied us throughout the tour with professionalism, availability, and passion, making the experience even more interesting and enjoyable. Highly recommended!