Exploring the Pompeii Ruins & Mount Vesuvius from Naples, Italy

We had the best time exploring the Pompeii Ruins & Mount Vesuvius from Naples, Italy and we hope to help you do the same! If you're more of a visual person, you can watch our COMPLETE YOUTUBE GUIDE by clicking the photo above!

We'd been dreaming about visiting Pompeii & Mount Vesuvius for YEARS! We're both history nerds who absolutely love nature, so we couldn't wait to have a day exploring both, and witnessing the way beauty and destruction can coexist. Somehow, the experience well surpassed any expectations we had!

Instead of dealing with all the logistics, we booked a day-trip experience to the Pompeii Ruins and Mount Vesuvius through GetYourGuide! This experience allowed us more than enough time to see & do everything we wanted and meet some great people along the way. We were paired with some of the most knowledgeable and passionate tour guides!

The fact that Pompeii was once a sophisticated, thriving Roman city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD is something we learned about as kids. It's one thing to know it, and another thing to see the destruction that was caused by the volcano with your own eyes. You might expect only sorrow and sadness at these sites, and while those emotions are present, people have also developed a respect for nature and Vesuvius itself that they might not have had otherwise. Would you believe that people still live ON Mount Vesuvius?! I could NEVER.

You might be wondering: Is it safe to visit an active volcano? The answer is YES! And yes, Vesuvius is considered an active volcano, but it's currently quiet. It's the world's most densely populated volcanic region, but it has around-the-clock surveillance. In other words, you'll know if it's not safe to visit...and at that point, you won't be visiting Naples either!

Where to base for this experience

The best place to base for a trip to Pompeii & Mount Vesuvius is Naples, Italy, although you can also book this experience from Sorrento, Italy! Pompeii is 15 miles south of the city, with Mount Vesuvius looming over. While it's possible to reach both places by public transit, it's not nearly as time-efficient as joining a tour!

If you only want to experience Pompeii, you can take a direct, 30-minute train from Napoli Garibaldi Station to Pompeii via the Circumvesuviana line. For train tickets in general, we LOVE using Omio, which you can check out here.

To visit Mount Vesuvius via public transit, you'll take the same direct line to Pompeii, then a shuttle or bus to Vesuvius. We don't recommend doing this because it's difficult to line the times up, and you don't want to be stuck at the top of a volcano for the night. Here is the current time schedule for the busses to & from Pompeii & Vesuvius.

You certainly can coordinate your own transportation to both locations, but you’ll likely spend more time coordinating than than actually enjoying the history in front of you.

Is Naples, Italy safe?

Based on our experience, yes, Naples, Italy is safe for tourists. We stayed about 10 minutes from the train station (here's our accommodation for reference), and we felt perfectly fine, even at night.

Just like with any city, it is wise to take general, precautionary measures while out and about (such as not keeping valuables in your pockets, etc.), but we did not find Naples to be much different from any other major city we've visited when it comes to safety.

The center of the city and Quartieri Spagnoli can feel a bit chaotic, but it has an authentic charm like no other city we've been to!

What does the experience include?

The experience through GetYourGuide is between 7 - 7.5 hours and includes all transportation and tickets.

Pick-up location: The shuttle picked us up at the Central Train Station, but there are options for hotel and cruise port pickups as well! At the end of the day, you'll get dropped off at the same location you were picked up at. It was a short 25-minute drive from Naples to the Pompeii Archeological Site.

Pompeii Ruins Tour: The Pompeii Ruins cover about 440,000 square meters, which would take days to explore! Our guide walked us through the most famous areas, including the public squares, temples, baths, private villas, and more. We even got to see some plaster casts of former residents who perished during the eruption! We enjoyed all the stories and facts our guide shared with us and don't think we would have gained as much from the experience without her. The tour was just over 1.5 hours long.

Lunch: A lunch of pizza or salad comes with this experience! We got to eat in a nice restaurant right outside the archaeological site with some nice people from our group who were from the Czech Republic. Inside the archaeological site, there are options for food and drink as well, but these aren't included in the ticket.

Mount Vesuvius: The bus from Pompeii to Vesuvius was about 40 minutes, but had some amazing views! If you get motion sickness, you might want to bring medicine to aid with that, as it's a winding road up to the top of the volcano.

We had about 1 hour and 45 minutes to explore Vesuvius, which included the hike up and down. From the drop-off point, it was a 20 minute hike with panoramic views of the sea the whole way up. We couldn't believe the views from the summit and the size of the volcano's crater, which had sulfur-rich steam coming out of it!

Our favorite moment of the whole day was cheers-ing an espresso on top of Mount Vesuvius!

You'll end your day with a drive back to Naples just in time for dinner. Remember, you'll get dropped off wherever your experience started!

Tips for the day:

• Bring cash. Some of the stalls on Mt. Vesuvius are cash only and you don't want to miss out on a coffee or drink on one of the most famous volcanoes in the world!

• Tips aren't included. While tips aren't mandatory, it's always nice to leave your tour guide and bus driver something, so they know how much you appreciated their time.

• Bring water & snacks. While you can buy water and snacks at multiple stops along the way, you never know when you'll need a little pick-me-up!

• Wear sneakers or hiking shoes. Some of the walkways in the Pompeii archeological site aren't perfectly flat, and it's easy to trip on loose stones and rocks.

• Bring an umbrella. You never know when it's going to rain!

Feel free to reach to us with any questions HERE or on Instagram!

***You can use the widget below to book this experience!