Skip-the-Line Pompeii and Vesuvius Tour

Pompeii history and tour guide was great . Very interesting and informative . The Vesuvius Tour was a very long walk . No toilets on the top . And toilets near drop off were disgusting. We were all very disappointed.

We had a great experience with Tempio Travel-Pompei Tour Organizer and would use it again. Etorre Arcari, who works at Sorrento agency; was the best and did a great job of giving us information and suggestions for our trip. Everything was so well organized and thought out of it was a perfect mix of "group time" with "me time" for exploring on our own.

This tour was seriously lacking in quality control. Mount Vesuvius itself was a beautiful experience. The bus provided to get there had broken reclining seats. If you leaned back, your seat landed in someone’s lap. If the driver hit the brakes, you were flung forward. The guide around Pompeii was wonderful until the end when she tells you to get on the “Express Train”, which is a metro, that is now crowded and you have to stand an additional hour back to Sorrento. We did the 30 minute Vesuvius hike, then the 2 hour Pompeii tour. We did not expect standing room only all the way back. On the trip going to Pompeii from Sorrento, the tour company reserved the first coach guaranteeing our group seats on the way there. Overall, it started well, but I would not recommend this company to someone I know.

First off, Pompeii and Vesuvius are completely worth it. Amazing. Tour guide in Pompeii was great. The problem here is the tour company. We booked the tour by train and ended up on buses for well over 3hours in high heat. The really bad part is that the tour company sent me a message saying we could upgrade to the express train the day before for $10 each ($80 total). They did this knowing that the rail tour operators were going to strike the next day. I paid the extra $80 for nothing. When I asked for the refund, I was informed that it now was for the buses they had to pay for. Apparently the money they did not pay for the train didn't cover it. We still went on the tour and were informed we would be shuttled by bus up to Mt. Vesuvius and then taken straight home to Sorrento by that same bus when it was over. 4 people in our group were having an issue with the heat and decided to skip the Vesuvius portion of the tour. The tour operator quickly sold there spots on the bus to other people, I did not get a refund for this, and sent them with us. When the tour was over, we ended up having to go back to Pompeii to drop off the new passengers and lose time in afternoon traffic. Our return ride was over two hours by bus due to people coming to Sorrento on a Friday night. I do not believe the tour operators would not know this since it happens every weekend in the summer. This was a logistical nightmare.

We were collected late from our hotel and headed straight to Pompeii where our guide Lucia met us and we went straight into the site. I think the tour was about one and a half hours. We had expected more time. Lucia was very knowledgeable having a degree in archaeology. We saw the bath house, commercial area, brothel and one cast. We were lucky that the large house was open (only on Thursdays) and Lucia managed to get us in there. This was a fascinating part of the tour. I have visited Pompeii before and had hoped that we’d see the display of casts and reconstructed amphitheatre but Lucia explained that these were too far away for us to see in the timeframe. This was a bit disappointing especially as it was my family’s first time visiting Pompeii and had the driver arrived on time we may have had time to see more. Lunch was included, this was fine, three courses in a lovely, shaded courtyard. The owner having a good understanding of gluten free foods. After lunch we took the twisting,narrow road to Vesuvius. We had a short wait as the entry is staggered. It was tough but we did it! We were dropped back at our hotel. The driver was very friendly and skilled at negotiating the roads.