Rome and Pompeii: Honeymoon Help!?

Question

My fiance and I are going to be spending 10 nights in Rome. We want to see Pompeii as well. We know that it's possible to go down for a day, but we were thinking about possibly setting aside 3 days to explore Pompeii. The only question is, where do we stay? Should we get a hotel in Naples? And how far is Pompeii from the airport in Rome? I'm just not sure how to go about booking a hotel in Rome for 6 days, Pompeii for 3 and then another 2 back in Rome, lol.

What would be the easiest way to explore both cities?

Answer 1

Pompeii doesn't need 3 days to visit...you'll be done inhalf a day...if you want to go South you could visit Pompei and go to Sorento where you can stay to nights in a hotel and visit the Grotta Azura and Capri.

Have fun Rome is great wish you could go North to Florence and Venice too

Answer 2

I would HIGHLY recommend staying in Sorrento.  Sorrento is a beautiful, small-ish coastal town just a wee bit past Naples.  It is so much cleaner and safer than Naples.  There are beautiful citrus groves, nearby beaches and lots of adorable shops and restaurants.  Naples is big, busy and dirty.  

If you come from Rome you can take the train to Napoli Centrale station.  You actually stay in the station but go down one level to connect the Circumvesuviana, a local commuter train.  This train takes seventy scenic minutes to connect you to Sorrento and there are departures every half hour or so.  On the ride you will actually stop at the Pompeii train station (right at the entrance of the site) but stay on the train to Sorrento and check in at your hotel.  Pompeii is right in the middle between Sorrento and Naples.  

Once you're in Sorrento you could do a day divided between Pompeii (about five hours) and Herculaneum (about two hours).  Both are excellent sites.  You could do a second day visit to Vesuvius, and for your third day you could either explore a town like Amalfi or Positano, stay in Sorrento to check things out, or head to Paestum to check out the Greek temples (a must for history fanatics).  

For info about all this stuff including my personal hotel suggestions, photos and travel connection information, see the website below.  You can contact me through the site if you need more info.

Answer 3

Do not stay in Naples. It is about three hours on the Autostrada (U.S. equivalent is the Interstate Highways) which is a toll way. Three days is about right, drive down to the Amalfi Coast too. Should be fairly cheap this time of year. Do not miss going to the island of Capri off Naples, perfect for honeymooners.

Rome is another story, you could spend weeks there, as I did ,and not see it all. If it interests you find the stairway door in St Peters that leads  down to the tombs of the popes, beneath main floor. Also climb to the top of the cupola on St Peters. The view is breathtaking.

Answer 4

I 100% disagree with Katie.  If you are interested in history, people, ancient civilizations, etc, you could EASILY spend 1-2 days there.  Be sure to get the pre-recorded tour.  Hint:  only get one for your to share and to turn up the volume.  

The easiest way to get there is to take a train from Rome to Naples.  It's roughly 2 hours.  From there, you can get on another train, the circumvesuviana, and head out to Pompeii.  However, we found it to be MUCH easier to jump in a cab.  GET A PRICE BEFOREHAND and don't let them gouge you.  If it seems too expensive (like 50 Euro each way), then tell the cabbie that you will take the train and walk away.  

If you want to stay in Naples, stay at someplace directly across from The Castel D'ellOvo.  We stayed on the new side of the Royal Continental Hotel in a view room and it was PHENOMINAL!  Splurge on the better room and you can watch the busy city streets and the castle.  There are several other very nice hotels on this street (Via Partanope) like Grand Hotel Vesuvio and the Hotel Excelsior.  Most of the eateries around there are quite good - a little pricey, but good food for tourist food.  

I'm not a big fan of Naples proper.  Other than the one church with the cool statue and the archaeological museum, I wasn't that interested in the city.  I never felt safe.  But, you can also take a ferry over to Capri for the day if you wanted to.  

Good luck and safe travels! : )