Herculaneum will we be disappointed?

we are stopping in Salerno on our cruise and trying to de ide on a ship tour to Herculaneum or pasteum. We have done the amafali coast and had a private guide to Pompei. This go, we can’t afford a private tour. We also do not want to do public transport on our own. Will we be disappointed in Herculaneum given we loved our private tour of Pompei? I have read that it is better preserved and think that might be interesting. Are the ruins different enough? I am also intrigued by the buffalo farm and pasteum tour and think that might be different enough to not compare our cattle call group tour to our prior private tour experience. On the other hand we have done Athens and the Acropolis temples. Thoughts?

It is different then Pompeii and doing it on a group tour will be fine. We do a lot of private tours but did this one as part of a group tour and we enjoyed the experience and didn't feel part of a cattle call.

Keith

It is vastly different than Pompei, not only in preservation but in design and layout as well. It was a seaside community, more like vacation homes, while Pompei was a full and active city.

By bus or car Herculeneum and Paestum are about equidistant from Salerno, by public transit Paestum is a lot closer and easier to get to.

Paestum is quite different as those are Greek ruins and a bit older than Pompei or Herculeneum, but it is amazing. There's also an excellent archaeology museum on site.

You won´t be disappointed by Herculaneum. But out of Salerno I´d prefer Paestum. Way closer than Herculaneum.

steamboats

Both are good choices, IMO.

The Greek temples at Paestum are quite impressive and are in a beautiful setting. They are in various states of preservation but one of them is really well preserved (probably more so than the Parthenon in Athens). As euro cruiser noted, the museum onsite is also nice. And yes, the area is the "buffalo mozzarella" capital!

Herculaneum is a compact site with a lot of detail -- mosaics, some frescoes, etc. They have been extensively working on the site in recent years to help ensure its conservation, which is wonderful; however, it can mean that a few of the houses are closed due to ongoing work. Not to fear, there are many others that will be open.

Because I'm such a Roman history fan, I think Pompeii and Herculaneum are almost unmatched in that they give you a real sense of the people who lived there -- you can see the remains of a cradle, for example, or a basket that was holding bread when the volcano erupted. The temples at Paestum, on the other hand, are less personal but are wonderful from an architectural and artistic point of view.

Your choice -- you can't really go wrong.

Thank you all. I too love roman history. So I think it's Herculaneum. Appreciate the insights.

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