Pompeii/Herculaneum

[gyork0206]

I know its a long way off, but we are wondering which is the better site to go and see when we are on the Liberty next year.

 

We would really like to do both, is this an option or is it too tight for time.

 

Thanks in advance of any replies. :):)

[marci22]

Check the Mediterranean Ports of Call boards for advice and reviews on Pompeii/Herculaneum. We did Pompeii. I wouldn't do both as Pompeii is vast and extremely hot. Get a guide and you will spend a minimum of 2 hours but you can easily spend more time there.

 

Heculaneum is smaller and I would probably do that next time.

[LoisGriffin1]

I did both on a land vacation last October.

 

Pompeii is huge. You just wont see all of it. If you choose Pompeii I would recommend a guide to show you the main bits in your short time frame.

 

I personally preferred Herculaneum. Upon entering you are given a small guide book. The guide book is very good and informative. Because the site is so much smaller you can easily see it in 2 or 3 hours. I found the preservation of it much better than Pompeii because of the way the volcano hit it (mud rather than ash). Another advantage is that there wont be the crowds.

[gyork0206]

Thanks, good advice, will probably end up doing Pompeii as that is what the man who must be obeyed wishes to do, but there is still time to convince him otherwise.

 

Would I be better booking a RCCL excrusion or do a private one, any thoughts?

[Northern Bear]

We tried to do both by train. We bought the combo ticket and went to Herculaneum first. It's smaller and much easier to see. Many of the mosaics and artwork haven't been taken away to a museum and are still intact. You can roam around practically anywhere you want. Not really any off-limits areas. Small walk to get there from the train.

 

Pompeii is vastly larger and unless you know where you are going, you will be wandering aimlessly. I don't think I'd try doing both in a day again as you don't do either one justice.

 

Overall though (IMHO) Herculaneum is the better choice. Less people too.

[Bobal]

I agree with what's been said above. We've done both - on separate occasions. We preferred Herculaneum as it's so much better preserved so you get a much better feel for what it would have been like. We hired the audio guide and were there for around 2 hours. We arrived early, not long after it opened, and felt as if we had the place more or less to ourselves for the first hour.

 

Pompeii is vast and, as has been pointed out, your really need a guide to know what you're looking at and to make the best use of your time. Even though it's huge it was a lot more crowded than Herculaneum. I certainly wouldn't attempt to do both in a day.

 

On both occasions we did the trip by ourselves, walked to the station and caught the train - it's very cheap and easy to do. As has also been pointed out you will find lots of good advice on the Italy ports of call board.

[GiannaD]

As stated above Pompeii is huge but very interesting. I agree that a guide is your best bet for a great experience. Otherwise you will find yourself in a maze of passages and not know what you are seeing. I believe they still have audio guides for Pompeii but these can be tricky. They often give way more information than you can absorb for one area. You follow a route to see a lot but it is difficult to just visit a cohesive group of highlights. It is helpful to read up on Pompeii and Herculaneum before arriving in Italy.

 

The archaeological museum in Naples has an exquisite collection of artifacts from both sites.

 

Check out the RCL shore excursions to see what is offered and the timing to get ideas of what you want to try it on your own. You can see a lot in a short time on an excursion and the ship will wait if you are delayed.

[gyork0206]

thanks for all the information will have a think as thankfully have lots of time to decide.

[UKBayern]

We tried to do both by train. We bought the combo ticket and went to Herculaneum first. It's smaller and much easier to see. Many of the mosaics and artwork haven't been taken away to a museum and are still intact. You can roam around practically anywhere you want. Not really any off-limits areas. Small walk to get there from the train.

 

Pompeii is vastly larger and unless you know where you are going, you will be wandering aimlessly. I don't think I'd try doing both in a day again as you don't do either one justice.

 

Overall though (IMHO) Herculaneum is the better choice. Less people too.

 

I agree. We did both on a land vacation by train. Really cheap and easy to do on the train. Get off at Ercolaneo Scavi and Pompeii Scavi. I actually preferred Herculaneum over Pompeii too. More to see, much more compact, more shade, less crowds. As to do both? I don't think so, it is just more of the same (and I have a degree in European history). Why not go back on the train to Naples and enjoy the quirky if somewhat dirty city for an hour or so.

[xpcdoojk]

We did both 6 years ago on a land vacation. I pretty much agree with the other posters. Pompeii is a much larger site, and Herculaneum is in my opinion much more pleasant to visit. When we first visited some of the Med's ancient ruins our English friends told us once you have seen one ruin you have seen them all. It is pretty much true. That said, I still seem to go to the ruins when I am near one. The other thing we continue to do is to visit the beautiful cathedrals of Europe, he has a similar point of view referring to them as G*d Boxes. One of the funniest things we did was the toilet at Pompei, it was some sort of 1970s futuristic pay toilet that locked you in and then hosed itself down afterwards. Truly wierd.

 

jc

[mygirlscats]

A word on audio guides...we saw Pompeii on a Western Med cruise a few years ago and rented those big, clunky audio guide thingies that most main tourist sites in the world seem to have. The sound quality was pretty awful and we pretty much gave up on them and relied on a small book that we had.

 

Since then, I have learned that some websites that focus on travel (think big names that publish well-known guidebooks) offer free audioguides that you can download onto your ipod. We downloaded a bunch of these prior to our last trip to Italy and they were great...clear, interesting and some of them even have pictures of their subjects that change as the guide progresses (if you have a video screen on your mp3 player). Highly recommended, if you're not hiring a guide.

 

By the way...we didn't get all the way through the Pompeii site either. It is huge. No regrets, though; having heard about it all my life I was quite thrilled to walk the streets in reality. Seeing the worn ruts from chariot wheels in the street beneath my new-world feet...amazing.

[gyork0206]

By the way...we didn't get all the way through the Pompeii site either. It is huge. No regrets, though; having heard about it all my life I was quite thrilled to walk the streets in reality. Seeing the worn ruts from chariot wheels in the street beneath my new-world feet...amazing.

 

 

Thanks, I think that's why Henry wants to go there because everyone knows something about Pompeii:):)

[robtulipe]

In Nov.07 we walked to Naples train station, about a mile away using the direction handed out on Legend of the Seas, and took Sorrento commuter train (Unico Napoli Circumvesuiana, cost 2.3 Euros each way) to Pompeii and toured those ruins on our own by using great information book and map, available in many languages including English for free at the main entrance (closest to and right of train station when exiting). When approaching the main entry square the ticket counter was in the building facing you, the information counter was in the building to the left opposite to the entry gate was to the right. Entrance cost was 11 Euros each and we were able to see pretty well the whole site while there for about 5 hours. There is cafeteria on site to get drinks and food.

Since it was raining when we returned to Naples we (four) took a taxi back to the ship for 10 Euros.

Another point make sure that you validate your ticket at the yellow boxes (which prints the time used) at each station before going to the train platform as security was checking each passenger's ticket for this at the exit gates when we returned to Naples from Pompeii. If you did not validate your ticket you were subject to a fine.

[dougp26364]

I know its a long way off, but we are wondering which is the better site to go and see when we are on the Liberty next year.

 

We would really like to do both, is this an option or is it too tight for time.

 

Thanks in advance of any replies. :):)

 

Both are interesting for different reasons. Both trips can be done in one day but, it is a lot of walking and makes for a long day. Both stopped at the same cameo factory and they would not let us sit on the bus the second time around. If you're feet can take it, I'd do both. If you feet aren't up to it, Pompeii is probaby more interesting but Herculaneum is better preserved.

[jwolf2006]

We were there at the end of May and took the RCI tour Amalfi Coast/Pompeii. It was excellent with a very informative guide who took us around Pompeii. Even the bus ride was exciting seeing the driver manouver the bus along the coast!

[xpcdoojk]

We were there at the end of May and took the RCI tour Amalfi Coast/Pompeii. It was excellent with a very informative guide who took us around Pompeii. Even the bus ride was exciting seeing the driver manouver the bus along the coast!

 

Having spent a week on the Amalfi coast in a villa, I must say I hate those buses! Nothing quite like navigating thru the streets of Minori when two tour buses meet head on. Driving those roads is a fascinating experience.

 

jc

[dougp26364]

We were there at the end of May and took the RCI tour Amalfi Coast/Pompeii. It was excellent with a very informative guide who took us around Pompeii. Even the bus ride was exciting seeing the driver manouver the bus along the coast!

 

The first time through we took this tour as well and it's a great tour. But we spent more time in Pompeii by touring it on it's own the last time through plus, we got to go to Herculaneum as well, which was something I wanted to see rather than the Amalfi drive again. Either tour is great IMHO and you can't go wrong no matter what you choose.

[sunsetme]

I've done both and enjoyed Pompeii much more. Its larger and you can get the sense it was a city.

[hcat]

We had a wonderful guide on our ship's tour of Pompei--it was a wonderful experience but a guide is needed! Very extensive ruins....lots of walking

 

PS if anyone is interested in Roman ruins & is visiting Barcelona , the museum in the old city has an excellent underground restoration of Roman ruins-- a working household & parts of the city,, it is very well done & quite interesting,, can be done in a few hrs..they are not expetnsive but very much worth a visit!

[elhenry]

I had the same question when I cruised Italy. I consulted DH (who hates to cruise, so I go with the folks). Who cares you say? DH is a professor of classical studies at local large university. He said if you only have one day, Herculaneum is better preserved, less crowded and more like Pompeii when he first saw it (as a boy in Italy) 40 years ago. Downside: if you don't know Italian, (or Latin) less accessible without a guide. I really enjoyed it.

 

el henry

[Ladyvdr]

We have done both - Pompeii twice, and Herculaneum once.

 

Yes, Herculaneum is a bit better preserved, but quite small. Pompeii is huge, and well, it is Pompeii. Each time we went to Pompeii we saw different areas, and it was amazing. At Pompeii you also get to see the casts of the dead Pompeiians who died in the eruption from the ash.

 

I would recommend Pompeii in a heartbeat. I feel that in one visit we saw all Herculaneum had to offer. Yes it was interesting, but Pompeii has more to offer.

[gyork0206]

thanks for all the replies think it will def be pompeii but will wait to see what is available on ship excursions when they are listed.

[xpcdoojk]

I had the same question when I cruised Italy. I consulted DH (who hates to cruise, so I go with the folks). Who cares you say? DH is a professor of classical studies at local large university. He said if you only have one day, Herculaneum is better preserved, less crowded and more like Pompeii when he first saw it (as a boy in Italy) 40 years ago. Downside: if you don't know Italian, (or Latin) less accessible without a guide. I really enjoyed it.

 

el henry

 

We had English Audio guides at both locations. Must say they were quite handy at Herculaneum since the area is smaller, a bit bothersome at Pompeii, where most of our group of 8 didn't use them.

 

jc

[elhenry]

I'm glad that they have the audio guides: we didn't find the visitor's center until we'd been there an hour (too busy looking at everything), so why bother doing it the easy way? At least with a private driver, we weren't forced to go to a cameo factory (not that he didn't try, but he did listen to "no")<G>

[time4me2fly]

We used a private tour company...http://www.amalfi-drive.com/

 

There were 16 of us in one large van. We had a driver and a guide. First we went to Pompeii and it was just amazing and eerie to see. Our guide was able to take us around and explain everything to us.

 

Then we drove up the Amalfi Coast, which was wonderful. We stopped a few times and had a wonderful lunch at a place with an amazing view.

 

It can get very HOT at Pompeii, so going there first thing in the morning would be best. We were there in May 2009 and the weather was unusually HOT. There's not a lot of shade in Pompeii.

 

Sorry, can't help you with Herculaneum.