Hey Rosie,

Glad to be able to help, and I’m happy you’ve found this guide useful. Sounds like you have an awesome trip coming up.

So let me do my best to help you 🙂

First, you can’t re-enter Pompeii if you leave the site, so you will either want to bring a picnic or eat on site. There are a couple of dining options on site, specifically the Chora cafe. Last time we visited that had two locations, one by the north gate to the Forum, and one at the Casina dell’Aquila on Via dell’Abbondanza. However, I’d probably recommend bringing a picnic like snacks or a sandwich to be honest, then you can find a nice spot and enjoy that rather than waiting in line for food. Up to you though!

You could definitely visit both Herculaneum and Paestum in one day. It’s about a 1 hr 15 – 1 hr 30 minute drive from Herculaneum to Paestum, so you would definitely need to do that either with your own car or with a driver. I’m not aware of any group tours that include both of those locations in a day, but you should be able to find a private driver. If you do go to Paestum I can recommend dining at the nearby Barlotti restaurant, they make amazing mozarella.

In terms of a base, Naples is going to be easiest for sure as it has the most accommodation options and good transport connections to Rome, Herculaneum and Pompeii (I’d recommend the train). Pompeii itself is also an option although there’s less to do than Naples. You could also opt for Sorrento but it’s not going to be any more convenient for any of your destinations and is going to be a bit pricier and definitely more touristy. I’d also add that the pizza in Naples is amazing and the city has a lot to offer, just don’t expect quite the same experience as Rome (it’s a bit more of a lived in city, with less of the romantic vibe of Rome). So if you are ok with that then I’d say Naples is a good choice.

Let me know if you have any more questions and I’ll do my best to help! Otherwise Happy New Year and have an amazing time in Italy!

Laurence

Thanks for this great Pompeii guide, it has really helped me with planning our summer trip to Italy this year. I have a few questions that I hope you can help me with. It will be our first time and my husband loves archaeology so Pompeii is one of the places he has always wanted to visit. We are planning to spend most of a day there, my current thoughts are to do the recommended Walks tour in morning for 3 hours (https://www.takewalks.com/pompeii-tours/best-of-pompeii-tour/?tap_a=29774-b9abbb&tap_s=72514-790f10&tm_site=FTUPompeii), I think that starts at 10am and ends around 1pm. Is there any food options inside the site or place where we can eat a picnic, or can we go in and out to get food with our ticket from Walks? We will of course have water and snacks packed in day bag. As we want to do lunch and then do our individual tour on own of some of the lesser visited spots. How would you recommend planning that?

Then my second question is he also wants to visit Herculaneum and Paestum – do you think those are doable in a day together with lunch in between? We are thinking about hiring a driver for that one day to avoid having to rent a car and drive ourselves for just a day. And then on third day in this area we are planning to visit the big archaeological museum and explore some other spots in Naples.

Our trip is mostly going to be in Rome – 5 days and then 3 days in southern part to see Pompeii etc. and then a final day back in Rome before flying back. Do you think that Naples is a good base for the 3 nights outside of Rome? We would take the train to and from Pompeii I think.

Thanks!!!
Rosie

Thanks Radha, enjoy Pompeii!

My pleasure Julia, thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice comment 🙂