Pompeii & Vesuvius: Exclusive Skip-Line Adventure from Sorrento

Good guide for anyone wanting some history and tour of key highlights. We had a very experienced guide who took us around and gave a good insight. Vesuvius tour was cancelled due to high winds, hence 4 stars.

Our tour guide, Louisa, was knowledgeable and gave the right amount of facts to keep us interested. The tour covered a range of points of interest.

This tour proved to be an excellent choice from start to finish. Throughout the day, everyone associated with the tour looked after us very well indeed. We met for an early start outside the IAMME IA! offices just off Piazza Tasso, the main square in Sorrento where we were each given a receiver unit and an earpiece so we could hear what was being said during the tour. That arrangement proved to work very well indeed. It was a friendly little meet and greet and we then took a leisurely five-minute walk to the coach station. As we drove to Pompeii, our host, Nello, gave a talk on the coach providing plenty of background information about the local area and Vesuvius. That early start proved to be of real benefit as we arrived at Pompeii around opening time, well before most of the crowds. The first stop was the café where we grabbed a coffee and had the chance to use the facilities. Remember to pay for your drink/food at the till before joining the separate queue to get served! There’s a size limit for guided tours within Pompeii so our coach party was split in two. Our guide was Vincenzo who was excellent. Pompeii is a huge sprawling site and you could never hope to see all of it in two hours. Vincenzo took a very logical route through the site and explained everything in an interesting and entertaining way. Two hours turned out to be just the right length for us. By the time we were ending the tour, the site was getting very crowded. We were very impressed with the way Vincenzo kept the group together, checked everyone was still with us and explained how we were going to navigate the crowded exit. He was very diligent indeed. We returned to the café where we grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat. Nello explained there was an opportunity for a discounted lunch if we wanted it but there was no hard sell. The next stop was Vesuvius. When I was making the booking, we could have chosen a tour that visited Pompeii and Herculaneum rather than Pompeii and Vesuvius. I’m very glad we chose the latter. We visited Herculaneum at a later date (it was excellent) but I think two guided tours like that would have been too much in one day whereas Pompeii and Vesuvius provided a nice contrast. We were dropped off at the Vesuvius car park and given a meeting time which allowed everyone to walk up the path at their own pace and do as much or as little of the climb as they wanted to. Reading some reviews, I was worried that the walk might be too short, but it turned out to be the perfect length. There are small cafes en-route. The walk may be too much for some, but you can always stop and admire the view at any point and if necessary, turn around. Note that some very basic portaloos can be found in the car park. When doing my research, I noted that you should avoid visiting Pompeii on the first Sunday of each month. There is free entry that day so the crowds can be enormous. I also noted that the path up Vesuvius can be closed if there is bad weather. In that case the tour visits Herculaneum instead. We therefore made sure that our separate Herculaneum tour was timed to take place three days after this tour. If there had been bad weather and we had visited Herculaneum instead then we would have had time to cancel our separate Herculaneum tour without incurring cancellation fees. Herculaneum is a much more compact site and has a different feel to Pompeii as the two settlements were buried in very different ways. The two sites certainly complement each other, and a trip to Herculaneum is also highly recommended. Chances are that you may not get Nello or Vincenzo on your tour, but our experience indicates that the tour staff are very good indeed. Our coach driver was excellent, and it certainly felt like we were in safe hands. All in all, a great tour!

We had the BEST time! Dani, our guide, and Luigi, our driver, were fantastic!! Our additional guide while touring Pompeii was very knowledgable and kind. The tour bus got us there early to skip lines and see the sights of Pompeii before the rush of tourists.

Lulu was an enthusiastic and informative guide. Leaving for Pompeii at 7:30 was good bc we beat the crowds. The extra lunch was good. The walk up Vesuvius was strenuous but well worth the effort. I highly recommend with well organized excursion.

Pompeii was absolutely amazing to see our guide (Lou Lou ) was brilliant and well informed and the walk up mt Vesuvius was beautiful

From start to finish this day was just perfect. Lu Lu limone was entertaining all the way, very knowledgeable with a twist of entertainment. The lunch was perfect. Ji Ji Luigi the bus driver was talented! Clearly very experienced at driving these road up to mount vesuvius! The day was perfect. We both had a brilliant experience at both pompeii and mount vesuvius. We will remember this day for the rest of our lives. Thank you ❤️

We really enjoyed this experience. Our guide Lulu made sure we stayed on schedule and provided some really good information in Pompeii. We were lucky the crowds in Pompeii were light compared to usual activity per our guide. After Pompeii, the hike up to the peak of Mount Vesuvius was challenging but exhilarating. The views from the top of Mount Vesuvius were incredible.

Efficient organisation both before the day of the tour and on the actual day. The guides were very personable and knowledgeable and able to answer individual questions. The tour of Pompeii was conducted at a good pace allowing time to observe and think about what one was seeing. The time allocated for lunch was good as was that spent at Vesuvius. It's a significant uphill trek - glad this was in early October not the high summer temperatures. The views along the way and at the crater were well worth the effort.

Really positive things: the company running this trip was excellent and well-organized (Daniella was great) and the design - Pompeii and a climb up Mt Vesuvius - is convenient if you want to visit both places. The bus they put you on is really nice and the driver they used was top notch. They start the day really early so you have a chance to beat some of the crowds at Pompeii, which was appreciated. The slightly less positive: it was a HUGE group trying to go through Pompeii - like a full-sized bus group of people, with one guide. My husband liked the Pompeii guide; I was less impressed. I didn't think I learned anything from the guide that I couldn't have gotten from a downloaded audio tour and I found his style annoying and a bit condescending. But like I said - my husband thought he was great, so it's just a personal preference. (I would include his name, but I have no idea what it is because the group was so large we never heard any kind of introduction). At the end of the day, just know what you're in for - this is not even close to a small group experience. Also, be prepared that the climb up Vesuvius is really quite strenuous, but they do give you a lot of time to make it up and back. And you spend a lot of time getting to and from the events - I would say 3-4 of the 8 hours were spent on the bus (plus an hour to eat lunch at the Pompeii restaurant - you can buy an 18 euro lunch or buy/bring your own, but you're sitting there for an hour either way). The time on the bus is not the fault of the company - it is the nature of traffic in the area and the distances you need to cover. But it's something to be aware of for any kind of excursion from Sorrento to Pompeii/Vesuvius. I don't think I would have booked if I had know that of the 8 hour day, maybe 3.5 hours were spent at the actual Pompeii ruins or Vesuvius. If you want to do an excursion for both Pompeii and Vesuvius, this is probably still a good one to do unless you have oodles of money to spend on a small group or a private tour, but just know what you're in for.