To avoid the hassle of buying tickets at the train station you can also buy them at Italian travel agencies. To find a TA close to your hotel, click-on "Agencies" on the Italian Rail (FS) website. Or from the American Express office in Piazza di Spagna at the foot of the Spanish Steps (just to the south).

From Naples
You'll find you have your choice of several train an hour to Naples. Once you get to the Naples Garibaldi train station you'll want to look for the signs to the "CS" train (Circumvesuviana ... a commuter line to Herculaneum, Pompeii and Sorrento). It's about 150m from your Rome train, plus a few dozen stairs. The stairs/escalator are near track 13.

At the bottom of the stairs bear left, and you'll come upon a hallway with the CS ticket windows on the left. A R/T ticket to Pompeii is ~6200L. At the end of that short hallway to the right is a wide hallway with moving walkways and at the end of this hallway are the CS ticket turnstiles. There on the wall in front of you are 2 boards that will post the *next* 2 arriving trains.

To Pompeii
You'll want the Sorrento train (don't worry if it's not listed yet). There are 4 tracks, and you'll probably want binario 3. Half-way down each platform is another departure board. It will list that train's destination & time. The train's destination for you will be "Sorrento". This train runs about every half-hour. The service stops at Ercolano (Herculaneum) (18min) and Pompeii in ~35min and Sorrento in ~1hr. The stop you want is "Pompeii Scavi-Villa dei Misteri". It will say exactly that at the station.

Detraining, you walk under the tracks (w.c) into the small station. Outside the station turn right and walk 50m (I would buy water & snacks from the stalls along there if need be, there's also a restaurant) to the excavations entrance which is set back a little on the left. At the ticket windows (12,000L) there's also a w.c., tourist/guidebook shop, ATM and police sub-station.

There are "licensed" guides (Gov't ID's worn) outside the entrance that charge ~$35/$40US hour per tour, not per person; same price for 1 person or for a small group (5). At the ticket collecting booth (not the ticket sales window) there is a unsecured "Luggage Storage" room on the right.

After you enter the site you come across the Forum. Look to your left at the far end. That is the Temple of Jupiter. Behind the temple a little ways back is a building with a restaurant, snack bar, giftshop, and w.c. If you wish to visit the Villa dei Misteri in the NW corner of Pompeii, do so at the end of your visit (you *cannot* re-enter the site afterwards). You must exit here (restaurant & private w.c.-1000L) and walk back (600m) to the same CS station.

Herculaneum
The Herculaneum (Ercolano) CS station is half way between Naples and Pompeii. You may visit it on the way to or from Pompeii ... if you have time. Exit the station (only one-way out) into the small parking lot. The only street there (45deg to your right), takes you directly to the Herculaneum entrance after a 6 min downhill walk towards the Bay of Naples. Impossible to get lost or miss.

Also right outside the CS station are taxi minivans that will take you atop Mt. Vesuvius (not sure of the cost, but they'll be "pitching" to you as you walk by).  Also, "Let's Go Italy" mentions that there is a bus from the station to Mt. Vesuvius (I'd assume either in or probably just outside the small parking lot?)

While awaiting your return train to Rome from the Naples Centrale Station, in front of  (about) track 18 there is a glassed-in sitting room (quiet & secure) for ticketed passengers *only*.

To the left of the booth is the turnstile and directly in front of that is Track 4. From track 4 hop on the train and get off at the 1st stop (Piazza Cavour). When you exit the metro turn right on the busy street in front and walk (uphill) ~150m.

You'll see a large three story building with pinkish bricks on the same side of the street, and thats the museum (12,000L). Án audiotour may be available. Also outside this metro stop (P. Cavour) is the bus stop for the 110 bus to Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte.
Copyright © 2001 Walter
Published July 13, 2001

Walter is a truck driver with a love for history and museums. He's a unique traveler in the detailed way in which he captures directions so others may enjoy where he has been as well.

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