Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius 4x4 Sightseeing Tour

The car that picked us up was clean and the driver courteous - we went to Pompeii first and had 2 hours guided around by Lucia. Lucia made the whole site come alive - she was enthusiastic and clear and knowledgeable. We got back in the car to go tp the car park at Vesuvius ready to walk up the final section. It would have been great to either have been taken to somewhere to eat/pick up some food or been told to bring some food with us. I had a banana between pick up at 9am and drop off at 4pm. There is a small café for drinks/chocs/crisps on Vesuvius but not really sufficient for the exertion/length of the day. Did not connect with a guide at the top of Vesuvius, I guess I could have missed them? Due to heavy traffic I would probably go from Sorrento to Pompeii by train another time but would definitely hire a guide at Pompeii. What I learnt from Lucia at Pompeii meant I understood and got so much more from the trip I made independently to Herculanium. You can take a coach from Pompeii to Vesuvius with ease - not eating really affected the day - I had a banana in my rucksack - thank goodness!

The tour was excellent and our tour guide Vivianna and bus driver Alberto were really friendly and helpful.

Overall the tour of Pompeii was great! The guide was informative and entertaining, even suggested a great little winery to stop at for lunch. The ruins are a must see if you're in the Naples area! We were slightly disappointed in that we got placed in a small van vs. the 4x4 for Mt. Vesuvius. However, the walk up/down to the volcano was fun and the sights on the trail were amazing. Both Pompeii and Vesuvius are must do's in Southern Italy and this tour was a plus during that adventure.

I had a wonderful time on this tour. They offered hotel pick-up, the driver was very nice and I really liked our tour guide, who could be a bit comical at times. It was very hot on the day we went, but the guide managed to keep us out of the sun most of the tour and still saw some amazing stuff. The guide spoke English and was very informative and the group for the tour was small, which was nice. The 4x4 portion of the tour, of Mt. Vesuvius was cancelled due to wildfires, I was a bit bummed about that, but that was out of their control.

The tour was too quick. We felt that we did not see enough of Pompeii. The crowds were not monitor. Our guide did not care if folks left the tour and wandered. Tours were not like they were 20 years ago. Vesuvius was remarkable. Stunning and not enough time for those who took a slower time to get to the top and wanted to spend more time look around.

We've booked this $92/person trip mainly for the Vesuvius 4x4 climb which we've heard great things about, with Pompeii only a secondary objective. Unfortunately, due to forest fire, Vesuvius was inaccessible. This is completely understandable and in no way the agency's fault. However, what follows next is. The day before the trip the agency called our hotel to let us know about the cancellation of the Vesuvius climb and that the trip will only include Pompeii. We said "ok, we understand" and were promised a refund. The refund amount, however, was carefully left out. Found out three days later what the refund was: $11/person. We wrote the agency to complain about the ridiculous 12% refund for a trip that missed it's highlight, and got back an outraged response explaining how we are completely in the wrong, and how after the $11 refund we were charged the correct amount for their $80 "Half day Pompeii tour" which we ended up with. I have three things to say about that: If we are going to reference the price of another stand-alone trip to Pompeii, why don't we also reference the price of a 4x4 climb of Vesuvius (which I'm assuming is not $11)? We would have never booked an $80 trip to Pompeii, since there are tens of other offers charging half that for the exact same thing Wouldn't fairness dictate that we should be given a clear choice without withholding information from us? Something like "Would you like to cancel the trip and get a full refund, or take the Pompeii Half Day tour and get an $11 refund"? I know which one we would have picked. To sum it up, for $160 we got a 23 mile bus ride (not even with the promised hotel pickup/drop off) and some bits of Pompeii history we could have received from a free booklet or a 3 second Google search. They seem to think this is fair. We don't.