Pompeii and Herculaneum select -skip the line
1 day
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About this activity
Board your minibus in central Sorrento in the morning for your day trip to Herculaneum and Pompeii, two sites that were destroyed by the infamous eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD. Almost 2,000 years later, you can explore these sites by foot and see the houses, streets and public buildings that have been miraculously preserved.
After a 45-minute journey, arrive at the Herculaneum archaeological area for a 1.5-hour guided visit. The ancient Roman town of Herculaneum was buried under a sea of volcanic ash following the volcano’s unexpected eruption, and is one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in its nearly original splendor. Unlike Pompeii, it was buried deeply enough to preserve the upper stories of its buildings and, because it was a wealthy city, it had a density of nice houses with strong marble interiors.
Continue for roughly 20 minutes by minibus to the city of Pompeii. Stop for a light lunch at a local Italian restaurant, and then take a 2-hour afternoon tour of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Pompeii ruins.
Following your guide, discover an ancient city that was completely destroyed by Mt Vesuvius’ volcanic ash. Hear stories of the tragic disaster that wiped out some 20,000 inhabitants, and see incredible excavations of old monuments. Another highlight is the Villa of Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri), a well-preserved ruin just outside the city walls. This Roman villa sustained only minor damage, so the walls, ceilings, frescoes and statues from ancient times are still visible.
After your 2-hour tour of Pompeii, return to Sorrento, arriving in the early evening.
Sample Menu:
First course:
• grilled vegetables, bruschetta with fresh tomato and basil, fritters
Main course :
• Fresh Scialatielli pasta with tomato, basil and parmisan
Dessert:
• Ice cream
Drinks:
• 1 glass of local wine
• Mineral water
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After a 45-minute journey, arrive at the Herculaneum archaeological area for a 1.5-hour guided visit. The ancient Roman town of Herculaneum was buried under a sea of volcanic ash following the volcano’s unexpected eruption, and is one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in its nearly original splendor. Unlike Pompeii, it was buried deeply enough to preserve the upper stories of its buildings and, because it was a wealthy city, it had a density of nice houses with strong marble interiors.
Continue for roughly 20 minutes by minibus to the city of Pompeii. Stop for a light lunch at a local Italian restaurant, and then take a 2-hour afternoon tour of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Pompeii ruins.
Following your guide, discover an ancient city that was completely destroyed by Mt Vesuvius’ volcanic ash. Hear stories of the tragic disaster that wiped out some 20,000 inhabitants, and see incredible excavations of old monuments. Another highlight is the Villa of Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri), a well-preserved ruin just outside the city walls. This Roman villa sustained only minor damage, so the walls, ceilings, frescoes and statues from ancient times are still visible.
After your 2-hour tour of Pompeii, return to Sorrento, arriving in the early evening.
Sample Menu:
First course:
• grilled vegetables, bruschetta with fresh tomato and basil, fritters
Main course :
• Fresh Scialatielli pasta with tomato, basil and parmisan
Dessert:
• Ice cream
Drinks:
• 1 glass of local wine
• Mineral water
Included
- Professional guide
- Lunch with 1 glass of wine
- Transport by air-conditioned minibus
- possibility to arrange hotel pick up and drop off
- All Fees and Taxes
Not included
- extra
Additional
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Features
Tourism
80%
Cultural
75%
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Always wanted to visit Pompei and Herculaneum and this is the way to do it. Lots of people but being with Sip the Line we avoided all the queues. Martina our guide was excellent with great knowledge and was quite humorous as well. Highly recommend if you are doing this tour then do it with them.
Pompeii especially is massive and unbelievably crowded in August. Our guide kept us together and moving, providing interesting commentary throughout. Pacing was good and the included lunch, quite surprisingly, was great. Only downside is that the guide was not particularly interested in fielding questions, providing very terse answers and returning immediately to her script.
Left the A Lauro car park in a small and comfortable bus. The guide, Raphael spoke helpfully for much of the way to Pompeii, about history, agriculture, the region etc. And all was interesting. Pompeii and Herculaneum are very different, but both are truly stunning. We would not usually go with a guide, but so pleased that we did. His knowledge, insights and contribution made it a fabulous day. Beyond our wildest expectations.
Extremely knowledgeable and interesting guide. His narrative regarding history and other factoids added so very much to the trip. Wish we could have spent more time at Herculaneum. Much more to see and experience. Pompeii could use more time to explore also. Van was comfortable and picked us up on time. Lunch was mediocre.
This tour was a great way to see Pompeii and Herculaneum, definitely the way to go. Desiree made this a fun and informational tour, I learned a lot about both locations and nothing felt forced or gimmicky.
The tour guide was knowledgeable and passionate about the history/subject matter. Organized experience. This was an amazing, not-to-be missed experience when in the area...powerful to be present and surrounded by so much history! The break between the two with lunch was fabulous...great restaurant!
Nice small gorup trip to Pompeii and Herculaneaum. Tour guide was very knowledgeable and did a great job.
Fantastic with a well informed and interesting guide. Walking the streets of Pompeii and then Herculaneum was remarkable. A good introduction to these time capsules but each will have to be revisited because they are far more extensive that we had imagined and each requires at least a day.
After being on my to do list for many years, I finally had the chance to take this great day trip. The Pompeii sight is huge and I like to see everything, but once there realized that walking around over the course of the guided tour, one does not HAVE to see everything to appreciate what it was and is today. Especially in you do some research before the visit, you can see and experience much in the allotted time. It is truly amazing and well worth any kind of a visit. Herculaneum is small and compact and easy to grasp in a short time, and just as amazing as Pompeii. The present city is virtually on top of the excavation, which lends an extra dimension of understanding of the history and evolution of the ancient city. The guide was terrific, with information, stories, told in an entertaining way. If someone has more time, I would recommend visiting Pompeii for a whole day, but if time for this is short as in my case, seeing the two sites in one day is a great way to go. Lunch is pretty good, a convenience more than a great meal but worth while.
I was so glad we saw both sights. It was a long day but well worth it