Pompeii

[breward]

Off to Pompeii next week... 39 degrees heat!

Any tips of how to make the best of our time. We are staying 5 days in a hotel with a pool and small farm in Pompeii itself.

We are thinking of visiting sites early, maybe one a day over 3 days then jumping on the train during the hottest part of the day down to the beach on the Amalfi coast. DC are 13 &14.

Just seen on the Pompeii and Rome Coliseum website that EU teachers gain half price admission.

Has anyone managed to get these prices and how did you prove you were a teacher? I have a payslip and a NUT card, but will Italian officials recognise these? Sadly no photocard teacher ID... I could take my latest class photo!!!

I have no idea re prices but can reliably inform you that Pompeii will be hotter than the sun. There is no breeze and it's much bigger than you'd expect. It's definitely worth it but take a bucket load of water along and get there as early as humanly possible. The crack of dawn. Herculaneum is smaller and worth a trip if you're up for more ruins after Pompeii.

Sorrento is lovely, as is Amalfi. Best beach along that stretch (in terms of sand and space) is Maori (the Salerno side of Amalfi)- the other beaches are lovely, but quite small and get very crowded. There are no trains to Amalfi though - you'd have to bus from Salerno, I think. The bus route is something else - hair-raising! Can also recommend a day trip to Ravello (bus from Amalfi) - it's an amazing place.

You are admitted to the ruins at Pompeii when they let you. We were let in half an hour late as they were having meeting. It is much hotter than the coast as it is much further inland, and it is unbelievably dusty. There are stalls outside the gates selling fruit, snacks and water. When using the train, remember that they can have a strike at will, and it can really mess up your plans if you only have a few days.

We were staying in Sorrento, so could get the open top tourist bus to Positano on the Amalfi coast, and then you have to walk down through the town to get to the beach, and all the way back up to get the bus back, because the towns are all built on the hillsides. Adding the train back to Pompeii on to that makes it quite a long journey, it would take a whole day out of your schedule to have a day on the beach. If you can cope with hairpin bends and high cliffs, the scenery is spectacular.