Pompeii with children!

[CandyCanes23]

My partner, who rarely strays further than Cornwall, has suddenly announced an interest in visiting Pompeii (which is also somewhere I’d love to go to!). We have a 6yo and a 3 month old baby. I’m jumping on the opportunity to plan this holiday, either for later this year or next year. Any advice from people gratefully received - best time of year, best location to base ourselves, what else to do etc? Many thanks

I would say it depends on the child. I have one who happily pottered around these sides if you choose the right season, Summer is not one, February half-term, October or Easter if you go outside the actual Easter week.

You have to make it interesting for a child, just walking around and not talking about the different things will bore everyone.

There is actually a good Usborne book about Pompeji, we had it when they had the exhibition at the British Museum, DD was 6 or 7, and it explains the background what happened.

Baby in a sling.

But, I also have friends who wouldn't be able to go with their children as they have absolutely no interest in this.

You can test it out by going to somewhere more local for a day and see how long your child lasts.

We went on our own years ago and then again when our dc were 7,9 and 11. They loved it and we were there for most of the day exploring. We took a substantial picnic, there are water fountains to fill up bottles. We'd looked at books and info about Pompeii before we went and all 3 of them had done "Romans" as a school topic by then so that helped a lot.

It was part of a Naples/Rome 2 centre holiday. We stayed in a village up above Sorrento (which had the best ice cream!). We also visited Herculaneum (in many ways better than Pompeii as it is much smaller and better preserved) and dh and 2 dc climbed Vesuvius (me and dd2 with a hip problem sat in the wee cafe at the trailhead). I'm not sure if the Solfatara crater is open, last time I checked it was closed because it had been too active. If it's open, very much worth a walk! Also the museum in Naples has a load of stuff like mosaics from Pompeii and has the benefit of being in the cool!

We also did the sites of Rome - Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Vatican. We were very lucky with this as I'm a wheelchair user (and found Pompeii manageable, but I can walk a bit) and everywhere we went we got picked out and taken to the front of the queue!

I might wait a couple of years with the age of your kids, but it could be a fantastic holiday!

This is my dc at Pompeii!

@weegiemum could I ask if you booked through a tour operator for your holiday, or booked it independently? Considering similar and in some ways would prefer the convenience if it being organised for me!

Pompeii is not suitable for kids of those ages. It is scorching, dusty, irregular underfoot and they will be bored

We went in December. It wasn't too cold and the sun was out. Very nice weather for walking actually. They have baby changing and breastfeeding pods scattered throughout, but no restaurants inside.

We were there 17 years ago visiting Italians near Naples and please don't do what we did and take a four month old baby there🥵😎😭

Too hot! We were there in late August/early September and DS cried and cried due to the heat. As a PP has said there's no respite in Pompeii.

There is an inside cafe/ restaurant now - it's just north of the Forum and had things like sandwiches and pastries, and enough inside seating that we had no problem getting a table for 5 of us at just gone 11. It was a welcome relief and a good spot to spread our map out and work out what else we wanted to focus on with a cup of coffee!

What about going to Ostia Antica instead which is like a mini Pompeii very close to Rome? So you could do both Rome and Ostia. Rome is very child friendly. Some people actually prefer Ostia to Pompeii.

If that is a success then plan a trip to Pompeii another time…

Either way, strongly agree with avoiding the warmer months. I’d say aim for late April/early May or late Sep/early Oct. Maybe a risk of rain but better than being cooked. You could also get lucky in winter months as pp said but that’s risky with a mainly outdoor trip.

We weren't there solely to visit Pompeii but to spend time with our Italian friends and family. Our friend drove us around as she's from that neck of the woods. It's a lovely place Pompeii but definitely more for adults and older children.

@OuchyCyst
I organised it myself. I pride myself on my holiday organisational skills!!