Pompeii… just turn up? Or book a guide?

[SunshineAndCloudy]

We are going to sorrento and I know it’s easy to jump on the train and go ( I think!) but is it better book a guided tour beforehand or just wing it?

Was Herculaneum better than pompei? I think it’s harder to get to on public transport though?
re pompeii I think it’s about 5 on train and 25 to get in, or 49 with a guide… as per booking.com

We just turned up, there were guides to hire waiting outside. However if you only have one day go to Herculaneum instead, guilds there too. Ideally go to both.

DH has been to both and says Herculaneum is definitely better. I’ve just been to Pompeii and thought it was amazing so one day I’ll have to do Herculaneum as well.

Herculaneum is fine, a little further to walk from the station(although there are remains beneath the modern streets) but not much further along the Circumvesuviana line. The buildings are largely more intact but the excavated area more compact,

Definitely book a guided tour. We booked at sorrento train station and picked up one of the regular tours running when we arrived at Pompeii. It gave us the highlights then we were free to wander.

We've been to Pompeii twice - once without a guide (just the audio) and once on a small tour.

The small tour was a million times better and we got so much more out of it. We then spent another couple of hours wandering round doing our own thing with the guidebook as well.

Definitely go with a guide. We didn't and I regretted it. We would have got so much more out of it with a guide. We caught snippets as we went past tours and they sounded so interesting.

If you want to do a bit of wandering too, you could pick a shorter tour and then have some time on your own also.

"Shorter" being a relative term btw!

It was a long time ago, but IIRC the tours were 3, 6 or 9 hours long!

Herculaneum is remarkable but we marginally preferred Pompeii. Both are worth seeing and if you only see either of them you will still have a brilliant experience.

Herculaneum is going through a rolling project of conservation which means some of its most famous sites have been closed for a period - I suspect that’s one reason we came down on the side of Pompeii. There’s still a lot to see there.

I've been twice - first with a guide and second with one.
The guide was very much worth it but I do think you can meander around and see things off your own steam if you'd like to. I'd recommend a read or listen to Mary Berry's book 'Pompeii' to jot down some things to see or at least put into perspective.
Don't bother with wasting time queuing for the brothel. Wander down side streets and discover as you go.

Sorry, I know that’s a typo, but ‘Mary Berry’s Pompeii’ has just made me laugh!

Pompeii much bigger. If you only have time to see one then do pompeii. Just the walk in to it is incredible. Herculaneum is better preserved but you need to see the scale of Pompeii first IMHO

Pah! Whoops. Beard!!!!!!

Make sure you visit the back streets and look into all the ‘off the beaten track’ areas.

Oh and also visit Herculaneum too (Erculano Scavi). Much smaller site but just as interesting especially the skeletons in the fish sheds! It’s just a few stops further along the Naples to Sorrento railway line https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule. And if you’re into SCUBA visit the underwater Roman ruins at Baia north of Naples! https://subaia.com/en/archaeological-park-baia