Maureen Fant has written the definitive article on how to do a day-trip to Pompei from Rome. Here's a link to the article in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/16/travel/POMPEII.html?pagewanted=all&position=top

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,

Lunacy: Zoom Travel at its worst.

Bill, I agree. However, many travelers will only come to Italy once in a lifetime, and they want to see the famous sites. We've had several requests for details on this excusion from folks who get just a week or 2 of vacation time in a year, and try to make the most of it. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to be a slow traveler.

Anyway, it's excellent current info and practial advise and links on how to tacle Pompei, hopefully while you are spending a month in the area.

I beg to disagree Zak!! You can be a slow traveler in two weeks - long vacation time is not the primary ingredient for Slow Travel. A slow traveler with two weeks vacation would one year go to Italy - 1 week in a vacation rental in Tuscany, 1 week in an apartment in Rome. The next year would be Umbria - 1 week in a vacation rental in Umbria, 1 week in an apartment in Florence.

Slow Travel is the state of mind - I don't need to see it all on this trip - I will choose a few things and enjoy them in depth, then I will visit again.

Steve and I happen to get lots of vacation time (because we both work for ourselves and are not always employed ) but many other Slow Travelers get the more typical 2 to 3 week vacations. Of all our trip reports, the majority are two week vacations.

Sigh. We have gone back and forth and round and round about whether to tackle a one day trip to Pompeii while we are in Rome (we leave next Saturday!). Finally last week we decided to head to Ostia Antica instead. Now, Zak posts this article and makes me want to try for Pompeii all over again : )

However, we're still probably heading to Ostia Antica. There is, after all, a limit to how much is realistic with two young teens in tow. LOL!

Carolyn

Of course not everyone is so fortunate as to be able to gallivant all over the place and stay a long time.

But seeing something in a horrendous rush like this is worth nothing -- to that person themselves -- other than sheer iconic "I went there". Something seen so hurriedly and so disconnectedly will result in the vaguest, most blurred memories, and no personal enrichment. Once we come back from a trip, regardless who we are, how many times we've been somewhere, or how much money we spent, all we have is our memories. The trip itself takes a day or three months, but we are all identical once it's over: and here's where the folly of disjointed franticness will make the difference.

I have never been to Russia, and would like to go. If and when I do go, especially if I have say only one week, I will not go "see" Moscow, St. Petersburg, and 3 other large towns with names scattered all over the map; I hope I have the sense to see Moscow and one or two of the beautiful small old towns near it.

In the case of dashing off from Rome to Pompeii when Ostia is comfortably nearby, why, why, why?
   Ostia provides the careful traveler with as good a feel for a Roman town as does Pompeii -- yes, even down to a few frescoes, lots of mosaics, several multi-story apartment buildings, etc. And if the traveler is not "careful", then what's it to them that they go to Pompeii??

As travelers, do we want to see things, learn things, experience things -- or do we just want to be able to say "I've been there, but I didn't understand it or appreciate it when I was there, and now I don't really remember it"?

Good discussion. We are doing a day trip to Pompeii (not my preference..) and also a 1/2 day at Ostia during our 5 days in Rome. We have two full days on our own and are planning "only" selected parts of the Vatican Museums, the Forum and ghetto.

I tend to return repeatedly to my favorite places; I've been to France for several 3-week stints and a couple of shorter ones. When I'm in or near Belgium I return to Bruges every time! I have always re-visited places I love. I view this two weeks in Italy (plus 5 days in Switerland) as a scouting expedition, as it's my maiden voyage in Italia. I fully expect to return to the places I enjoy most and want to explore further. BTW, on this trip I'll be in Lucern for the third time, and planning mostly to see new things there. Since my third trip to Europe I have adopted the attitude that I CAN go back, so I feel less desperate to see everything- even if I don't get to stay for a long visit.

Sorry everyone, I just wanted to share Maureen Fant's good advise on visiting Pompei for a day, whether you are going there for just a day from Rome, or being a slow traveler. Of course Pauline is correct about slow travel being a state of mind and I was referring to affording the time rather than the money.

Many of our clients have a 2 weeks vacation that they ideally want to spend by staying in Rome for half a week, renting a villa in Tuscany for 1 week, then ending the trip in Venice for a few days, or at the Amalfi coast. Most people make this combination of slow and fast travel.

And please remember, most visitors come to Italy only once in a liftime. What do you think would be the ideal trip in this situation? Would love to hear some comments.

I will most likely travel to Italy more than once in my lifetime BUT if I ended up only going once and having that one day trip to Pompeii I think I would benefit from it only because I like to read about the area I'm going to - it's history, what it's like now, what the future holds for it. I know I would appreciate that trip if I go to Pompeii with that knowledge instead of just popping in because it was 'one of the must sees to go to'. I would probably say to myself 'wow, it must have been horrible to die like this', and to be physically there, even for a few hours, to smell the air and touch the walls and take myself back to that time...I would be satisfied with that trip.

But of course, I have not read the article by Maureen Fant, dreading to sign in or register at 'just one more' site. Reading everyone's responses it seems as if you were on a tour bus passing Pompeii with the tour guide giving a brief history about the area, and not even setting foot on the grounds. Is that one day to Pompeii like that?

I bet there are people that have grown up and lived in that area for many years but still don't understand, respect and appreciate it.