DIY: Getting to Pompeii by train
Italian countryside Both of us enjoy experiencing immersive history and there is no better-known example than Pompeii. It’s a bit of a...
 |
| Italian countryside |
It’s a bit of a journey from Rome, but well worth it. There are many companies that will organize day trips for you, but I found them very expensive and not worth the convenience.
Two train companies offer service to Naples, state-run Trenitalia and privately-owned Italo Treno. You can find a €9.90-€19.90 fare on Trenitalia about four months before departure, but I found the times inconvenient. The cheapest fares were on regional trains that take twice as long. Instead I focused on Italo Treno, which offers high-speed service to Naples.
Every Friday, Italo puts out a new coupon code on its Facebook page that will take between 30 and 60 percent off of your trip. It’s a bit of a gamble since you want to wait for the 60 percent off code (not that common), but you also don’t want the price of your trip to go up to the point it offsets the extra percentage off. I ended up pulling the trigger on a 50 percent off deal and splurged for Smart Extra since it would allow us both to have a window seat separated by a small table. In hindsight, if I waited three weeks I would have saved €3 with a new code for a regular seat, but it also allowed me to move my focus to other parts of the trip.
Our train was punctual departing Roma Termini and arrived about 10 minutes early into Naples.
We tried taking the SITA bus from Napoli Centrale, which supposedly offers a more comfortable trip to Pompeii Scavi, but couldn’t find the stop. We asked several workers, but the information conflicted with the information online. We instead decided to take the Circumvessa, a metro or subway-like train offering more frequent service to Pompeii.
The train was a bit grungy, but 18 stops later it got us there without an issue. On the way back we were lucky the train was running 15 minutes late so we made an earlier train than anticipated. It was packed with people leaving Pompeii at the end of the day, but allowed us time to have a sit-down dinner before taking Italo back to Rome.
