Getting to and From Pompeii

Trains at Napoli Circuvesuviana Station

Getting to and from Pompeii.

I forgot this bit: Trains leave Naples from the Circumvesuviana station with a regular frequency (about one every hour or so) and the cost is minimal. I think it was 3.50 Euros per person each way and the trip takes about 35 minutes or so. Importantly we found out that the tickets are unvalidated so you can buy your return ticket at the time you buy your outbound ticket, though we didn't realize this till we were on our way, c'est la guerre.

While waiting for the train we watched a horror of delectably ancient trains come in and out of the station, while also watching the latest Italian pop star on a plasma TV hung from the ceiling. One train engineer showed up with a brown bag with a bottle top sticking out, he shared with a friend and then boarded a train (the one at left in the picture) with another man in train type uniform and backed it out of the station. Frightened? I nearly soiled myself.

Most trains to Pompeii are commuter style (think New York City subway circa 1979); plenty of plastic, vinyl, stained stainless steel, smelling of smells that are usually personal and full of not just tourists but also people who work up and down the coast (the last stop for most trains is Sorrento. This is important to remember as the reader-board often just says Sorrento not Pompeii), so be prepared for graffiti galore, scratched up windows, gypsy children begging for money and something sticky and unidentifiable on the seat/floor/bulkhead/door/stanchion. In general just the regular grit and color of Campania. The trains may shift platforms while you are waiting for them so be warned. How? Well they run often and if another train is in the way or is late, then the platform switches at the last minute. The announcements are made in Italian and often English (in a very upper class English accent), but pay attention to the electronic reader boards near the platforms. These will always have the latest information. Train conductors of a type are usually on the platform and will happily point you to the right train. Believe me they are used to it, so just be polite and smile when you ask. Don't act like an obnoxious American from the 80's and speak English loud and slow. All you have to do is show them your ticket and politely say: "Pompeii?" they will get you on the right train. When you are pointed in the right direction, please for the sake of all future tourists say "Grazie" (thank you) amazing how much better one is treated after this simple courtesy.

Settle down into a seat or stand if you have to, there is no WiFi nor is there any USB ports on these trains, so sit back and enjoy the countryside which is divine. We left early in the morning and we granted a mystical landscape shrouded in mist, and then Vesuvius is right in your face and following you as the train winds in to the station.  Be sure to get off the train at the Pompeii Scavi station, there is another stop in Pompeii which leads through the modern town, however it is much easier to get in from the miniscule station at Pompeii Scavi. Here you can also find peeps for guides or for trips to the top of Vesuvius, sort of disappointed that I didn't know that you could go to the top of Vesuvius. Oh well next time.

Porto Marina is the entrance from the train station Pompeii Scavi into the ruins. It’s all fairly easy to familiarize yourself with. As soon as you get off the train there is a sign that points the way and about 100 yards (if that) down the road there is the ticket building with it’s attached gift shop, which mostly has books and audio guides. I had a map of Pompeii already, but they had a nice selection of books and guides so I picked up a new one for only 10 Euros and was quite pleased with it.

The Porto Marina used to be the seawards gate to the city. I suppose it still is, however the sea is a lot further away than it was in AD 79. The gate has two arches, a smaller one on the left for pedestrians and a larger one on the right for carts and animals. Oddly once you pass through the arches you are under a single barrel vault. One vault to rule them all! OK, enough of that.

We returned to Naples late in the day after heading out of Pompeii north to the Villa of the Mysteries (a must see destination, I mean it, really, I'll post that soon). Getting back to the train station from the Villa of the Mysteries was a bit of a walk and we thought we were lost a number of times. I suppose it might be a little more obvious in the tourist season, but being the only people walking down an unmarked road in Campania is slightly unnerving. Eventually we found the train station, after being splashed rather heavily with mud by an oncoming car. Bought a return ticket to Napoli (as we had only figured out the ticket system that morning) from the wee station there and raced through the subterranean passage under the tracks (remembering to validate ticket at the last moment at the entrance to the staircase, a nightmare for a fire marshal) for the train back to Naples. Which did stop at Piazza Garibaldi (the local train station underneath Napoli Centrale) though that was further from our hotel. Didn’t really matter. After walking up and down all over Pompeii for eight hours another 22 blocks was not going to be any bother. Though I lost track of how many people tried to sell me fake Louis Vuitton handbags on the way up Umberto I.

Arrived relatively unmolested at Hotel Naples  for a very well earned nights sleep...though I know I had a pizza and chips (French fries) at Pompeii, I have no idea what I ate that night.