Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast private tour

Posted By : Passport479666
Our driver, Cattelo Buonocore was amazing! He was so friendly and funny yet very professional. He paid attention to every detail of our day and made us feel so special. When we return to this area, we will make sure to ask for Catello again!
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Posted On : 2024-06-24 05:45:58

Posted By : 51alysons
I had very high hopes with this company but it turned out to be a huge disappointment. The van, even though new had very poor A/C, I was told after the fact that this had been a common complaint with their newer vehicles. Very hot and uncomfortable. The driver drove like an absolute maniac. Whipping around turns, stopping short and never spoke. The “English speaking guide” declared immediately that he spoke poor English and seemed to have no idea what our day entailed. Really awkward day. We added an hour when we booked to make sure we had a leisurely day, so 9 hours. I asked for a restaurant in Positano with a sea view as that was where we really wanted to spend time. I was told I would love the restaurant their family owns and it’s a short ride with beautiful views. It took 40 minutes up and again down. The view was distant and minimal. The food was great but due to the slow service and long ride, we had no time to enjoy dessert. When we got to Positano, they parked at the furthest garage and told us to be back in 50 minutes. It took 20 minutes to walk down to the sea and 20 minutes up. We had 10 minutes to enjoy it and then back in the car. Stopped at a souvenir shop in Sorrento and that is it. No time there. We arrived to Pompeii at 5:30. Had an hour there before we had to make our way to the exit. We spent less then an hour in Positano, 1.5 hours in Pompeii and 1.5 hours at lunch and the rest of the day in the car. We were car sick, hot, and pretty miserable. The tour was poorly planned and unrealistic given the traffic and logistics. I relied on them to know what they were doing and they just didn’t. The day was a waste other then the food and the guide at Pompeii was fabulous. We used several companies on our trip. Luke limousines in Rome was fantastic! My best tours, Alpha Mykonos, Santorini Yachting club and Take me out Capri. All were great. Don’t waste your time and money with this company. They are the biggest and most expensive, the only one that required full payment before the tour and now I know why.
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Posted On : 2024-06-19 11:51:19

Posted By : Theresa S
We wanted a private tour of Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast during our stay in Rome. I knew Joe Banana Limos was the right choice for us, having experienced their service several years ago. It was a breeze booking with Chiara, and her follow up was thorough. Our driver, Catello, was awesome: conscientious, accommodating, and just a great guy. His restaurant recommendation in Positano was excellent, and he went out of his way to make sure everything was right. Catello’s handoff to Pierpaolo, our guide in Pompeii whom one of our group had kept in touch with from our earlier Joe Banana experience, was seamless. Paolo was knowledgeable and fun on our tour of Pompeii. Two of our group who had been to the site before loved Paolo’s insights about this fascinating place. And, again, Catello drove us safely back to Rome. What a great day!
Thanks so much to all!
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Posted On : 2024-06-06 15:56:29

Posted By : 393normam
This was an incredible tour! We had a wonderful tour guide, Catello, who was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly and funny. He is the type of person I would love to contact again if I was back in the region. We were picked up at the port for a day trip to Positano, Sorrento and then Pompeii. Going in a small group of only 8 people allowed us to travel on roads the buses are not able to go. We also were able to get very close to the town centers, which will save your legs in steep Positano! Our driver gave us an option to take more time in Sorrento or go to lunch at a spot his family loves. We opted to take him up on this and had THE BEST pizza in all our stops we made in Italy. Finally, the company arranged a fantastic tour of Pompeii with and incredible guide. None of this should be missed. So very glad we went with this company!
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Posted On : 2024-06-03 21:09:20

Posted By : 109maureenc
Our driver Bruno was excellent! Very informative and spoke good English. Taught us alot about Italy and helped us plan our day to see the most we absolutely could. Would reccomend Joe Banana and especially Bruno if you are in the Naples area.
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Posted On : 2024-06-03 11:48:33

Posted By : Companion63177
This tour was great and a wonderful day for our family of five. A very nice, comfortable air conditioned van. And our driver Giovanni was excellent. Very nice and engaging and told us a lot about the areas we went to.

We visited Positano and Amalfi and spent an hour in each place. Positano was great for shopping and a beautiful, quaint town. And Amalfi was a great place to have lunch and we went in the church there which is beautiful. We went to Pompeii for two hours but since this tour did not include a Pompeii tour we booked that separately through Joe Banana Tours and it was great. Our driver and tour guide knew each other and since we booked the Pompeii tour with tickets we went right in.

All during the day between stops the views were amazing. While it cost a little more it was a more pleasant day having a private driver as opposed to some of the bigger groups we saw on buses. Really a great day for our family!

PS - Anna a Joe Banana Tours was very responsive and helpful. Answered all our questions promptly and help us book the Pompeii tour. We communicated through What's App.
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Posted On : 2024-05-29 15:37:27

Posted By : mgallins
The option for all our activities was not available as a selection. We used Joe Banana for transportation from the Naples airport to our hotel in Sorrento. We used their services for two different days of touring. One to Pompeii and Herculaneum both with private guides and a driver. We also used them for a private driver to tour the Amalfi coast Positano and Vietri. Both tour guides were excellent and our driver was the best. I can make these claims because I have used these type services many times, including several trips in Italy. The driver was a young man named Danilo. Matt Gallins
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Posted On : 2024-05-15 13:45:08

Posted By : taniabC2154CQ
We had a wonderful tour of Positano, Sorrento and Pompeii last June. Bruno was our driver and he was lovely! He was on time, professional and very knowledgeable. He provided commentary and kept us entertained the whole day. I would definitely recommend this tour and Bruno especially. It was by far our favorite tour during our trip to Italy.
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Posted On : 2023-08-09 12:43:13

Posted By : A3637NBsusans
Oh what a wonderful experience we had. Manuel our guide met us at the Naples pier and we began our ride in a beautiful luxury van. Manuel told us the plan for the day and did a fantastic job driving for a young 25 year old engaging young man. He told us all about the areas and answered all our questions. We had a beautiful drive along the Amalfi coast to Positano making a few stops along the way for beautiful pictures and some local shopping- purchase Limoncello for sure!! We had time in Positano, then ventured to Sorrento where Manuel suggested a restaraunt for lunch, and then on to Pompeii. Joe Bananas/Italy tour sharing is a wonderful company to deal with- Maria from the company even called as we headed back to the ship and checked on how we enjoyed the tour. We used this company in Naples and Florence and I can't say enough about how wonderful it was and how safe I felt with their driving skills. We will use this company again if we are lucky enough to come back to Italy. You won't be disappointed.
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Posted On : 2023-06-06 18:52:53

Posted By : NatAtHome
We had scheduled a private boat tour of the Amalfi coast, from Sorrento and south around the peninsula, then to Positano and Amalfi with Joe Bananas Limos. We met our driver at the hotel,and he told us that the water was really rough and it wouldn’t be a great experience. He handed me the phone so I could speak with the owner of the company, who offered to either refund us, or offered an experience, or maybe another tour. He mentioned Pompeii and I jumped on it! I had actually been trying to book a Pompeii tour with them for later on the week but they didn’t have a driver/car. So now we had both at our disposal. We made arrangements to try to rebook the boat tour for later in the week and off we went to Pompeii!

Our driver, Raphael, was great. A little hard to understand but he grew up in the area and had lots of stories. He also is a HUGE movie buff so kept explaining things and comparing them to scenes in movies (that luckily we had seen.) Pretty funny!

We got to Pompeii, and Joe Bananas had found an awesome guide for us. Giovanni spoke great English and didn’t go on & on. He showed us stuff, explained things, answered all our questions and most importantly squirreled us past all the huge groups of tours!

After Pompeii, Raphael drove us to the Mt. Vesuvius winery for a tour, tasting and lunch. The wine was good but not amazing, and the lunch was very good. I was surprised it wasn’t included in the price of the tour, but since it was so last-minute we were happy they could even accommodate us.

Two days later, Joe Bananas and the weather came thru for us! We woke to sunny skies and fairly calm seas. Calm enough for us and Salvatore, our boat driver. Raphael picked us up, and got us to the boat, which was a 36 foot boat, and very comfortable. Off we went, on a tour of the coast and waters. As we hugged the coast, Salvatore explained what we were looking at such as the big famous hotels, the ruins of the castle of the first queen of Naples, the other small towns that aren’t as famous as their neighbors.

We didn’t realize that we were such a ways from the Amalfi Coast. We rode for quite a while on the Sorrento Coast, before we turned and started the Amalfi Coast. There were many little fortresses built all along the coast, which were to watch out and attack pirate ships. There are many cool grottos in the cliffs, a few we got really close to so we could see in. This is what we would have missed if we had gone out in choppier waters the other day. Salvatore pointed out a few privately owned islands, and a convent way on top of a mountain. And we finally came to Positano! We walked around for a few hours, shopped and had a lemon sorbet.

Back onto the boat, and we rode past Praiano, which looked lovely.
Next stop was the town of Amalfi, where we walked around and had some lunch. When we were ready, we texted Salvatore who picked us right up. We started to head back but stopped to take a dip. We stopped by one of the grottos, so we could swim in. Pretty cool. The water was warm and so clear! We didn’t swim for long but it was great to get into the water. Back to Sorrento after a fabulous day thanks to Joe Bananas!
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Posted On : 2022-10-13 12:22:21