Private Full-Day Tour to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius with Winery Visit

Posted By : Doug_G
What a fun day. We started our day by meeting our guide and driver, Massimo, just outside the cruise terminal in Naples. It was a little chaotic finding him, as it was a bit of a hike to get outside the terminal, and then very crowded once we got outside the gates, as there were hundreds of drivers there to meet their assigned tours for the day. Once we got going, it was a brief 45 minute driver to Mt. Vesuvius. Massimo got us up as high as we could go, but then we had to hike about one kilometer to the rim of the volcano. We spent a few minutes listening to the guides they have up there, but mostly just walked around the rim and took in the views. It was rather hazy the day we were there so the view was not as good as it likely is on a good day, but impressive nonetheless. After coming off the mountain, we made our way to the ancient city of Pompeii. This was a little disappointing as they charge us $25 to enter and it was a sea of hot, sweaty people trying get get around the ancient uneven stone roads of the city. And sooooo many people with strollers. It made our visit less than desirable, but it was still impressive and humbling to see this city firsthand. Books and photographs simply do not compare to seeing this city firsthand. We finished our day visiting the Bocco do Medici winery not far from the ruins and enjoyed a wonderful meal and some fantastic wine before heading back to the city to get on our boat.

The winery visit was definitely the highlight of this tour, but Pompeii and Vesuvius were also enjoyable. Be mindful to travel light, wear good walking shoes and bring water with you when you go, as there are not many places to purchase water or drinks without paying a small fortune for it.

The only hiccup we had with this tour was that Massimo’s English was rather broken. We could communicate, but it was challenging at times because he couldn’t understand what we were saying or asking. Despite being lost in communication at times, this trip was a lot of fun.

The other caution I would express for people taking this tour is to make sure you try and contact the tour group a day or two before taking the tour. They purchase Vesuvius tickets for you as part of the tour, but we were not given these and Massimo was forced to be the middle man for us to get these tickets and it was a bit of a hassle, especially when you are at the entrance of Vesuvius and the cell signal on your phone is almost non-existent. To it is wise to contact the tour operator beforehand to make sure you have all the tickets that they include.

Lastly, know in advance that the hike up Vesuvius is moderately strenuous. The trail is somewhat steep and is not paved, so walking or hiking shoes are a definitely plus when going up or down the mountain.
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Posted On : 2024-06-17 06:29:53

Posted By : Alexandria_A
Everything about this tour was amazing! Highly recommend as our private guide (Max) taught us so much about Pompeii. The winery was incredible.
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Posted On : 2023-07-29 04:46:37

Posted By : EMMA_K
Best guide at Pompeji, a professor.
And 5 star driver!
Had wine lunch After Pomeij and befor Vulcan, perfect plan.
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Posted On : 2023-05-30 14:20:12

Posted By : Wayne_S
We scheduled this tour on our 10-night Celebrity cruise. Our ship docked in Naples as scheduled, and our driver, Antonio, was there on the pier to greet us promptly. As noted in the tour description, this tour has three major components; Vesuvius, Pompeii and a trip to a winery. We had two major pain points with this tour.

Vesuvius – Our tour guide indicated that he graciously pre-purchased our admission tickets into Vesuvius and purchased a time slot of 9:50am. He advised us the cost for the tickets would be 20 euro per person. We paid him for the tickets, and upon inspection of the admission ticket, we noted a fee of 11 euro printed on the ticket. We inquired of the driver why we are paying a fee of 20 euro per ticket, and he said there was a 9 euro per ticket processing fee charged by the Vesuvius Park for advance ticket sales. We requested to see documentation of that charge and it was provided in a file format that was not viewable on a mobile device. We inquired of other Vesuvius tour patrons that day while we were touring. All of them said they pre-purchased their tickets and there was not 9-euro fee charged for their tickets. Our conclusion, be sure to buy your tickets in advance and absent verifiable documentation, the driver made an extra 54 euro on the group of six tickets purchased. Also, there is not cell service at the entrance of Vesuvius due to the elevation. Also, be aware that you cannot enter the Vesuvius Park any earlier than 30 minutes before your ticket time. You will be turned away.

Pompeii- Our guide dropped us off a street about two blocks from the entrance, pointed us toward the entrance, instructed us to make sure we get a paper map as a guide, then left after telling us what time he would return to pick us up. At that point, we would have about 1.5 hours to tour Pompeii. Standing in line took up at least a half hour of that, and we entered, only to find there were no more paper maps available. We strongly suggest pre-purchasing the tickets in order to skip that line. It might be beneficial to include the tickets in the cost of the price of the trip to save the customer time.

Winery – The tour included a stop at Bosco De’ Medici Winery (BDMW). While our tour costs did not include any of the fees associated with this winery, we requested to visit another winery that was closer to Vesuvius instead of BDMW. According to the driver this request could not be accommodated with no explanation provided. We requested to visit Cantina Del Vesuvio winery as we have visited before, and it is a very nice vineyard. If our tour costs included the fees for BDMW, we could better understand for not accommodating the change.

BDMW was very pricy and the quality of the wine and food was substandard. Located in the heart of Pompeii, it’s a vineyard that operates like a production line. You are whisked in and provided a prosecco, then you are immediately taken to your seats for lunch. They offer three fixed price tasting menus (ranging from 40-75 euro). This was not a tasting menu based on how it was served. It’s more of a wine flight of 4 wines that are poured quickly and does not pair with the food. The food was not anything I would go back for as well as the wine. One person ordered from the menu that included prawns, and the prawns were undercooked and sent back to the kitchen.

Our conclusion is definitely skip BDMW as it’s not worth the quality considering the price. The driver must receive a commission for the tour group he schedules which explains why he would not make the adjustment to the other vineyard. Since we concluded our meal quickly and skipped the guided tour, our driver did take us to the other vineyard, Cantina Del Vesuvio, so we could purchase a few items. We did appreciate this accommodation.

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Posted On : 2022-08-05 10:52:48

Posted By : Charlotte_H
Giovanni, our guide, was on time and very kind and knowledgable of the area. Although the roads were narrow and curvy, Giovanni safely delivered to Vesuvius. The winery visit was next and the tour guide, servers, food, wine tasting and grounds were phenomenal! Our last stop was Pompeii. Giovanni was unable to guide us during this tour. If you are unfamiliar with Pompeii, I definitely recommend hiring a guide. Highly recommend this tour!
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Posted On : 2022-07-27 13:34:39

Posted By : Julie_S
We had a wonderful time on this tour. We paid for the full experience - tickets in advance and a guide at Pompeii. I'm sure we could have spent less if we did-it-ourselves (i.e., take the train instead of having a driver) but it was worth it to me for this to be taken care of in advance.

For example, when we got to Mt. Vesuvius, there were people who were turned away because they didn't have admission tickets, but we were allowed right through. I will say that Vesuvius was a bit of a trek. We were fine (it was nice that it was cooler up there than it had been in the city!) but I could imagine some people reading the description that it was a "short walk" and thinking it won't be too hard.

Pompeii was great - with our guide Laura. I do have a feeling that there was a lot at Pompeii that we didn't get to see, but as someone with interest but not SUPER into history, this was the perfect amount of time for us. We saw the highlights, Laura was super informative, and we got as much as we wanted from it before we headed out from the heat.

The winery was wonderful. Wine was great, meal was great. Eating under the arbor/vines was so beautiful. Some of my favorite pictures from Italy!

I did get the sense that our driver was sort of setting up the day as we went. Like as we were driving to Vesuvius, he was making calls, and told us that the only available reservation time at the winery was later in the day, so did we mind doing that last. We didn't mind, and actually really liked cooling off and relaxing at the winery after our hot time in Pompeii, but still it felt a little last-minute.

Overall, a great experience for someone looking to do a moderate amount of time at each site (Vesuvius, Pompeii and winery) - not looking to do a deep dive at any of them.
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Posted On : 2022-06-19 16:49:22

Posted By : orna_l
Climbing vesuvio was fantastic and pompei with Anna was a lifetime best it was a day to remember and i will choose viator again
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Posted On : 2022-06-05 12:36:10

Posted By : Crystal_W
We had a spectacular time! The weather didn’t allow for us to travel to Mt. Vesuvius, so the guide made another stop in Sorento instead. We also had issues with our pick up location and they went very far out of their way to accommodate us. Our tour guide at Pompeii was the best guide we’ve ever had. The winery exceeded our expectations. I’d give an extra star if I could.
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Posted On : 2022-04-18 05:36:03

Posted By : Daniel_L
Pompeii was so educational and the lunch at the winery was delicious, the service extraordinary and the wine was very good.
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Posted On : 2022-04-06 13:38:37

Posted By : Kaiti_S
This was an amazing tour. Matteo was an excellent driver and Natalie the perfect guide. We saw Vesuvius crater, had an EXCELLENT meal and tasting at Bosco de Medici winery, and excellent private tour at Pompeii. Would highly recommend.
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Posted On : 2022-04-04 03:45:03