Complete Pompeii Experience: Skip the Line Tour & Archaeologist Guide

This was our favorite excursion and memory of our time in Italy. Our tour guide was Sonia S. whose passion, enthusiasm and knowledge for Pompeii had her sharing fascinating stories and facts non-stop. She was an absolute pleasure and we would love to go on future tours with her. Her tour was outstanding. We saw the bathhouse, low and high class bordello, newer excavations of rich people's houses, fast food stands, bakery, theater. temples, the museum/antiquarium with the plaster casts of people and animals and other artifacts, and learned about the paved streets and life on Pompeii. Sonia brought the history of Pompeii alive for us with depth and excitement. We even could sample real "Pompeii" water from the still running Pompeii fountains (updated with modern plumbing). This tour offered the most time in Pompeii as compared to other tours I evaluated plus skip the line tickets and one of the few with real archeologists. I highly recommend this tour. We did the 10:30 am tour (group met a little after 10:15 am on the left side of the entrance; not the right) which allowed us plenty of time to travel from the cruise port, by bus to the Napoli Centrale train station and downstairs to the Napoli Garibaldi station to take the Circumvesuviana commuter train to the Pompei Scavi Villa Dei Misteri station and the 2 minute walk to the Pompei Porto Marina front entrance. The tour concluded a little before 2:00 pm, and Sonia left us conveniently in an area where we could eat our snacks we brought, use the bathroom, and keep touring on our own. We took the 2:50 pm train back to Napoli Garibaldi/Napoli Centrale and then a taxi (20 Euros) back to the cruise ship.