Day Trip from Naples: Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius

Our tour guide (Martina) was great. She provided a lot of info and pointed things out in the way there. Pompeii was very cool and mount Vesuvius was unreal! And our driver (Antonio) knew what he was doing on the skinny mountain roads.

Very good organized; Alessandra (the guide) and Mario (the driver), very nice - september 2021; I strongly recomend this tour

After paying $115 each for the tour, we were told we had to pay another $32 each when we got on the bus. This was not in my itinerary anywhere. Never had to pay extra for any other tour. Felt a little ripped off.

Overall HUGE delays doing absolutely nothing (sitting in a restaurant) causing a 7 hour tour to be >10 hours, Cant hear tour guide making all the extra money we paid for this worthless, "Wine Tasting" was literally 3 sips of wine, Food portion extremely small, Terrible Terrible Experience. More details below. This disaster of a trip began the day prior to our departure in which we were sent a message by our tour operator that the pick up time was moved from 8:00 to 9:15. We had limited time in Naples and thus I messaged them within 15 minutes of receiving this message stating this would be an issue for me. The response I received, over an hour and a half later, was that there is no other start time and that the tickets have already been purchased. (I have screenshots and pictures of all complaints in this email). I decided an hour would not be too big of a deal and thus went along with it given there was no other option. Once arriving in the bus, we were told that we may have to wait in lines and not go to the front which is typical for all guided tours. Once arriving to Pompeii, we were told our tour guide was not available. Thus, we were taken to a shop where they attempted to sell us jewelry while waiting. Another delay. Once in Pompeii, our tour guide did not speak loudly enough for anyone but the person next to her to hear. Furthermore, she often had us walking in lines so that it would be impossible for anyone not near the front of the line to hear. For a lot of the tour she actually was facing the closest tourist to her while speaking. Making things worse, she even would speak Italian with this tourist during our tour. I did not get the majority of information she provided and would not have unless I fought to be at the front of the line. Once leaving Pompeii, we were told that our trip to Mount Vesuvius was delayed and we would not be able to start hiking the mountain until 3.5 hours later. Thus, their solution was to take our time with lunch and take pictures around the restaurant. Once at the restaurant we were seated outside while all other guests were sitting inside with air-conditioning. Our "wine tasting" consisted of 3 VERY UNEVEN AND VERY SMALL POURS of wine. If adding up all the wine we were served together I would assume it would be half an actual glass of wine. We were subsequently given mini charcuterie board, pasta and some type of dessert. All of these were second rate at best. Extremely small portions and not even close to the standard the restaurant gives to its typical customers. I know this because we could see the food served to their customers with serving sizes 5 times as much and presentation of dishes making ours look like fast food. Needless to say we were extremely disappointed with the "wine tasting" and "meal" presented to us. They expect us to hike mount vesuvius during a 10 hour day while feeding us samplers from a restaurant. At this point, we asked to leave because it would be another hour before even starting our hike up the volcano. This supposed 7 hour tour quickly became a minimum of 10 hours. I paid almost $300 for my wife and I. While booking these tours, I know I am typically paying a premium for what I am getting. The value of entrance to any of the sites, transportation or meals we are fed are no where near what we pay. I expect to have excellent tour guides, front of the line experiences, punctuality and organization. This tour was disorganized with the majority of our time waiting in a restaurant or outside of Pompeii doing absolutely nothing. Our tour guide provided us little value. Our "wine tasting" was the definition of false advertisement. Food, wine and access to all sites is extremely cheap in Naples. My wife and I were always warned about pickpockets in Naples, however I can say that this tour was the greatest scam I experienced while traveling. Also, Viator did not support us in anyway despite us being customers with them for over ten years. Its Italy, so many amazing things to do and great ways to experience it so dont waste your time and money on this.

We had nice guides on this trip. Pompei is very impressive and the pizza lunch was quite nice as well. All went according to plan.

Really enjoyed this tour! Our tour guide during Pompeii was amazing! She switched back and forth from Italian to English, and was so interesting to listen to. We also really enjoyed our pizza lunch, and our guide on the bus. Definitely wear sturdy shoes for the hike up Vesuvius and bring cash for entrance fees.

Nancy, our tour guide at Pompei gave very detailed and interesting descriptions on the site. She was also very organized in arranging the group and responded quick to our requests. The driver who later drove us up to Mount Vesuvious was also very friendly and professional. Good value of money as it saved time and energy to go to these points by yourselves.

It was an excellent tour, with a very reasonable price. Special mentions for our guide from Pompeii, Yasmine, who turned the journey through the ruins into a wonderful escape in time. Thanks also to Daiana, who was attentive to our needs at all stages. At Vesuvius, the crater area was well presented by the local guide. Last but not least, the included lunch was above expectations, in an excellent location. Thanks to the organizers. It was an unforgettable experience, despite the COVID pandemic.

The transfer vehicles were clean & on time. The staff were polite. The guide at Pompeii was very informative & spoke good English. The lunch was also surprisingly very good. Finally the trip up Versuvius was the highlight at the end of a well organised trip.

We had paid more to be in the small group tour of pompeii and mount vesuvius rather than the large group of 40 people. We got to Pompeii at 9:05 and were told we had to wait until 9:30 for our tour guide to arrive. At 9:45 the large bus from WorldTours arrived but we had to wait for everyone to use the washroom so we didn't get into Pompeii until 10:00 so only had 2 hours to walk around (we left the tour group of 40 because we hate being in large groups like that) When we met our small group guide at noon he brought us up Mount Vesuvius to this restaurant to get our pizza lunch. Well, AGAIN we were not served until the large bus arrived and they got my husband's order wrong so I was finished eating before he even got his pizza. We went to leave in our van and it was leaking oil from the engine. We had to wait for 45 mins for a new van to arrive. We then were given only an hour to do the hike mount Vesuvius. When I contacted viator for a refund they said World tours was not refunding them because they claimed we made it into Pompeii at 9:30 and did not even comment on what I told them about the bus breaking down. They said we had to prove that we didn't get in until 10:00...how am I supposed to do that???? This entire tour was a complete let down and what I am most upset about the fact that we paid for a small group tour and then had to constantly wait for the large group anyways.