Positano And Pompeii Small-group Minivan Day Trip From Rome

Pros: The day started at 6:30 am at Roma Termini. Jacob was wonderful at orienting us and getting us started on our way to Napoli. We were contacted the prior day to change the itinerary to NOT go to Positano due to a landslide causing major traffic. We first visited Pompeii. The guide Sasha was knowledgeable and gave a nice overview in two hours. Room for improvement: After our tour to Pompeii, we were so hot and wanted 15-20 min to ourselves to get a cold drink, go to bathroom, shop a little. We felt rushed, our driver said there was no time. Pompeii was very hot and it was nonstop walking so we wanted a short break. We were the only people on the tour so essentially a private tour… Next we went to lunch and wine tasting at Sorrentino. While the wines were nice, appetizers good, the pasta average and we had to skip dessert because the service was so slow. Overall the lunch took so long because of poor service which cut into our time at Amalfi. Amalfi was beautiful and we loved having free time (1.5 hours). We feel like we could have had more but the driver said he only works 8 hours so we had to be back at train station at 5 pm even though our train back to Rome quite a bit later. Also, this tour is really pricey. We feel that if you pay this much money for a day trip, there should be a little choice in what time you take the train back to Roma…. If you travel that far and pay that much money to Napoli and Amalfi for a day, we like have liked a little drink/shopping break after Pompeii and to have more time in the afternoon and not feel so rushed for the DRIVER’s schedule….and go back to Roma a bit later. As it was, our train was delayed, went to Tiburtina, and we had to take two metro lines to get back to where we started. Overall the main thing to improve would be time management and the driver - he did not give any kind of information unless we asked, about the area, history, what should we do in Amalfi, he even said at one point “I am not a tour guide.” For a tour this expensive, someone driving you around should give you an overview and talk to you about the region, etc. Lunch and wine tasting could have been a lot faster (or pick a different spot). We are still glad we went - Pompeii was impressive and Amalfi was beautiful. We look forward to going to Positano someday.