This is an excellent cruise port for visiting Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, or the Capri Coast.
On our first visit we opted for a combo excursion to visit Pompeii in the morning followed by an afternoon in Sorrento. If you only have time to visit only one place, go to Pompeii, it’s a must-see place in Italy.
Alternatively, you could go to Herculaneum, it’s smaller than Pompeii but very impressive too. It’s closer to Naples as well so you will likely have time to roam around Naples for a while.
Naples is a bustling city with excellent museums and interesting sites such as the Royal Palace of Naples, a 17th century palace with period furnishing and décor. Good views of the Bay of Naples can be had from the Castle Nuevo, an imposing medieval fortress next to the cruise port.
Pompeii
We recommend visiting Pompeii in the morning because it gets very hot in the mid-afternoon sun, especially in the summer. Also, there isn’t much shade at the archeological site so bring a hat and sunscreen.
In AD79 the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the entire city of Pompeii under 20 ft of ash and pumice. Excavations revealed many well-preserved artifacts including frescos and mosaics and the state of preservation of the ruins is amazing. It’s possible to roam around the ancient city’s streets and houses.
So many souls were lost on that tragic day, and the casts excavated from the hardened lava illustrate the fear and resignation of those who couldn’t escape.
We appreciated having a guide to on this tour to better understand what we were looking at. However, visitors can explore on their own.
Herculaneum
Also destroyed by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 Herculaneum is well worth a visit.
The torrent of volcanic mud flooding down from the volcano served for centuries as the best possible defense against atmospheric agents and also protected the site from illegal excavators.
Herculaneum is a well-preserved site with houses, shops, and baths, and numerous artifacts including wooden elements, mosaics, frescoes, giving us a window of their lives long ago.
Sorrento
Following our visit of Pompeii, we went to Sorrento which is a charming city perched atop a cliff. This is where we saw the biggest lemons we had ever seen (almost like grapefruits!). They are endemic to the area and used to make Limoncello, an Italian lemon-flavored liquor.
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European Ports of Calls – Italy