Mount Vesuvius (Naples)

When we had an enjoyable holiday in Sorrento one of the must see things on our list was Vesuvious the famous volcano responsible for the demise of Pompeii and the thing that dominates the skyline above Naples We combined our visit to Vesuvius with an afternoon visit to Pompeii and it makes an enjoyable day out. We travelled by coach from Sorrento which takes about an hour and it is certainly a winding road up to the summit that I would not want to drive myself. You cannot drive to the summit but do have to complete a fairly steep winding twenty five minute walk of about 1.5km however it is pretty stable under foot and tarmac so it is very manigable ...  Read the complete review

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano that is situated to the east of Naples in Italy. The volcano that looks down onto the ancient city of Pompeii (Pompeii along with Herculaneum were the two roman cities that suffered up to 25,000 fatalities collectively due to the ash of the volcano suffocating them making this the most famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD) is the only volcano on European mainland to have erupted in the last 100 years making this arguably the most dangerous volcano in the world. My one and only experience of Vesuvius was when I was twelve and our family decided to visit the site of Pompeii and Vesuvius. I remember very well how we walked on paths ...  Read the complete review

In process of updating this review. In process of updating this review. I was really looking forward to the climb to the top (It's quite a walk and ideally you need a backpack with a good supply of plastic bottles of water, sunhat, decent walking shoes and a coat or jumper). The Ercolano winds through pretty woodland and lava fields to a car park. It's about a 30 minute walk to the top but well worth it. When we went there was an Italian gentleman at the start of the climb giving out walking sticks(not sure if you had to pay for them as we did not use them). The path to the top is easy to follow and has a wooden railing to side of ...  Read the complete review

When you arrive in Naples you cannot help but see Vesuvius as it dominates the skyline. Well to be exact unless you have checked it out before arriving what you actually see is a mountain dominating the city as unless you see it from above it is not possible to tell that it is a volcano as there is a severe absence of smoke billowing from it’s centre and therefore it just looks like any other lump of rock. I had my suspicions as our coach began the one hour journey to Sorrento but I was still grateful when the tour rep directed our gaze to Vesuvius as I did not want to appear stupid with a premature announcement to the kids as in their eyes I’m still an all ...  Read the complete review