Pompeii & Villa of Mysteries Tour

Since it was our first time visiting Pompeii, we knew we wanted a guided tour and chose this one because it was advertised as a small-group experience and allowed us to stay within Pompeii after the tour rather than having to rush back to Naples. Our guide, Yolanda, took us through the major highlights of the site, which was incredibly helpful given how massive Pompeii is. She was knowledgeable, kept the group engaged, and answered questions throughout. We also opted to add the Villa of the Mysteries at the end, which we were glad we did. She also built in a water fountain stop, which was necessary in the heat. The only confusing part was finding the Askos team at the entrance. Pompeii opens at 9:00 a.m. and our tour started at 9:15, so there was already a large crowd of visitors and tour groups gathered in the same small area. Askos didn’t have a visible sign, uniform, or shirts that made them easy to spot, so I had to look around until I found them checking guests in from one corner. They seemed to have a lot of bookings that morning and called guests by name before assigning everyone to a guide. Once we were paired with Yolanda, everything went smoothly. One tip: stay fairly close to your guide. Pompeii gets crowded with tour groups, and if you can no longer hear your guide through the Whispr headset, you’ve probably fallen out of range.

Perfect visit with an excellent guide

The tour started 15 - 20 mins late as we were waiting for some couple to check in their bags . Initially there was confusion on where the English tour will start.. they sent us across the road, then on the other side , then some other place .. we had to check in our names 3-4 times and they would ask us to wait in various places Once the tour started it was good .. the tour operator Mena was nice and kept us all together. It would’ve been great to start the tour with what all we are going to cover and level set expectations , I and few others were hoping to see ruins of the bakery where the dough/ bread was to be made , some utensils etc kept in big Roooms - not sure if they are in museum or where - going by YouTube videos . Also was hoping to see brothel and more of the villa’s than just 1 . Instead we kept seeing more of the stores. How they had double shutters / doors , pipes , aqua ducts etc . In the end it felt more of the same left over stores we saw . There’s no variety and lost interest soon. Villa misteri was good but I’m Sure they could’ve shown us more in 3 hrs to make it worthwhile . Just walking long distances to see stores and acqua ducts and what is left to be excavated seem to be loss of time and waste of money. I would recommend only 2 hr tour if that’s so is going to be covered and do visit Pompeii only if you have budgeted time for it . It’s almost a whole day affair from Rome

An excellent tour. Our guide Michele brought it all to life perfectly, and the 3 hours flew by. He was incredibly knowledgeable and informative. Definitely recommend.

The tour was fabulous! Learned so much from our guide Ilaria imparting her knowledge continuously over the 3 hours! The ear pieces mean that you can always hear and allow you to move around a bit more freely for photos etc. Absolutely nothing bad to say. HOWEVER, do not use the start point of the tour as given by the link in Tripadvisor! It is not correct. It sends you 10 mins walk from the station to the Villa del Misteri exit gate! Caused stress and sweating, but luckily we did not miss the tour. Can't find a way of complaining to Tripadvisor! Just make sure you read the rest of the communications fully (oops 🤭) Sort it out Tripadvisor, so there can be no confusion!