Herculaneum walking tour - Loved hearing about the history. Italo was very knowledgeable and well spoken. He answered all our questions with ease.

A tour brings this wonderful place alive. - My daughter and I booked a 2 hour private tour. Every minute was packed with engaging and interesting information from our excellent guide- on reflection two hours was not enough. At some point in the future we’ll return and request 3 hours- possible with a15 minute break to give our guide and ourselves a rest half way. We had already had a similar private tour of Pompei which was so useful as our guide was able to draw comparisons and contrasts between these two very different communities. The infrastructure of Herculaneum is even more sophisticated than Pompei ( which was jaw dropping enough) and the architecture better preserved. Again- exquisite frescoes, mosaics and beautiful garden rooms. I understand that, during our 2 hours we were taken to an example of all the different types of important buildings- but there remained a great deal to see and understand. The small museum in the grounds holds superlative examples of sculptures, frescoes and every day artefacts. It’s well worth visiting and won’t take long. Also, there were no toilet queues inside on the day we went. Take food or snacks with you if you are likely to be hungry. There is an area with outside tables and chairs in the shade, but the food and drink vending machines available were temperamental. Wouldn’t accept contactless payment and we had only a few euros in change. The company ( Herculaneum Tours) were incredibly helpful and flexible when we had an issue with trains.

Excellent guide tailored to our experience - Italo was our guide. He was very knowledgeable and took us round at a good pace. For two of us we’d been to Herculaneum before, but we learned and saw new things As we had a good knowledge of Roman history and had also all visited Pompeii, Italo tailored the tour to what we knew and expanded on it rather than just running through a pre set dialogue. Highly recommend.

Illuminating - A very educational visit about the life of the city of Herculaneum and its tragic end. Especially with the human support of Gabriel Casavega

Loved our tour of Herculaneum with Francesca. - Francesca was an amazing tour guide. She showed her knowledge of the site and was open to answering questions etc. Although it is smaller than Pompeii it is just as fascinating. The museum was amazing and Francesca really seemed to enjoy showing it to us. She had a great sense of humour and was very helpful. I would say to book a full day tour and if you get Francesca you are in for a treat.

We’ll Worth It! - What a memorable afternoon! Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable, gracious, and very thoughtful about the difference between the stories told and what the evidence shows. Fantastic!

Perfectly pitched “private” tour - This was our first experience of arranging a private tour guide. It was expensive but it meant that we had a fantastically detailed tour and, as a student of History of Art and Archaeology, Anna shared some interesting observations, particularly on the pigment and mosaic methods used in some of the findings from the site. Anna and the local guides are focussed on arranging their groups so that they have access to specific points of interest at differing times. But not sure how that plays out in high season. The bigger groups were spoken to and marched around - being with Anna was a much less frenetic experience, allowed to ask lord of questions - and her sense of humour and enthusiasm for the place was highly welcomed. A huge thank you to Anna for taking her away from the family on Easter Sunday. It was greatly appreciated. Would highly recommend.

Photographers challenge the ruins - Our tour was from a cruise ship and was fabulous. Early in the day and without crowds as you would find at Pompeii. It was a resort village, populated with only a few slaves and caretakers when hit by a pyroclastic flow that covered the town to a depth of six meters, preserving it. Wonderful mosaics, frescoes and statues. Photographers will enjoy the subjects of buildings, streets, art, and houses. Do not suggest a tripod, my DSLR with a zoom lens was all I needed. Some rooms are dark, so anticipate using a high ISO. Take shots from the rim above before walking through the tunnel to be in the village. Then you will use the wide-angle a lot.

Horrible experience--could not locate Guide and horrible directions provided by Trip Advisor/Viator. Do not recommend. - I would not recommend this activity nor using Trip Advisor and Viator for any tours --terrible exp.

Waste of time - Booked and paid for this included to select hotel pick up, then just a few days before travelling was told that they don’t provide pick at my hotel after all. Wasted my time.