The world famous ruined city of Pompei is perhaps the easiest attraction to reach under your own steam.

The Circumvesuviana railway runs right between the ruined ancient roman city, and the modern village of Pompei that has grown up next door.

Pompei Station sits just a few yards outside the main entrance to the ancient site, which the Italians call Scavi di Pompei with 'scavi' translating as 'excavations'

A ticket from Sorrento will [as at August 2016] cost €3.60 per person, each way. Prepare to be a standing Sardine on the return trip however, because the trains are often already busy by the time they arrive at the station.

As you exit the station, you will notice a few ticket booths within or adjacent to the station building displaying catch signs advertsing 'skip the line' or audio tours. These are not official ticket offices but are to be thought of as travel agents that will sell you tours at an inflated price. If you simply want entry to the site and to do your own thing, turn right out of the station, pick up some bottles of water from the shops on the right, and head to the main entrance just a few yards past the shops on the left hand side.

Entry to the site costs €13.00, with children under 18 going free. They are quite strict on the free tickets though, and the closer to 18 the child is, the more likely they will require proof of age in the form of a passport (or photocopy of same). If you have no proof and your teenager isn't obviously under 18, expect to pay full price.

Queues at the ticket office can get quite large, but as you face the ticket booths, the leftmost line wich is ordinarily quite short will sell you a higher price ticket of €15.00 that also gives you entry into the museum. Quite frankly it is worth the extra €2 to avoid the extremely long 'standard' queues.

The site is 165 acres is size, so be sure to pick up a free map from the building immediately to the right of the ticket booths, along with a free guide to the main points of interest. It will be difficult to initially establish your location on the map because there are several entrances, but once you have found yourself it is relatively straight forward. The station entrance comes in between the Purple and Orange and Red sections, desginated sections VII and VIII.

Although there is a restaurant within the site, this was all closed up at the time of our visit (high season) therfore it is best to take food and drink with you to fuel your day. If you are expecting to see the bodies frozen in time that is a vision so often conjured up by the mention of Pompei, these are only found in one particular spot which is known as 'Garden of the Fugitives' and it is listed in the guidebook (section IX).