Ruins of Pompeii small group tour with a local guide

On this small group tour, your expert guide will bring to life the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Roman civilisation. This impressive UNESCO World Heritage Site showcases a vivid snapshot of daily Roman life that was destroyed and buried under volcanic ash from the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Maria, one of our local guides, says ‘You’ll see elegant villas decorated with brilliant frescoes and precious mosaics, and get a feel for life as it was lived in ancient Pompeii’.As you enter the site, you’ll see the sheer scale of what’s been preserved for more than 2,000 years. Walk among the ruins, tracing their cobbled paths until you reach the hub of daily life – the Forum. This enormous piazza is laden with treasures. Look up at the centaur statue, ancient columns and more – all with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background. Here, you’ll see the basilica, the marketplace – if you look hard enough, you might even spot fish bones – and temples dedicated to Apollo, Jupiter and Venus.Walking through Pompeii is like leafing through the pages of a living history book. You can almost picture the Romans socialising in the bathing areas. Step into private homes and visit the amphitheatre, one of the oldest surviving in the world – even older than the Colosseum. Along the way, your guide will animate everything with tales of Pompeii life. Maria says, ‘The stories here will transport you to a distant world, one that would’ve been lost forever if it hadn’t been for the eruption.’