Amalfi Coast and Pompeii: Tour from Naples + lunch

Our trip was amazing. The island has great natural beauty. Our leader, , Gabriel Casavega, did an exceptional job of entertaining our group, and making sure that things went smoothly. October, 19, 2025

This trip was so disappointing, falling way short of our expectations. In short, the advertised tour description didn’t match up with our actual experience and some of the promised features never materialised. We feel that the tour was mis-advertised and mis-sold. This was not a walking tour as the description claimed. It was simply 3 bus rides accompanied by a chaperone with no information given about the island or its history, something we really wanted to hear about. The tour operator refers to their representative as a guide but if they say nothing about the islands history or culture then they are simply a chaperone. Clemente was friendly enough, but we were in a group of approximately 25 people and it was not a small group tour. Note that we chose the version of the tour that started and ended on Capri as our accommodation was in Sorrento rather than Naples. For the tour, our party of two was combined with a large group that had travelled from Naples by ferry. The tour description says, “visit the towns of Capri and Anacapri with time-saving transport”. Time saving transport? That’s a very misleading statement. What the description failed to say is that there was no dedicated transport for the day. Instead, whenever transport was required, Clemente had to call up a bus on the telephone. He was therefore competing against rival tours for this limited resource on a busy, crowded island. This led to frustrating delays waiting for a bus to become available/arrive. This was hardly time saving as the tour description claimed. If the tour company knows that Capri can be very busy at times then why do they claim “time-saving transport” when there is no way they can guarantee that claim? The tour description says, “learn about the island’s history and culture with guide commentary”. This is another misleading statement and blatantly incorrect. No description was given of the island’s history and culture and there was no guide commentary whatsoever. Not even one mention of the Romans, nothing at all. During our holiday we went on other guided tours (which were really good) and each time we were given a receiver unit and an earpiece so that we could clearly hear the guide. There was no such arrangement on this tour and I think this says an awful lot. What follows is a quick summary of the day to explain why we were so unhappy with the tour. We met Clemente at the port on Capri and were taken by bus to Anacapri. From the drop off point we were marched through the town in a long line to the meeting point where we briefly paused (we would use this meeting point later). We then continued the march to a shop selling Lemoncello where there was a brief tasting (these tastings are two a penny in the area and you can ask for them in any Lemoncello shop). Clemente pointed out shops and restaurants he recommended (I don’t know whether the tour operator benefited from a special arrangement with these premises ie the operator was rewarded for the recommendation). Clemente also mentioned some other experiences in passing such as the chair lift (no further information given) and a house whose name I forget. Frustratingly no further information was given about the house so we had no idea what it is famous for or why it would be good to visit it. There was no description of where we were, no introduction to Anacapri and nothing about its history. We were given a meeting time and our chaperone promptly left. The queue for the chair lift was about 45-minutes but we managed to get up and down with about 20 minutes to spare. It was a good experience, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with the tour (we could have arranged it all ourselves and we wouldn’t have been in such a rush to get back). At the allotted time we returned to the meeting point and we all walked back to the crowded bus station where there was a frustrating wait for new transport. We were then taken to Capri town where we were again marched in a very long line to the Gardens of Augustus. The town was extremely busy and if you were very elderly then you may have had trouble keeping up. There was an issue with the garden tickets so Clemente held back whilst the group entered. We waited for Clemente for quite a while but he never materialised. Unsure of what to do, some members of the party gradually drifted off to see the garden whilst others stayed put. Eventually we received WhatsApp messages confirming the meeting place and time. We were very frustrated by this and we certainly heard a few grumbles from other members of the group. Again, there was no description of where we were, no introduction to Capri town or the Gardens and nothing about their history or significance. At the allotted time we got a bus back to the port and the tour ended. Capri is a lovely island, but we learned absolutely nothing about it. At the end of the tour we certainly felt misled and short changed. During our holiday we only had one chance to visit Capri and the whole day felt like a wasted opportunity. To me a guided walk is exactly that. You walk at a leisurely pace, you stop at a landmark, you listen to the guide giving some interesting facts/history and you then walk to the next landmark or point of interest where the process repeats. This “tour” had none of that. The walking element simply involved getting from A to B, following the chaperone’s flag somewhere up ahead as it winded its way through the crowds. The day before we had gone on an excellent guided walk in Sorrento and it was everything you’d expect a guided walk to be. We are certainly not complaining about the crowds. We knew full well that Capri is very popular and would be crowded on the day we visited. Two days earlier we had visited Pompei which was way more crowded and our tour guide that day had done a fantastic job keeping everyone together in addition to giving us a brilliant tour. Sadly, our Capri tour fell way short of that in terms of organisation. Capri was meant to be one of the highlights of our holiday but all-in-all it was a very disappointing day. It’s not just the cost of the tour. By the time you add on the cost of the ferry tickets from Sorrento and the high-priced coffees it wasn’t just a substandard tour, it was a very expensive mistake. With hindsight we should have chosen a better tour from a different operator or simply used a taxi or the public buses to get around. The taxi driver would probably have given us more information than we received on the tour (not very difficult!!). However, we didn’t choose a different tour as we were taken in by the inaccurate tour description. At the point of booking we were confident we had picked the right tour based on the description but in practice that turned out not to be the case. If you want a glorified, over-priced shuttle service which involves waiting around then this “tour” may be for you but take the advertising blurb with a pinch of salt and don’t expect to learn anything whatsoever about the island. We plan to follow this review up with a complaint as we expect tour descriptions to be clear and accurate. Note to the tour operator so that you can identify us. Our tour was dated 6th October and we were the party of two that were told to meet the guide at the port. In addition, we have contacted you via email so that you can easily link us to the review.

The tour in itself is great. Tour Leader (as he likes to be called) made it exceptional. Gabriel Casavega is a gem. Your company should pay him more. Or at least give him a great wedding gift.

Our tour guide Mariachiara, and our bus driver Patricia, were AWESOME- both knowledgeable and VERY HELPFUL. Mariachiara was especially helpful- she went above and beyond to help us arrange our airport transportation- which relived a lot of stress. Thank you Mariachiara!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!