August 24th 79 AD changed the lives of the Pompeians forever. Despite what we now recognize as early-warning signs for an impending eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the 20,000 people who lived in Pompeii had long ago stopped thinking of the mountain as a volcano and so continued about their daily business.
To get to Pompeii from Rome I suggest getting those day trips from Viator.com which covers Naples (although the bulk of the trip will be focusing in Pompeii)
If you decide to extend your trip for a few more days then you can make Naples one of your pit stop and continue to explore the Amalfi Coast from here (Cinque Terre is more beautiful in my opinion) or take a ship to their southern islands. For me, coming from the North of Italy ie Venizia and ending in the South ie Naples some sort of complete my 2 weeks in journey in Italy.
Naples is very notorious for their triads however since I did follow a tour on this day trip from Rome, I did not feel unsafe while I was in this part of Italy. However, I must say, this city can be rather dirty.
