Pompei is an awesome site to visit if you want to see a relatively well-preserved Roman city from the 1st century AD. That said, a visit can also be sobering, as you may also run into casts of the victims of the eruption of neighboring Vesuvius in 79 A.D. I visited Pompei as part of a tour from Naples in the spring of 2013, and had a few hours to wander the ruins. There were finely paved streets still intact, and an amphitheater for culture. On one street you can find ovens from a kitchen on display, while on another you can find surviving artwork on the walls of a brothel. Private residences and temples and bathhouses lie partially in ruins, but enough remains to get a good feeling of what life must have been like in this city. I particularly enjoyed the chance near the end of the tour to wander away from the crowds, which seemed to be everywhere at the site. Pompei is everything you might have expected to see after reading about it in textbooks. But then there are the casts on display in some of the buildings, and the spectre of Vesuvius--still active--looming on the horizon as a reminder that life is short, and we are never guaranteed tomorrow.

Logistics: Pompei is a large site, but walkable; there are train and bus options to get to Pompei from Naples, but tours or private transporation can also be arranged.