In depth Pompeii area, 5 days, where to stay?

We haven't stayed in Naples yet, that'll come next year, but we certainly enjoyed a week or so in Sorrento a few years ago. Quieter and much less frenetic than Naples, and easy to get to the places you mention.

You might receive help if you post in the Italy section. This part of the forum is for reviews of the different countries . Hope this helps you get responses.

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We enjoyed staying in Naples a lot and also in Sorrento which we used as a base for exploring the area. I do not understand why people discourage staying in Naples.
I think there is a hotel in Pompeii too.

The Circumvesuviana train makes your hotel location unimportant. Be careful that “Pompeii” means both MODERN Pompeii city (forgettable) and Pompeii Scavi, the ancient site. All Trenitalia stations with that name are in the modern city. Do you want the 3-day ticket for all FIVE ancient sites? Sorrento books up six months in advance. Do you hope to visit more remote Paestum?

Hope it's okay to tag a bit into your question. I see Tim asked this, "Do you hope to visit more remote Paestum?" If visiting Paestum, is it much more handy to stay in Salerno, or is Sorrento and other options mentioned still a good choice?

Years ago we took a bus to Paestum, I think from Positano. Should be an option from Sorrento as well.

On our first trip to Italy, a self planned trip of 21 days, we spent 2 nights in the small town of Pompeii. We wanted the middle day to spend at the ruins. We were there for 8 hours and it was possible because it was late October, so not hot. We loved it. In the evening we sat at a cafe on the town square and watched locals and talked to some. It was the most relaxing part of our trip!
I realize that many people here think that the "modern city" of Pompeii is not great. For us, it helped us have the amount of time that we wanted at the ruins. We enjoyed it.

We stayed at Hotel Amleto which is 2 blocks from the town square and quiet. We used the train, but at the time they did have private parking. The hotel was very nice, friendly front desk and gave us a great recommendation the second night for dinner and made a reservation for us.

If you are going to Pompeii, find the book "Pompeii" by Robert Harris. It is historical fiction, so some character are real. We read it right before we went and made a list of locations in Pompeii that we wanted to see, thus the 8 hours there. It was interesting and educational about how the people in all of the classes lived.

I hope you have a Great Trip!
Mimi

We also stayed in Sorrento. Easy to navigate back and forth by local train. Nightlife is more fun there. Rick has great recommendations in his book.
Take your own shade to Pompeii, there is none. It's fascinating, but very hot. Bring your own water, vendors gouge tourists.
Try to hire a guide, it will enhance the experience immeasurably.
Enjoy! Mary

You are wise to visit Pompeii in March without the excessive heat. We were there last October, nice then too.

I just want to THANK EVERYONE for their replies. Prompted by some of them & for additional reasons, we have decided to push out the departure date of our RS trip to Greece and then visit Naples, the Roman ruins, and perhaps venture further out on the Amalfi coast in April when more hotels there will be open. (We have discovered that many of the hotels in Sorrento and beyond on the coast close from November through March. This may also give us the benefit of riding the train that some have suggested is safer.) We likely will still stay 2 nights in Naples and the remainder (possibly another 7 days) on the coast. If anyone reads this & has ventured to Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi which is near Positano, I would be interested to hear of your experience there. Thanks again!

We made a daytrip to Sant Agata from our Sorrento hotel. There’s a nice view but it is like staying in Secaucus to visit New York City. There are a few group-tour hotels near the top of the long road from Sorrento for the tourists who ask in Sorrento TA, “How much is a Pint?”

If you want to go somewhere every day, stay in Sorrento.

BTW, check into Caserta Palace to see if it interests you.

We had a memorable stay many years ago at Hotel La Certosa in Marina del Cantone, near St Agata.

The hotel is a converted monastery with a small private beach. We were there a few weeks after 9/11, and had the place nearly to ourselves, which we loved. We did not have a car, so we had taken a train from Rome to Naples, then the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento, then a bus to St Agata, and another bus to Marina del Cantone.

We stepped off that final bus and couldn't believe our eyes. The village had maybe 5 hotels, a couple of restaurants, and a tobacco shop, situated around a gorgeous little bay. That was it. We had French doors leading to our balcony, and we'd leave the doors open at night and sleep with the sound of the waves. In the morning, we'd go down to breakfast where inevitably Alfonso would tell us about an excursion that day ... to Capri, or Amalfi. We would walk a few steps across the sand to a small pier and hop on a boat, which for a very reasonable price would take us to our destination, and then come back and retrieve us later in the day. One day we hired a car to drive us down the Amalfi coast. So easy. We'd come back and maybe take a little hike, or just relax on the beach (there were just a couple of sunbeds at that time -- I see from photos today that they are all lined up in the summer!). Then we'd wander down the sand to a restaurant for dinner. This kind of quiet spot may not suit everyone, but after the noise and crowds of Rome it was just what we needed -- one of our favorite places ever.

I'm not sure what time of year the little boats start taking trips to Capri or Amalfi. That was really the key to making our stay here so magical. I'd recommend asking Alfonso about that before booking.

not a hotel/stay recommendation, but since you are interested in a deep dive of the ruin sites.
Check out VIlla Oplontis.
http://pompeiisites.org/en/oplontis/

We ended up there instead of Herculaneum after it rained on us at Pompeii. Our tour guide suggested it. The artwork is fantastic. It was also empty - we had the place to ourselves and this was mid-September. It helped having a tour guide who could show us the artwork and the historical significance. But it was one of the best excursions we had on our trip, and totally unplanned!

we stayed at the Hotel Piazza Bellini in Naples and it was fantastic. Very close to the archeological museum. Our only complaint was that some of the rooms had additional stairs, but they brought our bags to our room which was helpful. Breakfast on their patio was wonderful!
http://www.hotelpiazzabellini.com/en

bethb, thanks for the suggestion of VIlla Oplontis. We're spending a few days in Naples after a RS tour next year, and that would make a great day trip. We're also staying at the Bellini post-tour, so I'm glad to hear you loved it.

Thank YOU to all who have shared their ideas & suggestions. We are proceeding with our RS trip to Greece (30/03/20 ~ 12/04/20). And we have booked flights and hotels to visit Naples, Pompeii & hopefully Herculaneum and possibly Stabiae, in March, prior to our Greek adventure. Based on comments above & additional research, and realizing that there are pros & cons to everything, we have booked 4 nights in Naples at the Piazza Bellini. For ease of access to Pompeii, we agonized over whether it might not be better to stay in the modern day town of Pompeii as some of you have, but I decided that we wanted to see the Archaeological Museum in Naples as well and -- when possible -- we rather not change hotel rooms &, thus, we made the reservation that we did. We are on a "waiting list" for a RS Mondo Shared Tour of Pompeii which I am fairly sure we will tour independently for some hours after the tour concludes. Due to the time of year, we shall be saving for future trips exploration further along the Amalfi coast. I think that Naples, Herculaneum, possibly Stabiae, etc. will keep us very busy! BTW: Mondo also offers a 3 hour walking tour of Naples that I may also book to help orient us to the city. I would like to do that the afternoon of the day that we arrive in Naples but I am not sure that there will be sufficient time to arrive at the starting point of the tour (the steps of the Museum) from the airport. If anyone reading this has any other suggestions please pass them along. Thanks!