I'm planning for the second half of my trip to Italy, and came up with a possible itinerary I wanted advice on... I'm big on archaeology, so I devoted more time to that.
Day 1 - arrive in Naples, find hotel, Archeological Museum
Day 2 - Buy Compania ArteCard
Train to Herculaneum, board 9:00 bus to Mt. Vesuvius
When return, visit Herculaneum
Day 3 - Train to Paestum
- Train Naples to Salerno, 60-90 min trip
- Either Bus or Train from Salerno to Paestum
Day 4 - Pompeii, not sure if anything else to see in Naples
Day 5 - Morning train to Sorrento (hotel here for 3 nights), spend the day there
Day 6 - Bus to Positano, maybe take a ferry along coast
Day 7 - Bus to Amalfi, do a short hike
Day 8 - Morning train from Sorrento to Rome, and spend 6 days in Rome before I leave, get the 7-day pass for museums
A few questions:
I did not intend to stay so many days in Naples but it seemed closer to the archaeological sites compared to Sorrento. Would I have enough to do in Naples in the 4 days I spend there? (I'm assuming most of my daytrips will take all day)
I matched Mt. Vesuvius with Herculaneum rather than Pompeii since Pompeii is bigger and would require more time. Is this an accurate assumption? Is the Mt. Vesuvius bus not considered public transportation and I will have to pay separately?
For the 3 days with the Compania ArteCard card, do I have free use of any public transportation (bus) plus anywhere along the Circumvesuviana train line? Do I still need to go to the ticket machines the morning I go to Pompeii, or Herculaneum? Do I just show my ticket to the bus driver or in the Metro?
To get to Paestum, do I just look up the connector trains in Naples before I leave? How do I look up the approximate train fare from Naples to Paestum so I can see if the Compania ArteCard card is worth its 27 euros?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.