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Advice for Naples/Amalfi itinerary

Posted by (Edmonton, Canada) on

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:

  1. 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)

  2. 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?

  3. 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?

  4. 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.

Posted by
1829 posts

As you are interested in archeaology you may find these two sites worth your while ie Oplontis in Torre Annunziata (on the Circumvesuviana Naples to Sorrento line) and Villa Jovis on Capri.

http://www.pompeiisites.org/Sezione.jsp?titolo=oplontis&idSezione=1168

http://www.capri.net/en/t/villa-jovis-mount-tiberio

A visit to Villa Jovis would mean about about three quarters to an hour walk each way from the Piazza in Capri town.

As to staying in Naples, apart from visiting the Museum and Paestum, Sorrento is convenient for visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum/Vesuvius (the two are usually paired together as the bus to Vesuvius goes from Ercolano station). The same goes for visiting Oplontis and Capri.

If you do stay in Naples consider visiting the Pozzuoli area.

http://www.icampiflegrei.it/visita_pozzuoli_ing.htm

Posted by
440 posts

Jared, I recently had 4 nights (4 1/2 days) based in Naples. My day trips were to Capri, Pompeii/Harculaneum,(5 hours and 2 hours) and to Sorrento. I was very disappointed in the latter, so after a walk around, lunch, I returned to Naples to continue my explorations there. I spent most of a day visiting Castel Nuovo and surrounding area, including the galleria, the Archeo Museum and somewhere quite off the map. I have a tendency to walk to a neighbouring continent!! There were still many places I did not have time to investigate, unfortunately. I stayed near the station. Seedy, but quite safe. Infact, I was quite crushed that no-one looked at me twice! The trenitalia site should help you with prices. Happy planning.

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