First Time To Italy

There is no direct train, but if you take the Leonardo Express train into Rome, you will arrive at the main train station. There you can go to one of the ticket windows and get a direct train to Naples. From Naples there is a train to Sorrento. This way would be much cheaper, but would involve a lot of negotiation. Have you been to Rome? Might be worth spending one night there to adjust to the time change and be a bit more refreshed. There are decent hotels near the Rome train station. Also, I know of someone in Naples who is a tour guide and who may be available to drive you from Naples to Sorrento. Send me a private message if you want more information on this option.

Thank you for you advice. We are flying into Rome because we didn't want to take 2 flights to Naples. Our tour starts in Sorrento. We were just wondering if there was a train at the airport to take us directly into Sorrento.

No direct trains to Sorrento. You might check romecabs.com, they get very good reviews.

I like to spend my first night in my arrival city, but that's not practical for everyone.

Especially since this is your first trip, you might want to invest in Rick Steves' excellent Italy guidebook. He covers all of the transportation questions you can think of, and many questions you would not even think to ask. It was invaluable to us on our first trip, and useful even on subsequent ones!

If you can't spend the first night in Rome (airport or elsewhere) then fine, but it is a long flight to Rome I assume.

It is about 160 miles to Sorrento from Rome. It takes about 3 hours driving on a good day with no complications. You drive right by Pompeii and Herculaneum if those are of interest to you.

Train to Naples then train to Sorrento is another way.

Unfortunately there is no direct train to Sorrento from anywhere except Naples. If going via train you would need to take a train to Termini (main Rome train station), a train to Naples, and then a commuter train to Sorrento. There is a direct bus from Rome to Sorrento twice a day that is more convenient since it eliminates the train change in Naples.

A private driver could run into 300 to 400 Euro. Despite your concern about plane changes it would make more sense to fly into Naples. From there you can take a bus or a car at more reasonable rate to Sorrento.

....There (Termini) you can go to one of the ticket windows and get a direct train to Naples..... If you go via train you can buy the tickets to Termini and Naples at the ticket window in the airport. No need to go to a ticket window at Termini.

Depending on what time your flight gets in, there is a comfortable bus with limited runs from Rome Tiburtina station (take a train from the airport) to Sorrento and takes about 4 hours.

http://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/rome-to-sorrento-bus-schedule

Given the options available, using the two flights to Naples will be a much easier trip. I normally have to take three flights on trips to Europe and it's not really a big deal.

If you arrive in Rome it will likely take 4-6 hours to get to Sorrento, and after a long international flight that won't be a pleasant experience. These are some of the options.....

• Leonardo Express from FCO to Roma Termini (~32 minutes)
• Freccia or Italo high speed from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale (~1H:10M)
• Circumvesuviana or possibly the Campania Express (not sure when it starts running this year?) from Naples to Sorrento. Note that the Circumvesuviana departs from the Garibaldi station, which is downstairs from Centrale; if you use the Campania Express, you may have to use a different station (Porta Nolana?).
• Another option from Naples to Sorrento would be to use a private car service on that segment. The cost will be much lower than if taking a car from FCO.

However if you arrive in Naples by air, you can take the direct Curreri Viaggi coach from NAP to Sorrento (about €10 PP last time I checked, about a one hour trip). A private car service from Rome will be rather expensive, but if you have a generous travel budget, that's also an option.

One other point to mention is that the Circumvesuviana is a commuter train, and has a bit of a reputation as a haven for pickpockets on scammers. As first time visitors to Italy and after a long international flight in a jet lagged state, that's not something I'd recommend.

Finally, there are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using trains and other public transport in Italy. If you're not aware of those and need more information, post another note here.

Thank you all for your suggestions. We've decided to hire a private car service to drive us down to Sorrento. We're getting there a few days before our tour begins....so we may as well just take it easy.