Home base to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum

Hi Heather -
The good news? I think you'll receive a variety of responses, and none of them will likely be wrong unless they don't trip your particular trigger! :O)

I'll vote for Sorrento as it's a transport hub for the Sorrentine/Amalfi region, and provides day-trip opportunities by bus, boat and/or (battered but inexpensive) Circumvesuviana commuter train. It's only 30 min. by rail to Pompeii, and roughly an hour to Naples; Herculaneum is between them on the same line. I might suggest combining your trip to Herculaneum with a hop into Naples to visit the excellent archeological museum? A lot of treasures from both excavations are housed there.

By jet boat you'd be just 20 minutes from the island of Capri (some fun hiking there), or 50 minutes from Naples. While more expensive, some folks prefer this option to the train, at least when getting to Sorrento with their luggage. It does mean taking a bus or other sort of transfer to the port from Napoli Centrale train station (assuming you'll be traveling by rail from your location in the Veneto?) Better yet, with 9 of you, I'd strongly consider a private transfer service as it would likely be an economical choice, with the least amount of hassle, for your 3 generations: travel in comfort direct from the Naples train station to your hotel.

Ferry, jet boat and bus service to locations along the Amalfi are frequent but again, I might suggest a private driver for a day exploring the coast as you are moving enough people around to easily justify the cost. The coastal buses can be very busy during high season so getting all 9 of you on at one time, every time, might be a challenge.

Sorrento is also going to have the larger amount of hotels, restaurants and other tourist services outside of Naples, assuming enough of them survive this horrible year for the hospitality industry. Note that late July/early August is going to be hot in this region; you'll want an accommodation with air conditioning, and a pool would be a welcome bonus! This is also a VERY popular location and will be busy. Salerno has seen some love on this forum so that might be an option too: it's just further by transport to certain places like Capri, if the island is of interest. No, I would not rent a car and self-drive this region in the summer; the roads are reported to be insanely jammed!

Wish I had a specific accommodation to recommend to you but I'm sure nice folks with knowledge in that area will pop in with suggestions. I just wouldn't stay far outside of town so as to make it easy for your group to break up and easily explore independently - say, take some spur-of-the-moment strolls around the shops and such - if desired.

One question: will do you have any young children along? You mentioned teens but I'm not sure if they are the youngest of your group?

Both Naples and Sorrento work well for accessing Pompeii as they are on the commuter train line that stops at Pompeii, the Circumvesuviana.

Kathy, thank you for that wonderful, informative response. The kids are all teens - ages 15 -18 at the time of the trip.

I concur with post up thread that Naples or Sorrento is convenient to Pompeii. We visited Pompeii after our stop in Naples, but also spent a couple nights in lovely Sorrento.

I'm planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast, either in the fall of 2021 or spring of 2022 - but for just me and my husband. I think we will end up spending a couple of nights in Pompei (the modern town) for the days we will be exploring Pompeii and Herculaneum. I haven't looked at houses, but there are some decent-looking hotels, and we plan on spending a lot of time in Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as a couple of less famous sites.

We are WW2 buffs, so we are also planning on spending a few nights in Salerno for Operation Avalanche, and as a base for Paestum. We may also use Salerno as a base to visiting Positano, etc., maybe by boat. Then, we want to spend a few nights for Ravello for Il Dolce Far Niente.

I know we will be selling Naples short, but the one thing that I want to see in Naples is the Archeology Museum.

Someone in your crew might find the lectures about Pompeii and Herculaneum in this Roman Architecture course interesting. They inspired me to completely change my vacation plans.

https://oyc.yale.edu/history-of-art/hsar-252

Sorrento is our favorite town/city in Italy.
Charming, beautiful, relaxing, fun shops, restaurants, and sooo easy to get to other places including Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Another question, Heather? Where are you intending to fly home from? If it's Rome, I don't recommend staying in Sorrento the night before a morning or midday flight. Even if it's a late afternoon or evening flight, relying on public transport when located some distance from a same-day point of departure can be risky business. The Circumvesuviana also doesn't operate 24/7.

It's great that your young people are all teens: they'll get a LOT out of the excavation sites and Naples museum!!! Here are their official websites; there is a lot of info for pre-reading on the Pompeii website, including a nearly 135-page photo-illustrated guide in English, Unfortunately, Herculaneum's (Ercolano) official site is only in Italian but I'm including a second one which should be helpful.

http://pompeiisites.org/en/

https://ercolano.beniculturali.it
https://www.visitpompeiivesuvius.com/en/herculaneum

Once you've tightened up your plans, we can provide you with some other helpful links for the regional ferries, Circumvesuviana train, Naples Archeological Museum, etc.

I guess the total number of guests is 9. That makes for a big group on public transportation. If you're not all used to public transportation, this could be uncomfortable, or worse, when someone gets left behind on the train platform during a daily excursion. Also, pre-Covid, public transport in the Pompeii/Herc region has tended to be incredibly crowded from May to September. Your party would have to enter the train by multiple doors at once, leaving less confident family members to worry about getting off at the right stop.

I'm not trying to scare you, because it's really not that hard. Neither of my Manhattan parents ever owned a car in their lives. I took the subway to high school every day. But if it's new to you, it's at least, intimidating. Both sites have microscopic amounts of parking, so I wouldn't even dream of renting a 10-passenger van for the duration. And parking at your sleeping site can't be taken for granted.

That number of guests also calls for a certain amount of "herding cats." You'll have a variety of interests, attention spans, and tolerance of the savage sun and heat in those two very exposed ancient sites. You may wish to develop a plan for buying multiple tickets and settling up payment later.

Here are some additional references for general aspects of the trip:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/herculaneum-and-pompeii-questions

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-and-vesuvius-69e8366c-1e75-4a14-a0bc-0677269492d1

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-salerno-capri-recommendations

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-for-5-days-where-to-set-base-from

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/one-week-on-the-amalfi-coast

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/coastal-italy-itinerary

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/how-do-i-get-from-pompeii-to-positano-is-there-a-direct-route

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-day-trip

While we have not stayed in Salerno - It does seem to be an ideal point as a base for the coast.
I also agree about not trying to drive while in the area - with a group your size it would require a large vehicle that would be ungainly for the uninitiated to navigate the roads. Not to mention the driver wouldn't get to observe much of the magnificent scenery.

Using the train to get to Naples would be easy.. but for the "day tours".....
I booked our group of 6 on a day tour from Salerno (we had a port day in Salerno). We used Mondo Guide (https://www.mondoguide.it/city-tours ). They did a great job. We took one of their Shared RS. Port Tours - Amalfi/Positano & Pompeii (had a guide for Pompeii). Looking at their website today it looks like they have many options - seems like more than in '19. You might find this is a great option - not cheap - but way more relaxing for all if not having to worry about traffic, parking and entry fees etc. Also, if you contact them with any questions/wishes they might develop specialized tours for your group.

Have fun with planning and, of course, on the trip !!

When I visited Pompeii, I was traveling solo. I stayed in Naples: I walked from my hostel to a subway station, took the subway in Naples to the commuter train that has a stop at ancient Pompeii, stood in line, and bought two tickets, one for the trip to the sight, one to return. Make sure you buy two tickets per person, for both trips. Avoid having to stand in line again to buy return tickets at Pompeii. You might want to have everybody agree to meet at the entrance when the sight closes or at a specified time and agree that each person may mainly pay attention to the remains and not whether each of you stays with the rest of your family. Consider mostly paying attention to which strangers near you on the trains might rob you rather than keeping track of your family on the trains; consider agreeing that you may all separate when you get on the train and you will meet again at a specified place and time later.

In Italian, the language used on Italian Railway signs, modern Pompeii is called Pompei whereas the ancient Pompeii is called... well... Pompei. No double I at the end, I am afraid. The Circumvesuviana stop closest to the site entrance is simply called "Pompei Scavi - Villa dei Misteri".
Here are a couple of pics to help you recognize the right stop:

https://www.oraricircumvesuviana.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/circumvesuviana-pompei-scavi-1080x664.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/5Q966qMCh0vjONlwjrfHZ8nGGMgOt_Zs3gpsJH8OxfJCq2pX0ljthexSfFgCcXPOi561XLrWSqbcRtLiDqEYr8rYXdByvvyP9Ik9OqDL5gbeWYkFi-70CkiIBYb5QVGjv51mXo7XkVE

The train in the first pic was built by the Greek settlers who founded Naples 2,500 years ago (not really your typical big city).

Thank you everyone! I’ve sent my brother, sister-in-law, husband, and mom all a link to this thread - so we’re all reading these informative replies. You all continue to give us great information and lots to think about.

One thing that has come up... We have not yet booked flights (will do this soon). The comment about not trying to fly out of Rome and travel from Sorrento in the same day got me thinking... While we do not want to spend any great amount of time in Rome on this trip, we have teenagers who are Roman architecture crazy. Would it make sense to cut Sorrento one day short, leave for Rome early in the morning, visit the Colosseum, and fly home the next day? Does this sound feasible?

Hi Heather -
We were in the Sorrento region in 2015 and stayed in Sant' Agnello just outside of Sorrento using it as our base for the month. We (2 of us) used public transportation to travel to all the sites you would like to see. Arrangements for our stay were made with Feeling Italy (https://www.feelingitaly.com/) who specialize renting in that area. Very happy with the service. Piano di Sorrento is another town which might be worth looking at as a base. It is a small town with good public transportation (on the commuter train line) and not as touristy as Sorrento. I have to agree with Kathy about hiring a private driver for all the reasons she stated. Driving in that area is a nightmare especially that time of year. Hope your trip works out for you as we also are hoping to return to Italy next Fall.

Would it make sense to cut Sorrento one day short, leave for Rome
early in the morning, visit the Colosseum, and fly home the next day?
Does this sound feasible?

Yes, absolutely. As your young people were wild about seeing Ecolano and Pompeii, I was a bit surprised that you weren't spending some time in Rome! I might consider leaving Sorrento (or wherever you end up) even earlier so that you'd have 2 nights/1 full day in Rome. Your hotel on the coast will likely hold your luggage for you if you want some more time to explore after check-out, and you could take afternoon transport into Rome. One full day would give them time to see Colosseum, Palatine and Forum at a more leisurely pace plus some other goodies. Advance, timed-entry tickets are going to be a MUST.

https://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

Also of note: the teens might also enjoy the hike up to the ruins of Villa Jovis on Capri? It's a fairly compact site but the view from up there is a wow. The Capri.net website calls this route "quite long" but anyone in reasonable shape can do it, although you do have to be able to do some puffing uphill. We didn't think it was THAT long or difficult, and you do NOT need a tour to do it. If it's still open, there's a bar/cafe not far from the site that could make a good spot for rehydrating/refueling before the ramble back to town center.

https://www.capri.net/en/s/villa-jovis-mount-tiberio

(Edited)

Sorrento,
You can visit the ancient cities as well as Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

, we have teenagers who are Roman architecture crazy

Try to spend a Saunday/Saturday in Rome and let them visit the Domus Aurea with the archaeologists who are bringing it back to "light".
The underground Roman villa of Positano could be interesting, too. Even if the area open to the public is quite small, the frescoes are astonishing.

I totally get why one would choose Sorrento over Naples, but don't dismiss it as just a big city--you could spend the week here and not see all there is to see. Be sure to read up before discounting exploring it.
I found it easy to visit Pompeii from Cetara, which is a village near Vietri sul Mare, the first village on the Amalfi coast after Salerno. Vietri would make a nice base if you do not choose Sorrento for whatever reason--it has a train station (you end up farther from Pompeii than on the commuter line from Sorrento, but it is not a lot when you are walking all day anyway). Then you'd be positioned to tour the Amalfi Coast without the long trek from Sorrento, plus have access to Salerno, and possibly include a visit to the temples at Paestum if you can (we found them extraordinary). I think you might be able to get a nice deal on a rental in Vietri, though who knows what the economy will be like next summer.
PS Vietri has a beach, and the nearby villages of Minori/Maiori have wide sandy beaches--in that heat I would find that a nice respite.

I agree with the comment regarding Naples. It's not "just" a big city - it's dense, for sure, but chockfull of interesting things to see - incredible things (see some ideas in link below) and some incredible food too. At least look into it before writing it off completely. I think the heat will be something else at that time...I hope you are prepared for intense heat which could be unbearable in an unshaded place like Pompeii.
https://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/naples-i-cm-n.htm

As mentioned up thread I would also agree with a visit to Paestum. "Extraordinary" is a great word to describe the three ancient temples dating back to about 550 to 450 BC. The temples are almost the best preserved Ancient Greek temple in the world- and that includes Greece itself. I liked Pompeii but I loved Paestum! Another highlight of the area was a visit to a Buffalo Farm in the Cappacio area. I believe it was called Tenuta Vannulo. Great day!

I have stayed in both Sorrento and Salerno.

Transportation:
Sorrento. Convenient Circumvesuviana train (metro really) to Herculaneum and Pompeii and even Naples, ferries to Capri and the Amalfi Coast, buses to the AC.
Salerno. Trenitalia trains to Pompeii (though it's a long walk or short taxi to the ruins) and to Naples. Not so simple to Herculaneum. Trenitalia or bus to Paestum (Greek temples). Ferries and buses to the AC (and closer than Sorrento - look on a map).

Amenities:
Both have good restaurants. Sorrento is on a cliff making it more scenic but far from the beach (haven't been to it) and hilly, lots of uphill-downhill walking. Salerno is nearly level with a large sandy beach and seaside promenade which is great for strolling and people-watching. Salerno is significantly less expensive (lodging and food).

Sorrento was built as a resort town. It has charm but no history. Salerno is a large city without feeling like one. It has a well-preserved medieval center and just meters away a modern pedestrian mall with shopping galore.

Both are good choices. Though no one really knows what to expect, it is likely that buses, ferries and and the Circumvesuviana will be crowded. The road along the AC is 2-lane, narrow and winding. Traffic crawls. Ferries are usually faster. Getting anywhere from an AC town means bus or ferry to Sorrento or Salerno and then on to Pompeii or wherever. So I would not recommend staying there.

Heather,

First of all I am so excited for your upcoming trip and I too feel hopeful about future travels. Our next trip to Europe will be December 2021. Our family stayed in Sorrento in March 2018 and we found that it was a perfect home base for Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Salerno and beyond. We stayed at the Grand Hotel Aminta, which offered a beautiful view of the Bay of Naples (we could see Mt. Vesuvius from our room).We used Monetti Taxi (http://www.monettitaxi17.it/English.htm) for our travels around the Amalfi Coast. The owner was gracious and quite entertaining and they do offer larger vehicles (but I cannot say if they can accommodate your entire crew in one vehicle). We booked this taxi service well in advance for a day tour of the Amalfi Coast and, during that trip, we were able to arrange with the owner a few other transports we needed. Overall the service and value of Monetti Taxi was excellent. I am sorry to ramble on, I am just excited to talk about travel again. Have fun in the Veneto and Campania! I cannot wait to get back to traveling!

As a side note I'd recommend hiring a guide at Pompeii. We did it with just a guide book and I feel like we missed a lot of what there was to see and understand. RS and other guidebooks recommend guides, there are also people standing outside the entrance offering guided tours on the spot (not sure how legitimate they are, though)

Thank you everyone for your continued feedback! We’ve made a few decisions so far, and are still working on many details. As of right now, we’re hoping to arrive in Sorento on Saturday evening, August 7th. We’ll stay in Sorento until Wednesday, the 11th. Then, hopefully we’ll take a later-in-the day train to Rome, where we’ll spend the following day seeing some sights (we know, only one day!), and then fly home on Friday the 13th. We’re looking at a few accommodations in Sorento, and I’m curious if any of you have experience with any of them: Hotel Antiche Mura, Hotel Regina, and Il Roseto (this one is a B &B). We had originally been thinking about renting a house for our large group of 9, but we are not finding many for a stay less than 7 nights. Most houses also seemed a fair bit outside of the center, which for this trip was not ideal (we are now fully convinced by everyone’s responses that this is NOT the trip for rental cars! ). Thank you all again for your continued feedback. I’ll probably just kept throwing questions out on this thread as we continue to plan - if you can continue to indulge them! I hope you all are well.

We've stayed at Hotel Antiche Mura and loved it. It doesn't have a sea view but enough other pluses to make up for that. Your group would likely enjoy late August afternoons cooling off in (or by) the pool before dinner. There's a pool bar. :O)

It's just a couple of blocks from Piazza Tasso, an easy walk from the train station (as long as you don't have a ton of luggage), and easy walks to restaurants and shopping. You might want to take a city bus or the lift (elevator; small fee) down to Marina Piccola, where the ferries/jetboats dock. You can also walk it down (we did) and take bus or lift up if not wanting the steep puff back up to the main - and largely flat - part of town.

https://www.sorrentolift.it/en/
https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/getting-around-sorrento-italy

Then, hopefully we’ll take a later-in-the day train to Rome, where we’ll spend the following day seeing some sights

If you've thought it thru and think it's best to leave in the afternoon then by all means do so. However in our experience the day can end up largely wasted. You can check out of the hotel in the morning and ask them to hold your bags but you can't really go too far. Sorrento isn't a big town and you can walk around some more, but taking the bus down to Positano or a ferry to Capri might be a little risky. Swimming or other activities like it are also out since you don't have a room to shower and change.

Continuing with John's thoughts, consider leaving Sorrento in the morning and checking your luggage at the Naples train station, then using the day to explore some of Naples's delights. If you go straight from Sorrento, you have to allow extra time to transfer in Naples from the Circumvesuviana to a "real" train, since the CV can have significant delays and you need at least 15 minutes to get through the station as well. Just plan itinerary in Naples so that you will be near a metro station or walking distance from the train station as your train departure time nears. Do not rely on a taxi in Naples!! Traffic is terrible.

Thank you Kathy, John, and Chani. The hotel information is great, and these are very good points about our travel day to Rome. We were planning to try to get to Naples anyway - at the very least to see the archeology museum - so this makes sense to combine this with our travel day. Great idea! John, I think you also recommended hiring a guide in Pompeii, and we are looking into this as well. This forum really is a great resource. Thank you all for your continued feedback! I will update again once we have some more of our details locked in. Now... here’s hoping those vaccines work their magic!

You may want to make a longer list of possible hotels, for example
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/accommodation-itinerary-help-sorrento-march-2020

It's just unusual for someone with a fixed date to get their first choice of Sorrento hotel (pre-Covid, anyway), especially a Rick Steves forum favorite. And you need a few rooms. But maybe that will give you negotiating power. I'd make sure you know what the bed size and distribution requirements are for the 9 people. Make sure you don't end up on the hillside, dependent on a shuttle. There are many, many hotels in the flat downtown section of Sorrento, but the discounts and bus tours are up in the hills.