Isle of Capri and the Amalfi Coast

Hi Anne -

We would both like to see the Isle of Capri but I am concerned because
I do suffer from pretty bad motion sickness. Is this something I need
to be concerned about ? I'm just not sure how rough the seas are.

Sea activity can change from day to day so pick one with less rather than more wind. Still, the high-speed ferries only take 20 minutes from Sorrento>Capri so not a lot of time to feel queasy. If really concerned, take an OTC nausea remedy. The BIGGER thing I would be concerned about is motion sickness on the coastal roads. They are very twisty, and I know my own stomach would have been miserable thus didn't use the SITA buses. I was green just in a van from Sorrento to the Naples airport. Should have taken something...

As well, I'd skip the Blue Grotto; the rocking motion of the rowboats can bother weak stomachs plus it's (personally) the one tourist trap on the island. There are better things to do.

Pompei or Herculanium

I'd personally choose Pompeii but you really can't go wrong with either. Pompeii is VAST: much larger than Herculaneum, and it's closer to Sorrento. Then again, with 4 FULL days to work with, you could take one day to do Herculaneum and the archeological museum in Naples, and 1/2 of another day for Pompeii. Spend your other 1/2 of the day doing easy exploration of Sorrento itself. That leaves you a day for Capri and another day to explore a couple of locations around the coast. I'm sure you'll get some suggestions for a few of those from other posters.

We spent 3 days in Sorrento and two on Capri in early October some years ago and everything was open and quite busy. A stretch of really foul weather can temporarily shut down ferry services but that would be the only potential complication I can think of.

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

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/brunello-wine-tours-capri-hertz-and-a-lunch-place-in-val-d-orcia

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-for-7-nights-itinerary-help

No worries, the ferry to Capri is tame.

Also, consider doing the Blue Lagoon, you have to take a small boat to enter, but the sea was not wavy when I did it.

Alilaura uses a very large ferry from Sorrento to Capri. My wife can suffer from motion sickness but she was fine. But I probably wouldn't consider one of the island tours to the Blue Grotto. https://www.alilaurogruson.com/

As for your Pompeii question, we based in Sorrento for 12 days in April and visited both. There are no wrong answers but we preferred Pompeii and would highly recommend you follow it up with some time at the archeological museum in Naples. We spent a total of 4 days doing Pompeii, Herculaneum, etc. One day we started with a 2 hour tour of Pompeii and then wandered for a couple of more hours, then another day in Naples at the museum, followed by a day at Herculaneum and then another day back to Pompeii to see what we didn't see the first time, plus a trip up to a villa in Oplontis that is part of Pompeii's offsite archeological ruins.

Here's a link to my Trip Report if you're interested. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-2-weeks-of-day-trips-from-sorrento

Yes, I too suffer from motion sickness but had not problem with the ferries. We were on the Amalfi Coast this past October, 3 nights in Salerno, 2 nights in Atrani, 2 nights on Capri and 4 in Sorrento.
Recommendations
Salerno - under rated, lovely but not extensive, go downstairs in the Duomo, visit gardens of Minerva, easy train to Paestum
Atrani - small, wanted to avoid Amalfi which was crazy with buses and people, sitting in the square in Amalfi was like watching a circus
We hike or walked up the 1700 steps to Ravello, well worth the effort and met only 5 fellow hikers,
We also walked the Path of Gods, though heavily traveled it was worth the effort (we are 73 and not hikers)
Capri - when you arrive for the day, go directly up to Anacapri, grab the chair lift and enjoy before the crowds arrive, walk down into Anacapri town, most day tourist go to Capri town
Sorrento - do a food tour, get a guide for Pompeii much better than a group, we arrived at Herculaneum on a Wednesday only to find out Covid had changed their hours and they were closed.
Most important, I agree you will get motion sickness on the buses and roads!

No worries, the ferry to Capri is tame.

I felt miserable on a small, enclosed boat between Naples and Capri one October when the seas were quite rough. I was fine on a larger ferry between Capri and Sorrento.

Take dramamine.

Definitely hire a guide for Pompeii. That was the one mistake we made on our recent trip to Italy. I also found Capri to be a tourist trap. It was very crowded, and speaking with other people afterwards it seems to be a common theme for the island.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/venice-lake-como-sorrento-amalfi-coast-with-lots-of-rain

We were just in the area this past May. I'm sure your weather will be better. The congestion in the Sorrento/AC Coast area is frustrating and relentless. I would avoid the coastal drive and explore the coast via the water.

You have no lack of input here, have a great time going thru it all.
Safe travels!

I suffer from motion sickness as well but did not have a problem on the ferry to Capri. As suggested if you are worried about this, take some Bonine or Dramamine. Personally I would skip Capri. I found it rather disappointing/boring after all the hype. I much prefer Ravello to Capri. Give yourself a good part of a day to see Pompeii. A few hours there don’t cut it as it is vast. We have been twice - once on our own for a full day and once with the RS tour for a few hours. The visit with the RS tour was pretty brief and missed a lot and some of the tour members were underwhelmed by the visit. I pointed out to those tour members that they had barely scratched the surface of this interesting site. The museum on site is quite good and I wish we had had more time there. The Amalfi coast has become quite crowded but maybe in October it won’t be too bad. I am grateful we went 22 years ago when the tourist numbers were manageable.

Don't take any of the hydrofoils from Sorrento to Capri. As someone that has spent most their entire life around boats, these things are death traps. There is no way out if they start to sink. And don't plan to take the last big ferry back to Sorrento. Take an earlier, return. Sometimes the Tyrrhenian kicks up unexpectedly, and the hydrofoils are shut down: Which happened to us. This created a mad scene of people pushing to get on the last big, slow ferry back, and a few people just behind us, got cut off and had to stay the night on Capri. They were very angry.

We took the bus on the coastal road from Sorrento to Salerno. I don't get car sick........... I got car sick. :)

Francis, when was the last time anyone lost their lives on a hydrofoil from Sorrento to Capri? I can't find any record of such an event so please don't worry the OP unnecessarily? If the seas are not safe, they cancel the boats.

Just because it might be really full or you might risk missing it, I wouldn't plan on taking the last ferry from Capri to Sorrento. Same goes if you happen to see some sketchy weather coming in.