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Italy Trip Advice

Posted by (NJ, USA) on

Hi all!

Long time reader, first time poster :) Looking for advice/thoughts/feedback on our upcoming trip to Italy next week (!) Little bit of a brain dump below, so bear with me!! Main questions I have are:

  • Are we trying to do too much in a short amount of time?
  • Is our current Rome plan a good use of 2+ days?
  • Are there other day trips from Sorrento that you'd recommend over a trip to Capri?

We have most of it planned out but after being a longtime lurker on the forums, I figured I'd post and ask for feedback, haha. One specific worry I have is that our trip is too "busy" and that we're trying to do too much in too short of a time. When we've traveled to other places in Europe (London, Barcelona, Santorini, Corfu, Venice) we've enjoyed doing a mix of the major tourist sights as well as exploring places that are a bit more off the beaten path. We sometimes enjoy just sleeping in after a long day of touring, so I'm a bit worried that I've over-planned. Huge foodies as well so any restaurant recommendations in Sorrento/Rome are very appreciated!

We'll be in Italy for a week before flying from FCO -> ZRH to meet up with family for a 6 night stay in Wengen. Planning to spend 4 nights in Sorrento followed by 3 in Rome, but would be open to alternative ideas. The 4 nights in Sorrento are mostly locked in and we're looking forward to the accommodations we have there, but with 3 nights in Rome not being enough to really experience it, we've been given advice that it may be better to go to another city (Florence, maybe?), and plan to visit Rome on a different trip. As of now, we've been planning to do public transportation everywhere, so if we did go to a different spot instead of Rome, we'd preferably be able to get there via train.

Here's our general itinerary:

Day 1 - Flying into Naples in the morning. Head down to Sorrento, check into our hotel, explore the town. Trying to find a good activity to keep us awake for the day to help fight jetlag. Have thought about doing a Pompeii tour that day on the way there (I read that there are places where we could pay to store our bags), but not sure if that's just too much after an overnight flight that we will likely struggle to get much sleep on.

Day 2 - if we don't tour Pompeii on Day 1, planning to do it here. Considering doing the sharedtours Pompeii Tour. Planning to just take the Circumvesuviana to get there.

Day 3 - sharedtours Capri boat tour

Day 4 - visit Amalfi Coast. Based on other posts on the forums, it seemed like a good way to do a more leisurely tour of the different towns on the coast would be to: Take a ferry from Sorrento -> Amalfi in the morning, tour Amalfi, take a bus up to Ravello, tour Ravello, take a bus to Positano, tour Positano, and then take a ferry back to Sorrento. Is this still a good approach in early/mid September?

Day 5 - take Circumvesuviana to Naples, then one of the fast trains up to Rome. Late afternoon Vatican City tour.

Day 6 - tour Colosseum and Roman Forum

Day 7 - wander around Rome

Day 8 - Late morning flight from FCO -> ZRH

If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading!! :)

Posted by
23644 posts

Ok, I would do it a little different. Working on it ----- I think it is a little too busy -- for too busy really means a lack of flexibility. If something doesn't work, getting a plan B in place is difficult.

Posted by
11970 posts

Given your flight is out of Rome, it makes no sense to go to Florence after Sorrento, as you will need to be in Rome the night before your departure anyway.

I think your plan for Rome is a good use of the time you have available there.

Posted by
7251 posts

3 days in Rome is better than no days in Rome!
Plan to return

We did the Pompell and Capri tours with Mondo and were very pleased
Enjoy!

Posted by
8009 posts

My Capri visit was a nice day, but not great. Rough waves cancelled all visits to the Blue Grotto, so I rode the chairlift up, and hiked down and around, before catching the ferry back to Sorrento.

if you didn’t visit the National Archaeological Museum in Naples on Day 1 or 2, I’d suggest considering going there on Day 3, instead of Capri. It has all the amazing artifacts that were recovered from Pompeii, which is lots of (fascinating) empty streets, ruin remains of (fascinating) buildings, a nice replica mosaic (original is in the museum), and some plaster casts of victims’ bodies. So a more complete Pompeii experience includes that museum, too.

For Rome, you’ve picked the top sights. If you’re up for it, also include the San Clemente Basilica, not far from the Coloseum. It’s an ornate old church at ground level, with an older church below that, then further down are some even older buildings from Ancient Rome, including a pagan Mithraen temple. Lots of layers of archaeological history in one place. They want you to book your “Excavations” ticket before you get there.

As another Foodie, we’ve deliberately stayed in the Testaccio neighborhood the last two times in Rome. On Day 7, take a Taste of Testaccio food and market tour with Eating Europe in the morning (which includes lunch), then you’ve got the rest of that day to wander more of Rome. Top two restaurant recommendations in Testaccio are Lo Scopettaro and Bucatino. Pizza at Da Remo, and gelato at Giolitti.

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