Itinerary help: Deciding between Siena and Sorrento - how to see Pompeii?

Posted by kristine (san diego, CA, USA) on 10/15/07 04:33 PM

Hi everyone -
We will be traveling to Italy in April for 12 full days of sight-seeing. Our trip was limited to flights into and out of Rome. Currently I have our itinerary mapped out as the following: Venice: 3 days (including travel from Rome), Florence: 3 days, Sorrento: 2 days, Rome: 4 days

After doing some reading, I am considering taking out the Sorrento stay during our trip and instead turn those 2 days into a stay in Siena and taking a day trip while we’re in Rome to visit Pompeii. I know the trip to Pompeii can be quite long from Rome, which is where my hesitation comes in.

Should I stick with what I already have or change my itinerary?

Thanks!

Posted by SamSn

Scottsdale, AZ, USA

10/15/07 09:07 PM

1127 posts

I would cut out Sorrento and skip Pompeii completely. With your itinerary you are spending too much time to reach Sorrento for a 2-night stay. Visit Siena instead, possibly as a daytrip from Florence to avoid changing hotels. In Rome visit Ostia Antica instead of Pompeii.

Posted by Blanca

FallsCurch, VA, USA

10/16/07 05:36 AM

10 posts

Hi Kristine,
We came back a few weeks ago from our first trip to Italy. Before coming back home we spent one night in Siena.
If you are planning to visit this city, I'll recommend you to spend at least one night there.
During the day, Siena is so crowded with tourist that it makes the city unbearable and difficult to enjoy. Plus it's very difficult to take a decent picture when most of the time people are passing in front of you.

Late afternoon, evening and early morning, are the best times to enjoy the city, walk with calm and most important take nice pictures of the facades of their buildings without annoying crowds.
Keep in mind that most of the tourist groups start arriving by 10:00 am.

By the way, if you go to Siena, you need to try the “Panforte” it’s really good. Buy it from their bakeries “Panificios” usually you pay less.

Have fun

Posted by kristine OP

san diego, CA, USA

10/16/07 09:09 AM

2 posts

Thanks for the input everyone.

The only reason that I am including Pompeii in our itinerary is because out of all the things we are planning for our trip, Pompeii was my husband's only request - so I'd like to be able to squeeze it in somewhere. Aside from our 1st day, where we arrive in Rome at 7am and take the train to Venice right away, our overall traveling time is 14 days, but 12 days of sight-seeing.

Reading through more posts on the the posts, Pompeii does sound do-able as a day trip from Rome, but to not take away from our stay in Rome, I will probably end up doing something like:

Venice: 3 days, Florence: 3 days, Siena: 1 day, Rome: 5 days (including Pompeii). Overall feels a little bit less hectic, with less bouncing around.

Posted by Sherry

Collierville, Tennessee, USA

10/16/07 10:45 AM

516 posts

If you end up making it to Pompeii, be sure to hire Gaetano Manfredi as your guide. We took a tour with him in March 2003 and he is a really, really good guide.

We did it as a day trip from Rome and it is very doable. Try to work in some time in Naples. We probably had time to visit the museum in Naples, the one with the Pompeii artifacts, but due to my poor planning, we did not go to the museum.

We did make it to da Michele for pizza, definitely worth doing if you have the time.