May 2019 trip, 14 nights-- Final plan, please advise

The bus tickets can be purchased at the Rome Tiburtina station. That could bypass the hassle of dealing with the Italian language site.

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

That sounds like a great trip! Not too busy, and I am excited that you are basing in Salerno for 2 nights! (if you don't have a place to stay yet, may I suggest Seaview Salerno B&B, its wonderful!)

You can definitely slowly enjoy Paestum, the site, the museum, and even wander around the town a bit, better to have more time than not enough. I was looking at the Sunday schedule for trenitalia, and there are way more trains than you note, its just that the train schedules aren't out yet for that far in advance, so you will have more options for sure (though here is a dearth of back and forth in the middle of the day).

I like the way you've tweaked this thing, Christine! Any changes I would make are solely based on personal preference, and where I've been or haven't been yet, thus of little help to you.

You are concentrating heavily on the A.C., obviously your goal. It's going to be pretty darn crowded, so beware. Research in that respect on how to build a better mousetrap re: logistics, getting around. Once you're set in Sorrento, Amalfi-town or even Salerno, just let the spectacular scenery soak in. We've been there twice, and the views never get tiresome.

Enjoy the Sorrentine cuisine--nothing unique but done so, so well. So pinpoint your places to dine, and make reservations--once you get to Rome, that should be sufficient lead time, although with the breadth of restaurants you could fly by the seat of your pants I would imagine. And try to fit in the Archeological Museum in Naples--3 hours should do it, especially to enjoy all the fabulous art from Pompei.

Thank you all for your help.

joe32F- Yes I did see that I can buy tix at station which makes me a tad nervous, would like to have tix in hand well in advance. I'll keep researching and know that I do have train option.

Katherine- I think it was your enthusiastic posts about Salerno that led me to go with 2 nights there. And you are right, I was looking too far in advance- there is a 9:41 train, RT 3- that'll work just fine. I do have Hotel Plaza booked but am taking a look at Seaview now.

Jay- Yes this is supposed to be an "Amalfi coast" trip. We want to relax, enjoy the views, etc. We will get an early start to Naples and go straight to the Archeological Museum, works well this way because we will have been to Pompeii already.
Any recommendations for restaurants in Sorrento?

If you rent a car, Tenuta Vannulo is a very popular mozzarella farm to visit. However, if you take the train or bus, around the ring road from Paestum, there is a farm called Masseria Lupata that you can walk to (perhaps check website for Sunday hours). We stopped in and bought cheese, bread, and a jar of artichokes for lunch, which we at in their covered picnic area. There are a few restaurants around the Paestum site as well.
In Salerno, we liked Bar Moka. It's an unassuming little place (looks like an old school cafeteria), but the homey food was excellent!

Christine, I'll give you three, all of them in town (within walking distance of Piazza Tasso, as opposed to down by the marina). All of them are casual, not fancy, reasonably-priced and awesome:

Il Forno Rosso--steps from the train/bus station, perfect for a meal after a daytrip. Huge menu, everything good.

TavernAllegra--a real trip, make sure you reserve. Down a back street off the piazza, a little hard to find. The waiters & the owner get up and sing songs to guitar music while you eat, and you sing too. It's on the face of it a little hokey but we sure had fun and went back a second night because the food is very, very good. Their local 'gurland' fish in red sauce was outstanding.

Ristorante Zi'intonio--a tad fancier but still casual, reserve here too. Had the best meal of the trip, linguine with split lobster diavolo. Incredible stuff.

We also became very fond of the white wines from Campania, where Sorrento is located. A lot of varieties you can't find here.

Enjoy your planning!

YAY! I'm glad I could help!

If your main need is to be close to the train station in Salerno, Hotel Plaza is perfect (waking up early for a train is a benefit of being that close). Seaview is about a 20 min walk away (so a taxi to that early train to Venice is definitely needed haha), but in the historic center.

I am actually doing that trip in May (on the May 1st holiday, so I had to estimate with the Sunday/Holiday schedule too) and I am probably doing that 9:41am too, that way I will have a few options late afternoon to get back without too much of a wait.

That's a great idea valadelphia, I have been to Paestum a few times, and never stopped at a farm! Would that be a walk from the ruins, do you think there are pathways? Bar Moka is a popular place for sure on the corso!

My fav restaurants are la Tombola and Trianon for pizza, there is CiCi Rinella behind the duomo for a "fancier" (ish? not REALLY fancy haha) multiple course meals. (I also have a fav Greek restaurant, but not many people are going to eat Greek food in Italy haha)

RE the walk to the mozzarella farm: It was not far from the ruins (memory escapes me; we are "walkers" though!)--there is no shoulder on the road (and you know Italians can speed, lol), but we just stepped into the grass when cars zoomed by. There was not a lot of traffic, so no worries. Tenuta Vanulo is more set up for tours, but if you just want some good cheese, we definitely enjoyed our impromptu meal.

would you say about a 20 min walk? They had a restaurant there too? I usually eat right across from the ruins, but I might wanna try something new.....thanks!

My fav restaurants are la Tombola and Trianon for pizza, there is CiCi
Rinella behind the duomo for a "fancier" (ish? not REALLY fancy haha)
multiple course meals. (I also have a fav Greek restaurant, but not
many people are going to eat Greek food in Italy haha)

Katherine, in Salerno you're not talking about Mythos, are you? I'll bet I am! We have really good casual Greek here in Chicago and Mythos was every bit as good.

Pizzeria Trianon is a dive but fantastic & cheap. Ristorante Angolo Masuccio is tiny, specializes in seafood but quirky and great. We had 'scombro' fish, one of many on our trip I have never had.

Katherine, exactly-about 20 minutes.
http://www.masserialupata.it/index.html
I saw a review that said they did not have bread, etc., but they did when we were there. Not that I could not just eat a hunk of mozzarella with liquid running down my chin (nope, never done that...).

YES MYTHOS! I make a point of going as much as possible hahaha

And valadelphia, my friend once ordered a ball of cheese for dinner one day, and I looked at her like she was crazy......BEFORE I knew how ingenious it was :) I would be totally ok with that!

Since we were in Salerno at the end of a 17-day trip we did venture out cuisine-wise, though many might find that kind of cray-cray. Besides the Greek Mythos, one night we found a good Japanese place along the main drag, because I am interested to see how well Italian cities do foreign cuisine.

At the beginning of this trip (in February 2015) we spent 4 nights in Paris, and one night found a Vietnamese joint, thinking that because the French occupied Vietnam for so many years, it would be a cut above. It was good, but nothing better than what I can get here in Chicago. Fun nonetheless.

While you're in Amalfi, be sure to visit Minori and have a pastry at Sal de Riso. They also have really good gelato, but the pastries are to die for.

Sorrento dining:
Ristorante Bagni de Delfino on the water at the Fisherman’s Marina, wonderful seafood
Ristorante Pizzeria Tasso, more upscale than a pizzeria

valadelphia- Thank you for the info on Masseria Lupata. That is exactly what I was looking for. Rental car wont be an option for us, but a 20 min walk is doable.

Jay, Suki- thanks you for the Sorrento restaurant recommendations. I have a nice little list now.

Chani- thank you for mentioning Minori. We did want to try to get there. I think we may spend that Positano day doing some village hopping via ferry in the afternoon.

Katherine- The Seaview looks terrific but I would rather be closer to train/ferry. I found La Madrega Sea Suite
http://www.madegrahotelsalerno.it/it/en/
closer to both ferry and train and a few less € than Hotel Plaza.

Now I have just realized that Archeological Museum in Naples is closed on Tuesday. Grrr So I guess we go to Naples on Sun, Pompeii Tuesday. Or Pompeii on Sun, Naples on Monday. Don’t like either near as much but don’t really want 2 day trips in a row and would like to see Pompeii before museum.

As far as getting from Rome to Sorrento- considering Campania Express. Any thoughts on that?
As I have said we will have luggage- I know it’s impossible to know but would you think the CV is more crowded or less crowded on a Sat am?
I just would like to have a seat! We spent 2 hours standing up/hanging on to our luggage and trying not to fall down on a train from Munich to Salzburg and it was pretty miserable.

One more question
June 2 is a national holiday on a Sunday- National Republic Day. Any chance Paestum is closed that day?
The website says nothing about holiday closures.

Closing days are here: Paestum website. It appears that you are OK. The park closes early on Monday, June 3.

As far as getting from Rome to Sorrento- considering Campania Express.
Any thoughts on that? As I have said we will have luggage- I know it’s
impossible to know but would you think the CV is more crowded or less
crowded on a Sat am?

Christine--from our experience with the CV, it was less crowded on the weekends. Keep in mind this was early March, but I can't think that late May would make that much difference. The CV is a commuter train, folks going to & from work for the most part.

And taking a train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale, then switching trains right there at the station to the Circumvesuviana, is the best value & most efficient way to travel--no more than 10 Euro from Naples to Sorrento, the end of the line. Last year, after reading some of the stories in advance we were a little skeevy about taking the CV during the week on that run, so we booked in advance & paid 95 Euro for private transfer to our B&B.

Turns out we could've taken the CV no problem since our B&B was a level (important factor) 2 block walk from the station. But we didn't know, you know? If you are not staying down by the marina, and research to see that where you're staying is pretty much near the station, I see nothing wrong with taking the train, even with bags. As long as you don't pack like Diana Ross. :)

Campania Express is not that much more money, still way cheaper than private transport. But I don't think they run all that often, so you may have to wait awhile at Naples Centrale for it. The CV runs at least every half-hour, maybe more often than that.

OK- after more discussion this is what we settled on
We will stay 1 night in Naples- on Sat 5/25- that allows us to avoid the CV train, and visit Archeological museum (before Pompeii but can't be helped). That was in our original plan- guess it still makes sense. I had some NH points I had forgotten about so I booked the NH in Naples- I know it's not a very charming place- but it serves our purpose. We will now have Sat pm to wander the Lungomare and take ferry to Sorrento early Sun am.

Thanks again to all for your help.

Looks like your trip is shaping up nicely! And that accommodation is definitely convenient to both the train station and ferry!

Between your lodging and the station is la Contadina, a great place (albeit a chain?) to get mozzarella di bufala and even good panini for the road (as I have done many times).

I only have 3 things left to book for my trip in April/May and I am about to be super bored and/or nosy into Italy blogs and other obsessive about Italy things.

Katherine, you could tell us exactly where you're going and how you're doing it so we can tell you in no uncertain terms what you're doing wrong. That discussion could fill much of the winter...

HAHAHA!

LOL Ain't that the truth? Planning is as much fun as the actual trip.
I'll just have to start on our 2020 trip- though not sure where it will be- thinking Spain & Portugal.

HAHAHHAHAH Jay, I definitely don't need that!

Though we are still trying to decide between renting our own boat vs ferries on Lake Garda for one day......wonder if anybody would know about that? ponders starting a new thread while waiting for a train ticket to go on sale