We need to drop our car off somewhere between Montepulciano and Sorrento. My thoughts were to drop off at Naples airport or train station. Spend a couple hours in Naples then head down to Sorrento. Has anyone done something similar? Is one better than the other? Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
I think my first choice would be to drop off in Sorrento. When I drove there many years ago, the traffic wasn't as bad as nearby areas with smaller roads. Navigating to the Naples train station doesn't look too difficult either, right off the main road, but then you have to store your luggage and later take it onto the train to Sorrento.
Posted by
381 posts
I cannot speak to the Naples airport location for dropping off a car but there is not way I would want to drive, navigate or drop off a car at the Naples train station. There is a huge amount of construction and traffic congestion around the train station. We had a driver pick us up and take us to Positano and he said the only way folks could get to work on time was by scooter. We saw people driving like there were no rules to the road.....driving wrong way on a one way, backing down the on ramp to the interstate, backing into roundabouts and pedestrians walking in the middle of it all. I do not know what your options may be but I would avoid the train station with a car at any cost....
Posted by
Honolulu, HI
180 posts
Last year, we flew into Naples, rented a car at the Naples airport, drove to Sorrento/Salerno/Paestum and then returned the car to the Naples train station (catching a train to Rome). Renting at the airport was easy (you have to take a shuttle to the rental car location) and not that far from the train station.
Driving to Sorrento wasn't hard but it took just as long as if we took the Circumvesuviana as the road becomes a local road about 1/2 way there. We drove because 1. We wanted to stop at Herculaneum on the way there and; 2. We wanted to visit Paestum and; 3. We a car makes it much easier to see those sights.
Dropping off at the Naples train station was a bit more difficult (but not hard). The was some construction and the traffic did back up as we got about a mile or two out. I would think you would be waiting in traffic whether you dropped off at the train station or dropped off at the airport and took a taxi.
I wouldn't be afraid to drop off at the train station. Just plan for an extra 30-60 minutes just in case.
Joe
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15192 posts
Drop in Sorrento.
Europcar, Hertz, and Avis-Budget have offices in Sorrento.
That's easier than going to Naples and negotiating the traffic at the station and taking the train.
Follow directions to Napoli all the way on the A1, then near the Centro Direzionale exit follow straight to A3-Salerno Reggio-Calabria. Penisola Sorrentina. Stay on the A3 then exit at Castellammare Di Stabia. After exiting follow directions to Sorrento.
A bit before Naples (Napoli), there is a junction freeway A30. The A30 is a short cut which goes also to Salerno/Reggio Calabria. Don't take A30, stay on the A1 all the way to Napoli. If you take the A30 it's longer to Sorrento.