After leaving Rome via train and getting into Naples, we want to take a cab to the port in Naples and get a ferry or hydrofoil to Sorrento on 9/17- (doing this all on one morning). Have checked Aililauro website, even called, and no help given. Tried calling the tourism office in Sorrento and Naples and no answer during Italy daytime hours. I speak little Italian (trying to learn), but what I gather from the website is that it stops running shortly before 9/17. Does anyone know if it stops entirely for the season, or if a new schedule comes out? If so, when do they post it? Are the seas so rough that boats don't travel from Naples to Sorrento? We are trying to plan other things around it, and can't seem to find help, so perhaps someone living there, or who has been there during third week of Sept. can advise. We would need a ferry/hydrofoil on 9/23 to return to Naples and onto Rome, thus reversing the trip. Make Rick Steves proud and please help me find the info we need. Grazie!:) I know we can do the train from Rome to Naples and then Circumcuviana to Sorrento, but we would like to try going by water. We can also take a bus all the way through, but thought this might be faster.
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
Hydrofoils between Naples and Sorrento, weather permitting, run all year round so there will still be some sort of service. People from Sorrento commute to Naples for work. You will have to wait until they announce their new schedules which in Italy often means going to the wire! Given the economic climate they are probably still working out the numbers. At the end of last October there were sailings from Naples at 9.00 -11.00 -13.05 - 15.00 - 17.15 and 18.25 From Sorrento at 7.20 - 8.10 - 9.45 - 12.00 - 13.40 and 16.25.
Posted by
Gettysburg, PA
1589 posts
Better plan on the 1340 boat.
Posted by
Catadupa Alamere, CA
515 posts
I feel your pain. The companies that run boats around the Bay are not coordinated and they put up web sites that are user-vicious. Genuine schedules seem to be promulgated by word of mouth. Anyway, I've taken ferries all over the Bay, but not on cusp of the end of "summer", as each company feels like defining it from time to time. What I've done, and I admit that this is a cave-man solution, is to show up at the dock hoping for the next boat. If there is none, then I go to Plan B. For you, I recommend the following, all of which you probably have already thought of: Call/email your Sorrento hotel and have them email you a boat schedule to Sorrento for your travel day. Do not rely on it. At Napoli Centrale, hop in a cab, it is very short ride to the dock. Have the cab wait. Jog over to the ferry ticket counter to see what if anything is running and when it is. Worst case, get back into the cab and go to Plan B = back to the terminal for the hour long train ride/graffiti tour to Sorrento. Note that the CV terminal is adjacent to Napoli Centrale and they are connected by an underground walkway. Ask the returning cab for the CV terminal. That way you will not have to do the underground passage from Centrale to CV. If you take the CV, get on the train marked Sorrento. It ends in downtown Sorrento, no transfers are needed. The CV trains go to several other end of the line places. I agree: any boat is infinitely less tedious than the CV. I'd rather swim than take the CV. FYI bonus points: Sorrento's docks are at the bottom of a cliff, so you need to take a bus, 5 minutes, to the top, where the town is. There are 2 ferry harbors in Naples. You want Beverello. You do not want Mergellina. You should wear no bling at the harbor. Recently some tourists at the docks who were displaying their bling were relieved of it by kindly Neapolitans on scooters
Posted by
OP
fargo
43 posts
Thank you thank you so much for your detailed and rapid response. It is so nice to have guardian angels watching out for us on this board:) Has anyone done the bus trip vs. train and hydrofoil/ferry? What has been your experience? The bus seems so much longer, but if you have to change trains in Naples, use a cab, and wait for the ferry, is it worth the pretty bay of Naples trip? What does one see via the bus route? How much longer is it really?
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
Given the negatives of the Circumvesuviana as pointed out by Otariidae, its upside is that Naples to Sorrento only takes an hour.
Posted by
Providence, RI, USA
2 posts
I am considering taking the CV from Naples to Pompei in the early morning, spend about 2-3 hours in Pompei, then get back on the CV at Pompei for Sorrento, spend the afternoon in Sorrento, then take a boat from Sorrento back to Naples. Any thoughts or reactions to this plan? Suggestions?
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
David - be aware that a lot of shops in Sorrento close between about 13.00 to 16.30-17.00 so if shopping is on the to-do list places will be a bit thin on the ground. Some of the more tourist orientated shops will probably be open if you are going in the season but even then you cannot be sure.