Ovieto to Sorrento: by train or by car?

It depends on how much you like to drive in an Italian city. Dropping a car in Naples could be tricky due to the traffic. I remember my first trip to Rome and thinking how glad I was not to be driving in the crazy traffic. When checking out of our hotel, the owner asked us where we were going next, I told him Naples. He warned me that people there are "crazy drivers" and I should be extra careful. I thought how bad can it be, I mean look at the way the Romans drivebut he was right! We just picked up a car at the train station and drove right out of town but that was enough for me. If you are happy taking the train, I would take the train from Orvieto. You do have to change trains in Rome and again in Naples but I think changing trains is easy compared to changing lanes in Naples. Once in Sorrento, you can use the train to go to Pompei, boats to Capri, bus to the Amalfi coast, etc so you won't need a car.

Drive straight to Sorrento as a car can be helpful there. In any case, should you decide to return the car, do it at Salerno instead of Sorrento. The trip is 95% freeway-style driving, no big deal. For the final sector to Sorrento, the road is a bit narrow, but reasonably signed. You should have no difficult (jsut avoid arriving without daylight while searching for your hotel)

If you decide to keep the car, you can drop it at the Naples airport and take the Curreri bus to Sorrento. The car return is very easy because the airport is small, and all the rental agencies are in the parking lot in front. The bus stop is pretty much in front, as well, just a little to the left as you face the terminal. Tickets are 10 euros; buy from driver. We did it, and it was all very easy. We found that dropping our car in Sorrento would cost us an extra $500; but it's possible that was so because a Saturday was involved; and therefore, a different company. Be sure to compare prices before deciding. You can get an approximation of the cost to drive each segment of the trip on viamichelin.com. That might help you make up your mind.

We dropped off our car in Orvieto and trained to Sorrento. The train out of Orvieto was running 4 hours late, and as a result the train from Orvieto to Rome was packed, , Rome to Naples was overcrowded, and we had no seats. The circumvesuvia train was packed with the after-work crowd, again no seats and no room for our packs. It's a pretty bare-bones shuttle, and it stops at every little stop along the way ( and there are plenty of stops). If you have can take the car all the way to Sorrento - go for it!