Pompeii, Amalfi and Capri from Sorrento

RS covers this area well in his book; I think you can get some good advice from it with pages of detailed recommendations.

Thank you. I am also interested in peoples' experiences having followed his advice or found ideas on their own.

This Sorrento based tour company runs a number of excursions. The Amalfi Drive one is popular.

http://www.goldentours.it/en/daily_excursions.php

We do our own thing when we are in Sorrento. It is easy to do, so much cheaper and we like to go at our own pace.

Sheree

I agree with Steve- All your requests can be done by yourself. The ferry to Capri and self guide. Same with Pompeii- In hindsight I wish I had hired a guide at the gate for the 2 hours we spent there and not knowing what I was actually seeing.

The ride on the bus is a must- take it to Amalfi and then take a ferry back - sit on the right side of the bus to get the best experience. The ferry back to see the coastline is spectacular.

Hi Sheree,

My husband and I stayed at Ulisse Deluxe Hostel (http://www.ulissedeluxe.com/index_english.htm). It is really like a 4star hotel (Rick Steves also recommends this in his Italy book). The prices are very reasonable and the place is very clean. The rooms were huge (with marble floors) and had a TV/Fridge etc. They had a breakfast Buffet that you could pay extra for. And it's in a great location.

As for sights to see. I don't think you need to take a "tour" or hire a car/driver. What we did was for Capri we just took the boat over and spent the day there and came back. We did do the Blue Grotto tour which is a fun thing to do there. We also saw Pompeii and for that it's super easy to take the train there. We just followed the walking tour RS has in his book for Pompeii and that was fine for us...although if you are a huge history buff you can hire a tour guide when you get to pompeii. We actually bumped into a Rick Steves tour group (following the same order as us) in Pompeii so tagged along for a bit :-) . After we saw Pompeii we did the hike up Mt. Vesuvius which was very fun to do. But we were absolutely exhausted (and covered in dirt) afterwards.

To see the Amalfi Coast we did the local busline which worked fine and was quite the experience along the cliffs. I would recommend that. It was super easy to figure out and was a great day trip.

Hope this helps and have a great trip!

Thank you for all your great suggestions! I think we will go it on our own. We are booked at the Settimo Cielo in Sorrento...has anyone stayed there?

Hi Sheree -

Just wanted to let you know about a fantastic place (at least what I've read sounds fantastic!) called the Magi House. Really awesome rooms and great prices. We're staying there in 2 weeks, though of course I don't know about availability for May.

don't forget to take the chairlift in ana capri !! :):)

We enjoyed our stay at the Mignon Mueble hotel in Sorrento. Modest but clean, in town and easy access to everything (no sweeping sea vistas, actually only a vista into the high school next door! but we had a cute balcony). The train from Sorrento to Pompeii is very, very easy to do and we had a rewarding and full day touring the sight on our own. We enjoyed the boat ride to and from Positano. Many excursions from Sorrento by boat are available. We were there in late September and were stunned to find the really huge crowds massing at the docks despite our early start. Set out early and prep for chaos.

LOL Thanks for the warning. And all the suggestions from everyone.

Definitely take the bus from Sorrento to Amalfi. The ride was actually one of the highlights of our entire trip. One tip, when waiting in line for the bus, when it is your turn to board, simply step to the side, and let others go around you, maintaining your spot at the front. You can simply say you are waiting for the next one. When the next bus came in 25 minutes, we were first on board and sat very front right. I'm really glad we did too, cause the it would not have been nearly as fun not to see those views. Plus the bus gets very crowded, and the last 25 people to board don't even get a seat, but have to stand in the middle.

If your budget allows for hiring a private driver, that would be a fun way to travel. But the bus is very cheap, and basically takes you along the same road to Amalfi (or further). From there, we took a ferry back to Sorrento, and those views were awesome also. We were there in September, and arrived to about 30 people waiting in the bus line at 9am. As the first 30 boarded and took seats on the right side of the bus, it was apparent we would not be on the view side. Buses come about every half hour, so it was well worth the wait to be first for the next one. For people on the left side, the ride was basically worthless. To tell the truth, if I did not have the "front right" seats, I would simply hire a driver if my budget allowed.

What time of year and what time of day did you go? Is there always people standing in the aisle. How do people see anything? That makes me think about hiring a driver.

My wife and I hired a driver to take us down the Amalfi Coast and it was worth every bit of the cost. People staying at the same hotel as us took a bus tour down the Amalfi Coast, but we got to see and do much more then them. The email address for the taxi company is [email protected] Rick talks about them in his book and on his show. Ask to have Tony as your driver he was ours and was wonderful.