Sorrento 2018

Sorrento is a little "tricky" for transportation. It's less than a 10-minute walk from the main piazza to the train station, up the hill. I never went down to the sea but I did see elevators about a 5-10 minute walk from the main piazza down to the shore and the ferries.

To get to Naples and Pompeii, best is the Circumvesuviana train (it's really a tram). To Capri, you'll need to go down to the ferry. If you want to visit the Amalfi Coast towns, there are buses and ferries from Sorrento.

So the most convenient would be in the town center but that would probably be expensive and not likely to have a pool. There are likely to be more options higher up the hill, above the train station, but then it will be a long walk to get to the train station, ferry landing, and into town in the evenings for dinner. Having a car in Sorrento would be a pain in the butt and a really really bad idea for a trip to Naples and probably not much fun driving the Amalfi Coast when it's crowded.

I agree with Chani. No car. Public transportation. I cannot help with villa but we stayed in hotel Antiche Mura. It has a swimming pool in a lemon orchard. The hotel is 3 minutes walk from Piazza Tasso (the main square in Sorrento). Train station less than 10 minutes (it is only slightly uphill toward the end of walk). There is also bus station in front of train station - you will board your bus to Amalfi coast there. From train station you will go by Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii. That train goes all the way to Naples. But I would recommend to go by boat to Naples. It's much more scenic and pleasant. The train is hot and usually there are some passengers who are competing pickpockets. Connection to Capri obviously only by boat.
Originally we planned 3 nights in Sorrento. We liked it so much that we stayed five.

In a few years, I don't ever remember discussion of a villa rental in (postwar, resort town, lots of reinforced concrete) Sorrento. If you expand your search to less well known surrounding towns, you might find something in your low price range. This is a high demand location, that does not look like a rural village, but more like Nice, maybe. A car is a serious hindrance in Sorrento. Three cars are laughable in Sorrento! You will need an oversize vehicle if you buy some group transfers or tours, for example to Positano.

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded. I picked Sorrento based on comments I've been reading on this forum, but I'm also open to suggestions. Sounds like we need to decide if we want to be walking distance to trains, shops, restaurants, or further in the countryside for the lodging options. I have printed off everyone's very helpful responses!

Look at www.booking.com and set up your parameters for filtering properties. You'll be able to see all lodging on a map. I would do a quick look now for September/October 2017 only just to get a feel for prices and what's available. It is way too early to book a late 2018 property now...for one thing, a lot of places won't put their listings (or accurate prices) up this far in advance. You have plenty of time so just use it to research the types of properties you like or narrow it down to specific ones. But wait to actually book until next year.

We only considered traditional hotels, but I don't think you should wait any later than April to book in Sorrento. This is a high-demand area, with may repeat visitors. We had to take our sixth hotel choice, and that was at least three months in advance. I agree that October is shoulder season, but I don't think there's a reall LOW season in Sorrento.

To add to my previous reply, I was not so much "slamming" Sorrento by mentioning the reinforced concrete apartment buildings and so on. It was more that I was trying to point out that it is a pleasant (not "gorgeous") purpose-built resort city. It is not an unspoiled, forgotten corner of Italy, with wooden houses you saw in Band of Brothers. They close some of the downtown streets every evening to preserve the Passeggiatta, and maybe enhance restaurant and merchant business. We enjoyed our five night stay in an expensive, cliffside hotel with an elevator down to the private, large wooden swimming platform (on pilings) in the Bay, just at the bottom of our cliff. For the cheaper hotels in Sorrento, forget about walking to swimming, unless they have a pool.

We stayed in Sorrento for its excellent access to public transit. Even so, we paid for a car service back to the Naples train station, because we'd been overcharged for a taxi in Sorrento, and the Circumvesuviana was so hot (end of May) and crowded - more crowded than the New York City subway.

While I can't recommend a specific property, I can provide some feedback that may help you judge locations on the VRBO map. Both the cathedral and the Museo Correale are in downtown Sorrento. For purposes of assessing distance, walking time between them is about a leisurely 15 minutes. Anything along the yellow road closest to the water (SS145) or anything between it and the water would be easy walking, although you may encounter a few steepish streets close to Marina Grande. As you get outside the closest yellow road, you'll start to encounter some steep narrow winding streets. As you get too far right (north) of the Museo Correale, your walk to downtown will start to get long. You're correct that a lot of the properties showing up in a Sorrento search are not within walking distance of downtown.

You mention a villa, but to be close to downtown you may have to settle for a nice-sized apartment. For example, I saw a 1,722 sq. ft. 3 bed - 3 bath apartment near Piazza Tasso (main square) listed for $352 per night in late September this year. Trade-off for its prime location is no pool.

You sound like me last year when booking a vacation for 8 of us(4 couples) and wanted to book a villa that had kick butt views but also walking distance to Sorrento center, after many, many hours of research I came up dry except for a place in the city center but no views, no pool.
When 1 couple dropped out we decided that a small B&B would be better so we would have that intimate feel we were looking for but not an expansive hotel that we got lost in, we came up with Marina Piccola73, below the cliff but right on the waters edge... we hope it fits the bill, leaving in 2 weeks! Good luck with you search...

How long are you planning to be in the area? With 6 nights or more, I'd split between Sorrento and Salerno. Use Sorrento as a base for Pompeii, Naples and Capri. Explore the Amalfi Coast and Paestum from Salerno. Trenitalia goes to Salerno.

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful replies. You've all given me some good information to share with my friends. Not sure how long we'll be in the area. We're now considering maybe a week in Sorrento/Salerno before going on another Rick Steve's tour (maybe Best of Sicily).

Hello
We are going to Sorrento in 4 weeks and 1 day...can't wait! Haven't been there in 20 yrs and originally the trip was also 3 couples and we were looking for something similar to you, now its just 2 couples. Couldn't find it, not with a pool and not prime location. We are staying at Plaza Hotel (pool, view, everything we wanted) for 200 E a night. Our first two picks were already taken almost a year out (slightly less expensive) Suggest you start looking and book something sooner than later. A pool is a great finish to the tropical days of walking Pompeii, hiking, etc and we did not compromise on it. We are also in our early 60's and walk/hike constantly. Don't consider a car, no where to park, rely on public transportation. Good luck. If you want to message me in October when we return, I can let you know how the hotel was, but it did get very good reviews on everything I saw.

I cannot help with villa but we stayed in hotel Antiche Mura. It has a
swimming pool in a lemon orchard. The hotel is 3 minutes walk from
Piazza Tasso (the main square in Sorrento). Train station less than 10
minutes (it is only slightly uphill toward the end of walk). There is
also bus station in front of train station - you will board your bus
to Amalfi coast there.

We've stayed at Antiche Mura as well and can highly recommend it. It has a pool and outdoor garden area, and great staff. We spent some quality time lounging poolside in the garden with some other guests after a long, hot day in Pompeii on our early October visit. Didn't get IN the pool but the surrounds was plenty pleasant enough.