Sorrento/Amalfi Coast/Rome

We did something similair in May. Stayed in Sorrento 3 nights, then went to Rome. The mistake we made was touring Pompeii en route to Rome. It turned out there was some sort of strike by the Pompeii staff that day, and the site didn't open until noon. We had prebooked a guide to meet us at 10 am, and had prebooked cheap train tickets from Naples to Rome for 3:30. We ended up rushing our tour which was a disappointment. My advice would be to tour Pompeii during one of your days in Sorrento, returning to Sorrento to sleep. It's an easy 25 min train ride. We too went to Capri on our of our Sorrento days, for me it was not worth the time, effort or money. Very, very touristy, expensive and busy. Others will say they enjoyed it, but be warned! We took a cab up to Anacapri, then the chairlift to the top, then hiked down to Anacapri and taxi back down to Capri. The chairlift hike was fun. We used Raffael Monetti as a driver for the Amalfi coast, he was fantastic, his contact info is in Rick's book.If you only have seven nights, I would spend 4 or 5 of them in Rome. You can PM me if you want more info. Enjoy your trip!

When I go there I really like to stay in Positano, which is a pearl, however I agree that Sorrento is a better logistic choice for transportation. You can visit Capri on one of the many boat excursions that take you to the island and the Grotta Azzurra (blue grotto). That's a day excursion and you shouldn't go to Capri on your last day with your luggage. The excursion company may not be able to accommodate your suitcases on the small boats. On your Amalfi coast tour, spend more time in Positano. Amalfi has a nice Duomo, but Positano is amazing. If you have lots of luggage don't tour Pompeii on the way to Rome from Sorrento. That's too much hassle and I don't even know if there are locker rooms where to leave your luggage while you visit the site. Just stay an extra night at Sorrento and leave directly from the Sorrento hotel the next morning. From Sorrento to Rome with public transport you need to reach the Naples Central Station. That's about one hour via Circumvesuviana commuter train or 45 minutes with a taxi. If you have a lot of luggage and 5 people, I'd take a taxi or driver to Naples.
In Naples you can take a high speed train to Rome and be there in just over 1 hr. It's faster than any other option but it's 43 euro ($60) per person one way in 2nd class. So you are looking at a family cost of 200+ euros for train, plus at least 70 euros for a taxi from Sorrento to Naples, plus let's say another 20 euros from Rome Termini station to your Rome hotel (So 300 Euros which is $400). Of course the slower trains (Intercity) will be almost half price but twice the time (2 hours). Ask your driver how much he'd charge you to drive your family all the way to Rome and decide. Or you might even see if you can rent a car in Sorrento and drop it off in Rome (of course driving in and around Naples will definitely not look like Kansas!)

There is a free left luggage facility at the entrance to the Pompeii site.

Kelly, First fly open-jaw (multi destinations button) into Naples,and out of Rome. On arrival at Naples (Capo) airport, take the (Curreri Viaggi.it) Bus directly to Sorrento. Cost E10,00 P/P The bus is outside the terminal and tickets are purchased on the bus. This is not a "bus" its a motorcoach so there is plenty of room for your luggage (stored below). It lets you off in Piazza Tasso.
For the return journey, the Circumvesuvian is probably your least expensive choice. E4,00 P/P It may not be the most comfortable 45 minutes but gets you right to the Naples train station. The regional train to Roma termini takes 2h04m (E9,00) while the fast train is 1h10m (E19,00) Trenitalia.it is the site you would look this up on, but times and fares for March won't be posted till Dec. Hope this is of some help. Have fun planning

The Curreri airport shuttle bus drops you at Sorrento railway station.

Thanks for your advice everyone! All of the information you posted is very helpful!

My vote is 4 nights for Sorrento. It's our favorite place in Italy and it's wonderful. I don't see in your plans where you allow for a day in Sorrento, it deserves one. We've been 3x recently and stay a week each time, can't get enough of it.

i hope no one minds me piggybacking on this post, but i have a question regarding these exact arears and it seems redundant to make a new thread. i am going to be traveling from rome to naples to sorrento to bari. from rome to sorrento, i need to transfer in napoli. sorrento to bari is the same thing. should i be staying in naples for my naples part of the trip? or.....since i have to stop there twice anyway, should i just plan to do naples as two layover day trips? what i want to do in naples: pompei/herculaneum/vesuvius - i realize this is a full day trip. i could arrive early from sorrento and my train to bari doesnt leave naples until 22:00, which gives me plenty of time. on my way to sorrento from rome, i could arrive in naples early am. i believe i could see everything else i want to see (capella sanservero, egg castle, fontanelle cemetary and the duomo). or i could just spend two nights in naples? any thoughts?