If the world hasn’t ended, our Rick Steves tour wraps up May 27 after breakfasts in Rome. Our flight home is June 1 at 11 a.m. from Rome.
That leaves us several days and we would like to explore Sorrento and south of it, the Cilento region (in that region, we want to visit the church of a grandparent in St. Mauro La Bruca.)
I know this is a lot, but we need help deciding how best to plan the trip in terms of transportation, hotels, and sightseeing to make the most out of our time. Any help would be appreciated.
Here is our rough list of Want-To-Sees/Dos:
Sorrento
Pompeii
Capri
Amalfi Coast (in some fashion)
St. Mauro La Bruca
The best coastal town while down there plus a suggestion what to do in Cilento National Park.
At first blush, there seem to be two ways time-wise to do this, and we need to know which makes the most sense, or if there is a better way:
Option 1:
May 27 – Go from Rome, leave early (by trains / need to know how which ones), for a visit to Pompeii (need to know what we do with luggage). From Pompeii, travel to Sorrento (need to know what train etc). Check into hotel (one near city center) and explore town on foot. We could also go straight from Rome to Sorrento and check in and fit in Pompeii in another day. What are your thoughts?
May 28 – Capri for the day. Need to know best way to make a day of this. We are considering renting a Zodiac boat for the day to go ourselves and explore the island (need thoughts on this).
May 29 – Tour the Amalfi Coast for the day (need best route and how to do this) before return to Sorrento.
May 30 – Get rental car (not sure from where – Sorrento, Salerno – and drive to St. Mauro La Bruca and visit old church. From there, we would spend the night in one of the coastal towns nearby in the
Cilento coast. (We need a recommendation)
May 31 – Morning sightseeing, maybe in Cilento National Park, before getting back to Rome. (Need to know how best to do this. Drive to Salerno and drop car off and take high speed train to Rome or drive through to Rome and drop off car there.) We need a recommendation for an inexpensive hotel for the night in Rome. We are doing Rome this night because we will have to catch the plan that leaves at 11 so we should get to the airport early.
June 1 – Need best transportation recommendation to airport.
Option 2: (This option is kind of a reverse of Option 1)
May 27 – Leave Rome early and take high speed train to Salerno, rent car there and drive to St. Mauro La Bruca, visit church, and find hotel for night in the best option of a coastal town (need recommendation.)
May 28 ¬– Spend morning visiting sights in Cilento National Park before heading to Sorrento (need to know if I need to drop car back in Salerno and find way to Sorrento, or if we can drive through to Sorrento and drop car off there.) Also Need best recommendation for best base hotel in city center of Sorrento.
May 29 – Capri and or Amalfi day (need same recommendations for this as Option 1)
May 30 – Whatever we don’t do, Capri or Amalfi.
May 31 – Leave Sorrento and visit Pompeii (need same train info and baggage info as Option 1). Then onto Rome (need same overnight recommendations as Option 1)
June 1 – Need best transportation to airport.