Sorrento car rental drop off

Holy bleep! I just looked and that week is crazy expensive regardless of where you drop it off. It's almost twice as expensive as the previous month.

I plugged in April 3-10th using Auto Europe, the rates I see for a small SUV
Bari -NAP $504 + €13 Curreri Viaggi bus ticket for 90-120+ minute ride to Sorrento train station
Bari-Naples Train Station $504 + €5 for 75 minute train ride to Sorrento train station
Bari-Salerno $506 + somehow get to Sorrento. The train is inconvenient but cheap. Bus takes a while. Driver is $$
Bari-Sorrento $667

I know I'm not including taxes but I know which one I'd pick if I was spending thousands of dollars on a European vacation

One thing in your OP... you mention "quite a few luggage". If there's one thing I would try to stress is my heartfelt advice to pack light; especially with a family. A large carry-on size wheelie or travel backpack each is plenty for a warm weather trip and the lack of luggage is really liberating.

You are traveling the week before and the week after Easter. This is prime holiday time for Europeans, thus greater demand for cars. Also, expect huge crowds and even more traffic congestion in the AC/ Sorrento areas. Good luck!

I wouldn’t want to drive into Sorrento
Driving in to Salerno will be much easier/less stressful

What is the cost if you drop in Salerno and hire a driver to Sorrento?

northstar, you have not explicitly said that you wish to sleep in Sorrento. Is that the case? If so, I personally would not drop the car in Salerno and pay 200 Euros (did not research exact number) with more luggage than will fit in a SEDAN's trunk. It is very far from Salerno to Sorrento.

It is perfectly true that Sorrento is hard to drive in (not as hard as Naples), but if you avoid the Passeggiata time when they close several main streets, it can be done. Have to look up ZTL issues. April is not quite as busy as May and beyond. Note that this area books up heavily six months or more in advance. Do not delay booking a hotel, as well as the car.

Edit: Every time we left our hotel to stroll to dinner in Sorrento (edge of town, cliffside luxury), we saw a slow-moving line of cars waiting to enter an underground parking garage. I presume they had no other choice.

"I wouldn’t want to drive into Sorrento"

I'll grant you that everybody's comfort level with driving is different. But the (probable) rental return is like a block from the train station. It's basically a straight shot into town. It's nothing different than the driver would have experienced over a week of Italian driving.

edit: I did take a look, and you just exit the Autostrada at SS145 which just becomes Corso Italia where the rental office is. But again, everyone has different levels of comfort.

Thanks for the replies. Just by searching on the web for quotes, hiring a driver from Salerno to Sorrento for us would cost around 150 euros, similar if I were to be dropped off Amalfi or Maiori instead.

We don’t necessarily have to stay in Sorrento but will at least staying a couple of nights there and the rest could be on the Amalfi coast (which might be more expensive). I have 4 nights booked in Sorrento but I can change it.

My original plan was to return the rental in Bari and Flix Bus to Naples then get a transfer/taxi to Sorrento. But driving directly to Sorrento is tempting as it’s “simpler” although I have to get used to non-North American driving pretty quick!

I agree with Chris. Driving to Sorrento is not that difficult, certainly not more difficult than anywhere else you will have been driving in Puglia. The two lane highway from the freeway exit at Castellammare di Stabia to Sorrento is a good one, and all rentals are on Corso Italia, the Main Street into the city (basically the continuation of the highway you will be coming from). In your case, if you stay in Sorrento, returning the car in Sorrento is probably to most convenient option and likely the least expensive.

Check your rental options on www.autoeurope.com. Select a station wagon, because that is the category of car that will have a larger than average cargo space, without having to rent an expensive minivan. Even a small SUV, is likely to have less cargo space. Most compact SUV or crossovers in Italy are Stellantis cars, often made in Italy (Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade, Jeep Compass, Opel Mokka, all very popular SUV models in Italy). The Jeep Compass has a decent cargo space but the others do not, they are really compact (I’ve rented all those models over the past few years). Last summer I had 4 adults and rented a Ford Focus Station Wagon (a car Ford does not make for the North American market), it’s a very long station wagon and the cargo space was just as large as my Subaru Outback SUV (a very long SUV) I drive in the the US.

Choose the category on the AutoEurope webpage, but call their 1-800 number as well, the AutoEurope agents are very helpful and will make sure you get the right size car for your needs. In any case limit your luggage to one carryon size suitcase per person plus maybe a personal item (like a backpack).

Also don’t forget to get an International Driving Permit at AAA (mandatory in Italy) and to learn about the rules of the road, including ZTL Also use Waze as navigator as it will warn you of the ubiquitous speed cameras and mobile highway police and Carabinieri traffic checks. The Italian police forces can stop you and check everybody’s passports at any time and for any reason, even if you commit no infractions (I get pulled over almost every year, but no fines so far)..
Buon viaggio.

https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Italy
https://www.autoeurope.eu/travel-blog/what-are-ztl-zones-in-italy/
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/waze-now-warns-users-of-11-types-of-traffic-cameras-everything-you-need-to-know-246298.html

We picked up a rental car in Sorrento this past Oct- on a Monday morning and I have to say leaving Sorrento was a cluster f…
We are experienced drivers in Italy- this was not our first rodeo.
I can only imagine how the traffic will be during Easter week.

Anyway my point is that if the cost of dropping car in Sorrento is equal or close to the drop in Salerno plus a driver to Sorrento- that would be my choice. A driver will take you directly to your lodging- if your lodging is not close to the Sorrento drop off you have a walk with lots of luggage on very crowded sidewalks or an expensive taxi ride.
Be sure to check the open hours at the rental drop off- they will be closed mid day during the week usually 1ish to 4ish. Close at noon-ish on Saturday and closed on Sunday

Thanks for all the tips. Is renting and driving a station wagon in puglia a bit of a headache too? Tight parking spaces and narrow streets etc.

"Thanks for all the tips. Is renting and driving a station wagon in puglia a bit of a headache too? Tight parking spaces and narrow streets etc."

I think the biggest factor is just getting comfortable with how tight space is. Italian drivers are used to operating their vehicles in much closer quarters than even big city American drivers. Even on the autostrada you frequently won't see massively wide shoulders, and in towns, you'll be passing parked cars, pedestrians, and oncoming vehicles at clearances that will initially give you "the willies". In the states it would be considered rude and unsafe to pass so closely, but this is just normal daily driving for Italians. You'll quickly get used to it if you choose a right-sized car with good visibility. You just learn to trust where your car fenders really are.

As far as which car to choose, a station wagon makes good sense for the reasons mentioned. in general, pick the smallest vehicle that you can comfortably squeeze your crew and their (hopefully limited) luggage into. Something like a Hyundai Tucson will seem oversized on some streets. Narrowness is your friend and slab sided vehicles are better than rounded bulgy fenders.

Parking takes a tiny bit of getting used to as well but it's not really a big deal. Learn the color codes, pay attention to posted street cleaning schedules, and use the EasyPark app to pay and add time remotely.

I don’t drive so I think I offer a unique perspective: The roads and parking spots of Italy are not appreciably different from roads and parking spots in the US. While you may have some slight anxiety about doing everything right, if you can drive at home, you can drive in Italy. Learn the rules and then do what works for your family.
My husband is the driver, and he regularly astounds me by choosing small SUVs on our vacations, yet he manages to park it just like he would a vehicle at home. I use google maps on the phone to navigate.
You are prudent to not drive into Naples; the rest is all fine.

I learned how to drive in Italy and my friends and neighbors in California are amazed at how I can park and maneuver a car in tight spaces. Obviously a long station wagon, such as the Ford Focus station wagon, which is 184 inches long, will be more difficult to parallel park than a Smart, if the spaces are short. So occasionally, but very rarely, I had to leave available spots to others who had smaller cars, but, thinking about the public parking lots where I parked in Puglia, over 90% of them were not parallel parking, but rather perpendicular parking, therefore the length of the vehicle was not an issue at all. I remember only two spots where I had to parallel park on the street in the past two years: once in Matera and once in Lecce. However in both cases the spaces between cars were plenty long and that long car could have been parked there even by my wife (who can’t parallel park if life depended in it). Yes roads and streets in Italy are narrower than the typical road in the US, and often there are no shoulders on the right side, therefore you can’t be a distracted driver or you’ll end up in a ditch, however a station wagon, although longer, is not any wider than a typical compact car, so you will have no problem. City streets in historical centers are particularly narrow, but driving in historical c’enters is forbidden to non residents, so you must park at lots outside the historical centers anyhow.

Just stay focused on the driving, regardless of the size of car you rent. Italians are aggressive drivers, so you must be a defensive driver, always on alert.

This discussion of commanding our mighty steel steeds does not reckon with the actual LACK of street parking spaces in the towns of the Amalfi Coast. When we hired a car and driver for 8 hours (from Sorrento), our driver always pulled into the aisle of a (full) tiny parking lot, and was playing cards with his friends when we returned. Many towns had about four parking spaces at "the beach" (such as it was), and they were of course, full.

I think this might be one case where April is no different from May, when we found the line for the next bus to Positano to ALWAYS be longer than would fit onto the next, half-hourly SITA bus.

To cover the opposing view, I do remember a post in the last two years from someone who planned to park near the Sorrento marina, and was happy about his experience. I think this is it:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/parking-sorrento

It sounds like they were going to drop the car on arrival in Sorrento.

I don’t think they plan to have a car on the Amalfi coast where indeed parking is scarce and expensive. Their plan was to return it upon arrival in Sorrento (or possibly Salerno).

Finding parking in Puglia is absolutely no problem whatsoever. There are plenty of parking lots and/or parking structures which can easily accommodate vans, within not too distant walks from the city centers. If you tell me what towns you want to visit in Puglia I have several parking lots saved in my GoogleMaps favorites in every town in Puglia, that I can share.

Since you plan to have a car, for the towns you want to use as a base it is always a good idea to find accommodations outside the historical center (generally forbidden to cars) with parking or at least parking arrangements with a nearby garage or lot.

Yes we will drop off the rental in Sorrento (no other parking needed unless we arrive when the rental company is closed) and won’t drive around the Amalfi Coast.

I have driven in Provence and Côte d’Azur so maybe I can use that experience for southern Italy.

Planning to go to Bari, Matera, Alberobello, Ostuni, polignano etc in Puglia.

My saved parking lots:

Matera:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/2uYXsMSVnYo6LdMi8
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pKZQdUgYFKwJM8Lk8?g_st=ic
(ended up parking in the streets instead)

Alberobello:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/snip5rFF7mXbRQwb8?g_st=ic
https://maps.app.goo.gl/R1Q6htZ9bxnWKiVW8?g_st=ic
(The latter is closer to the core of town but fills up quickly)

Locorotondo:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YGm3HB2TvdM5nyAx5?g_st=ic

Polignano:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fvhWvHd8pRPNEFBcA?g_st=ic

Monopoli:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/VwmPAHyJvGsUuqf29?g_st=ic

Ostuni:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jpPahFsqofZeRu887?g_st=ic

Lecce:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZidrdhnVtf2A6tTVA?g_st=ic

Vieste:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/UUjYPK5znroAdM8u5?g_st=ic

Gallipoli:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/KAzrpbBk4VkFfc9WA?g_st=ic

Otranto:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/eYGTS97J3k289dzk9?g_st=ic

Remember:
Blue stripes on the asphalt= pay parking
White stripes on the asphalt= free parking
Yellow stripes on the asphalt= restricted parking (handicapped, residents only, emergency vehicles only, etc. Don’t park if the stripes are yellow.)

Are you picking up in Bari? The in-town or airport locations are both fine, but that’s the one place I would avoid driving excessively, but if you have to, just find a garage.

I would add that if you fly to Bari (or arrive to Bari via train), visit Bari for the number of days you deem necessary without a car, THEN, on your way out of Bari, pick up the rental car.