Sorrento to Naples Airport

We spent last night in Naples and then took a taxi to the airport.

If the flight leaves before 2PM, no way I would even consider spending the night in Sorrento.

Beth has the 'no stress' solution

Ask your hotel about a couple of private transfer companies and pick the one with the best reviews. Since you are a group of 3 the cost per person shouldn't be outrageous.

I doubt locals living in Sorrento sleep in Naples when their flights take off before 2 pm. It's a 50 minutes ride after all. You can ask the driver to leave in the early morning to avoid traffic, but sleeping in Naples doesn't make much sense. Imho Packing, Changing hotels and taking a train/bus to Naples is stressful, gettin' on a limo you fully paid in advance online is nothing special.

Incidentally, are you sure the Marozzi bus will be Faster (or cheaper) than the 2 trains? Those buses depart from Rome's Tiburtina Station and I doubt you are staying that far from the city center.

Curreri bus still has 2021 schedules posted. I would use that as my first choice ... but check in 2022.

Hi Jo,
Dario has the best advice, I think. My friends and I had a car service pick us up at our rental apartment in Sorrento the morning of our flight. Worked out perfectly.

We went from Rome to Naples on the fast train, and then private driver from Naples train station to our hotel in Sorrento. The hotel arranged the driver for us. There were 4 of us in 2014, and the cost was about €100, so divided by 4 it wasn't too bad. Not sure how much luggage you'll have, but it is so much easier to manage luggage with a private driver. We took the same driver back to Naples the same day we were due to leave on the train. I'm not familiar with Naples airport, so will defer to others on that advice. Sounds like a wonderful trip!

I think the best suggestion for us ladies would be to stay at a hotel near the airport the day before. Thanks everyone the the help. This is the first stage of planning. Thanks everyone

Curreri bus still has 2021 schedules posted. I would use that as my
first choice ... but check in 2022.

Laura has the best answer. As long as Curreri bus is still available in 2022...if your flight out of Naples is noon or later, you can stay that last night in Sorrento & take the bus the next morning from the Sorrento station. In 2017, we took the 8:30 AM bus (11 Euro apiece), and even with a traffic jam at Castellammare di Stabia, we still made it to Naples Capodichino airport by 10:30, plenty of time for our 12:30 flight to Munich.

Jay, The bus to Naples was my first thought, I just want to make it easy and stress free for my friends. They both have a problem walking too far...In the past have I traveled cutting corners, this will be different with them. We have 2 weeks and they want to see Rome. I will be looking for the best hop on and hop off bus there. I'm trying to plan Rome in a doable way. I've done the bus to Sorrento before, it's easier than train station etc. I picture taking the girls on the bus along the coast and maybe the boat to Capri. I'm open to any suggestions other than Sorrento...Rome being the only must. We may do a lot of people watching and drinking wine at an out door café....

the Hop on Hop off buses in Rome don't get a lot of love on these Forums. Their stops are much too far from what people went so far to see, and they are very slow and unreliable. Sorry...

The stops are so far away because the buses are so large and because of so much pedestrianised area in central Rome.

Good point... I will check the golf cart tours. I know they're not cheap but it might be the best way for them to see Rome What's your feeling on the Sorrento thing? thans

We hired a private driver to take us from Sorrento to Naples where we spent many few nights. The Naples airport is very close to the city so you can stay anywhere in the city. There are fixed rates for taxis in Naples to various locations. Find the list online or a taxi driver may not give you that rate. It happened to us and when we reminded him of the fixed rate, that was what he ended up charging.

Thanks Suki, I will remember that

The Naples airport is very close to the city so you can stay anywhere in the city

Well, I'd skip the districts where half of the local GDP depends on cocaine.

thanks for the heads up Dario

Jay, The bus to Naples was my first thought, I just want to make it
easy and stress free for my friends. They both have a problem walking
too far...In the past have I traveled cutting corners, this will be
different with them. We have 2 weeks and they want to see Rome. I will
be looking for the best hop on and hop off bus there. I'm trying to
plan Rome in a doable way. I've done the bus to Sorrento before, it's
easier than train station etc. I picture taking the girls on the bus
along the coast and maybe the boat to Capri. I'm open to any
suggestions other than Sorrento...Rome being the only must. We may do
a lot of people watching and drinking wine at an out door café....

Jo, the time of year you travel will be a factor in all this, I think. We stayed in Sorrento in early March, when most of the Amalfi Coast was shut down, with Sorrento still hopping pretty good. We did take the bus to Amalfi-town & Positano and with no tourists it was gloriously deserted.

Rome is my favorite city on Earth bar none. First time there in 2010, we had 3 days, decided to partake in the Hop On Hop Off, and it was not great. Rome is to be savored. Much better is to find a great neighborhood, and either hotel, B&B or apartment, and just 'be'. Have potential plans that you could do, but don't have to do. Second time, in February 2017 (we like off-season travel!), we did it right with an apartment for a week. Got a Metro pass. Ventured all over. So many restaurants, gelato shops. You have time--research, research, research.

When travel opens up, Rome is where I'm headed...

I don't agree that 2PM is the crossover point. Partly because the cab from the Sorrento Circumvesiana station to our hotel overcharged us (15 Euro plus tip), it was an easy decision to have our (luxury) hotel order a car from their land-partner, charged to our hotel bill. Shiny Mercedes sedan, driver with a tie. This was some years ago (around June 3), but it was 90 Euros, and well worth it. It's worth it for you too: "don't want to get stressed on our last day."

Sleeping the night before a flight is a huge issue for Positano and east, or for a flight from Rome. It's not such a massive issue from Sorrento. I will say that the tendency of Naples taxi drivers to try and sleaze their way around the (published and downloadable) Flat-rate fares (say) from Naples Centrale to the airport, is stress-inducing - not to mention how the Circumvesuviana is stress-inducing (!)

The other issue is whether you have a single air ticket and will be doing an international check-in in Naples. If you're just flying to (made up ... ) Frankfurt for a transfer, you'll have a trivial check-in in Naples.

We were in Sorrento decades ago and got totally hosed by the short cab ride from train station to the hotel as well. with 3 people I would stay in Sorrento and arrange a car ahead for the trip to the airport. Always build in a little extra time -- I add an hour to the overall time frame and also always have a plan B in mind-- the hotel should be able to arrange reliable transport though -- you don't want your last night in Italy to be at a hotel by the airport unless your flight is very very early. If it is late morning or early afternoon, I'd have a lovely last night in beautiful Sorrento and have a car arranged as early as necessary the next morning.

Over the years we have done it many different ways and my worst experiences have always been the last night by the airport.

You can also get an accomodation in the center of Naples. So You can spend a day in Naples visiting the city and take a taxy to Airport. Taxy take about 20 minutes from the center ti Airport

We were in Sorrento a few years ago, and had a flight out of Naples. We took the ferry! It was fun, and something different. As I recall, we took a city bus from the ferry stop to the airport.

Having experienced Italy's random one day rail strikes at inopportune times, I would never stay far from the airport in Italy on the last night. As your traveling companions are not too mobile, they will likely be exhausted and ready to wind down at that point anyway. (I don't know if the bus system has the same strike system as the trains.) I'm assuming you are flying back to the US starting that day, one way or another. I like to know I have alternatives to get to my final flight(s) home. If your friends are well traveled, just not too mobile, I'd stay in Naples a couple of nights, at least, for the energy and sights. If they are not well traveled, just the last night as Naples scares a lot of people, or just at the airport depending on your companions' likes, etc. You don't say how long you plan to stay in Sorrento...I assume it is for relaxing as, other than the view and souvenir shops, there's not much there other than a transport hub to other places. Well, there's always gelato...

Good luck to you traveling with your friends. I hope you have traveled together before so you know what kind of travelers they are. And as they are not too mobile, remind them to pack light so you are not helping with their luggage all the time. I suggest you read some posts here about traveling with friends so you can have some basic agreements...but then you didn't ask for this side of things so...sorry...but I like everyone to have a nice vacation.

Italy's transit strikes can't be random. They must be announced not less than one week in advance. One of the advantages of staying in an hotel is that you can ask the concierge if there are any train strikes in sight. Just like getting a travel guide written after 1995.

Sorrento is not far from Naples' airport and private means of transport like Curreri buses, cabs and limos have no reason to stop working during a rail strike.

I have never underestimated the drug problems in Naples' outskirts, as I wrote above. But I doubt anyone staying in the right central district of Naples has ever been scared! Scared of what? Drunk English ladies on the wild on the waterfront?

In short, what a misleading post, but it's Just My 2 cents, of course. For sure, Since the OP is already nervous about this part of the trip, there is no need to give wrong information about "random strikes" and make them even more anxious.

If they want to visit Naples then spend a couple of nights there. Or if they want to visit the museum with the works from Pompeii, spend the last day there. But if Naples is not something they want to do then making arrangements for a car from Sorrento would give them a leisurely pleasant last night instead of dinner at a dire airport hotel restaurant and then nothing to do but sit in a hotel room.

We took the ferry from Sorrento to Naples, but we were spending a couple of nights there and going to the opera and visiting the museum. And for us the greatest danger was traffic. Be a defensive pedestrian.

When the flight leaves Naples will be a significant factor in determining where to stay. If its at 620AM or 950AM, makes for a much different situation than if it is a 1PM or 3PM departure.

OP will have to choose a flight factoring cost, number of stops ( 1, 2 or 3) and total travel time.( 14 hrs to 24+)

{ above assumes a NAP-CLT routing}

But that does not help someone who is buying airline tickets months in advance.

One week in advance someone can find a bus, book a private transfer or bite the bullet and decide to travel during the commuters' hours when trains must run even during a strike. In other words it's not a random, last minute disaster that someone can only discover at the station on the day of departure back to US.

Months in advance someone a little paranoid could simply book one of the long distance trains that are guaranteed to run all day long even during a strike. Or, if possible, decide to travel with Italotreno and forget about strikes.

In short, what a misleading post, but it's Just My 2 cents, of course. For sure, Since the OP is already nervous about this part of the trip, there is no need to give wrong information about "random strikes" and make them even more anxious.

From an American tourist's point of view as compared to US strikes, I still say Italian strikes are random. If you are not worrying about going to work, you might not hear about the strike. Tourists are on vacation after all. The strikes are one day affairs that a tourist who misses the sign at the train station or doesn't understand it or hasn't been to the train station for a few days, will not know. Many hotels do not have concierges; mine don't. Knowing this about Italy, I like to plan for all possibilities. Hence, stay near the airport or in Naples for the options it provides.

Naples. I love Naples and would like to spend more time there. However, this forum repeatedly reveals how scared (or you could use nervous, if you prefer) it makes certain people. Emotions are not necessarily rational, but we are all different. Some people don't appreciate the busyness on the streets and the buildings, etc. I love this about Naples. However, what I think and enjoy, and what someone might feel is totally different. As a person who travels solo (and/or is the trip planner for the family) I can appreciate how the OP wants no stress at the end (or at any point) of the day. I cover as many bases as I can to avoid stress when planning my trips. She's worried about logistics so I provided a perspective. Not talking about something, does not help people plan for a non-stressed adventure.

If something announced and authorized in advance by an independent body that mostly happens on Fridays falls into the random category, I am afraid I need a new English-Italian dictionary. You need to check and it's something you wouldn't need in US, that's true.

I guess I'm of the opinion to maximize your visits when traveling. When folks used to ask me about staying out at the Rome Airport (FCO), I'd say... the minute you depart for the airport hotel, your vacation is over. Why waste that last night in Rome sitting at the Airport Hilton. And thus, the same principle applies to Sorrento. You spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars to bring your party over to Europe - why spend the last night in a personality-lacking airport hotel?

So I WOULD coordinate a private car & driver to deliver my party to the airport. A reputable company will get you there. End of story - no worries! Yes, it's an additional cost, but I still want that last night! To me, it's worth the investment and it's the lowest risk, most convenient transport option. (which is probably why it's the most expensive).

As mentioned strikes are random and are announced. But here's a great story about an Amalfi bus strike a few years ago. I had friends staying in Positano with a midday flight from NAP. I referred them to a transport company I knew in the area. On the day of their transfer, a strike was called. The transport company contacted them saying, perhaps we should leave 30 minutes earlier - in case there were any delays. As they departed their Positano hotel, the driver was constantly on the phone, talking to his dispatcher and team. Eventually, they came to a stop - the road was blocked by a number of buses in protest and support of the strike. (And we all know how narrow those roads are!).

The driver then instructed the couple to grab a bag, and with him pulling two bags they headed through the gathering of bus drivers. The protesters yelled at the driver, but he was a local and he gave it back, telling them that he had a job to do also. He cleared the buses and walked through the waiting traffic to a car pointed in the opposite direction (towards Naples). He had called ahead and had another team member waiting for my friends on the other side of the blockade... They hopped in that car and headed off to the airport, arriving early and in plenty of time to make their plane. Now that's customer service and why Gianluca will always have my business!

I know of folks who have coordinated car/drivers to pick them up at 11 AM, drop them at a famous pizza place in Naples, wait by the parked car with the luggage while the clients dined... and then drive them to the airport or train station. The same goes for a stopover at Pompeii on the way to the airport! There's a lot of different ways to use a car/driver to get you to the airport on time.

So yes, choose the right driving company - and there are plenty on the Amalfi Coast - and they'll get you there.