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Sorrento vs. Salerno (or both)

Posted by (Lafayette, Indiana) on

Four of us (2 couples-70 years old, in good shape, like to walk) will be visiting the Naples/Amalfi coast area in late September-early October for 6 days. We will be arriving from Florence by train. We want to visit the Amalfi coast, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri, WWII sites and Paestum. We will not have a car and will take the train/bus/ferry to some locations, especially Capri. I would prefer to stay in one, or at most two towns during this time. We will leave the area traveling to the port of Naples to catch a 10pm overnight ferry to Palermo. It looks like our best choices of places to stay are Salerno, Sorrento, Amalfi or a combination of two of these. What do you all think and do you have any lodging recommendations? Thanks.

Posted by
9305 posts

How many nights? (For 6 days you need 7 nights)

We like both Sorrento and Salerno

I would recommend
Salerno 4 nights
Easiest to get there by train from Florence
Visit Amalfi coast by ferry
Visit Paestum by train

Then
Sorrento for 3 nights
Vist Capri
Visit Pompeii, Herculaneum

Ferry to Naples port

Posted by
8712 posts

Sorrento has many hotels, but it books up six months and more in advance. You cannot expect this area to be quiet after American Labor Day! You may want to consider access to public transit as well as price in selecting hotels.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=sorrento+hotel

Read up on the gritty local commuter train that you use for many daytrips from Sorrento. Very inexpensive, but crowded and hot. In my opinion, the beaches in this area (none really in Sorrento, which is built on a cliff) are inferior to most coastal towns in the USA. Also remember that southern Italy is not as well organized as many places in northern Europe.

There is a host of information on this newsboard, because your questions come up weekly here. For example, the Blue Grotto is frequently described as a "huge time-sucker", and hugely dependent on weather and wave height. Because we'd seen a similar grotto in Croatia, we skipped the one in Capri.

Posted by
1734 posts

I agree with both posters, and ChristineH has a good suggestion about splitting your time in 2 places, though you seem to have more things you want to do from Sorrento than from Salerno?

Question - How many nights is this trip? You arrive after mid day into Salerno, let's say as you took the train from Florence. Is that day 1 / 6? It's a tight squeeze in an area famous for poor transport options and you've put quite a few places on your wish list. I would look at some day tours to get the most out of your visit. (Use the search bar above for day tours on the AC.) In Pompeii, we were impressed with a 2.5 hour tour with Askos Tours first thing in the morning before it got crowded, then we spent the rest of a long day there. Hope you have a fabulous trip!

Posted by
9305 posts

You could do Salerno 3 that gives you 2 full days
Maybe get a driver to combine Paestum and WW2 sites on same day
One day ferry to Amalfi town and up to Ravello
Arrival day is mostly spent on travel from Florence

Take a ferry around to Sorrento for 4 nights- you will see the Amalfi coastline past Positano etc

That leaves 3 full days— 1 for Capri, 1 for Pompeii and Herculaneum (a lot for 1 day)
And 1 in Sorrento to relax a bit til heading to your Palermo ferry

As for lodging I would start looking now on Booking.com to see what is even available in either town
Use the filters for budget, amenities like elevator, AC etc
It will still be very busy late Sept-Oct
We were there at that time last fall and it was just as busy as it was when we were there in May a few years ago-maybe even busier

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