Stay in Naples or Sorrento?

We spent 11 days in Sorrento in April and loved it. It's also closer to Pompeii and Capri than Naples is. You can always zip up via train to Naples on a daytrip. The Archeological Museum is a nice tie-in after visiting Pompeii.

Stay in Sorrrento, it's a great base for all the locations you want to visit and will be more relaxing in the evening than Naples. Take the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii and Naples for your day trips.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/staying-in-naples-3923195a-01ef-40fb-876a-2b7ffde99646

So after the above discussion you are in doubt? 😉

I would vote for Sorrento, as it's a comfortable, charming town, with great Restaurants, and just pleasant for ambling around. I'm sure you know that the entire area is congested and crowded, and that there's no efficient, fast mode of transportation, either public or private. I couldn't t imagine commuting back to Naples every night from Pompeii or Capri. I was just in Sorrento this past May, and enjoyed the town, and it wasn't too congested. However, everything around was already very crowded mid- May. Could you travel a bit earlier?
Also, seeif David's Gelato in Sorrento has gelato-masking classes; we missed them. That is by far the best gelato I have ever had.

Personally, I don't think the drive to the AC is worth the hassles: 4.5 hrs is a car or van, and 4.5 hrs exploring very crowded AC towns . I believe you'd get a great view of the AC from the boat to Capri.

Perhaps stay in Naples one night on your way back to Rome, assuming you're flying out of Rome? Or are you flying out of Naples?

Have a safe trip!

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The Pompeii Scavi stop on the Circumvesuviana train line is 27 minutes from Napoli Garibaldi Station and 41 minutes from the Sorrento Station, so for that sight, commuting from Sorrento would take longer.

The trip to Capri is significantly faster from Sorrento (15 to 25 minutes) than from Naples (50 minutes). From looking at a map, I don't think there would be Amalfi Coast views from the Sorrento-Capri ships. There would be no such views from Naples, either.

Lots of folks seem to prefer staying in spiffed-up Sorrento, but Naples has at least a couple of things going for it: it has many worthwhile sights, and its lodging rates are normally a lot less expensive than Sorrento's.

Naples is a significant part of European history. Have you seen the Medici streaming series, or the old movie, That Hamilton Woman? It's loaded with history and art, but also has been deprived of civic infrastructure money by the North-oriented national government for generations. It has a (slightly) third-world approach to parking and driving, and to obedience to government dictates.

Sorrento is a post-war, purpose-built resort town. It has a huge tourist infrastructure, including many cost levels of hotel and restaurants. It is even busy off-season, with reliable demand from rainy places like the U.K. It only has one tiny sand beach, which is located between two smelly marinas. The few luxury hotels on the cliff have private swimming boardwalks reached from their hotel elevators. The city is very walkable.

It is not located on the Amalfi Coast, which has some high-end luxury locations (but mostly pebble beaches), as well as more affordable places that can have hundreds of stairs down to the water.

Pre-pandemic, our five nights at the Ambasciatori in Sorrento were hot and crowded, and we appreciated the fierce air conditioning of the hotel. Last week of May, Pompeii was brutally sunny and hot. The hotel pool was welcome in the evening, then we'd walk to a different restaurant each night.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-2-weeks-of-day-trips-from-sorrento

Thanks everyone for your input. We can’t change the dates as we are getting off a cruise ship in Genoa the 23rd of April. We will stay there a couple of nights then to Cinque Terre for 3 nights, Florence 4 nights, then down to Naples or Sorrento for maybe 4 nights then to Rome for 5 nights. We’re trying to see as much as possible in the time we have. I think we will stay in Sorrento from hearing all your suggestions. I’m open for any other suggestions you might have.

No doubt about it. Stay in Sorrento. You will love it! Beautiful town with lovely streets, restaurants, sights. And it's central to Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Capri.
Stayed in both Naples and Sorrento and there's no comparison. You will be so happy you chose Sorrento.

P.S. Make a day out of Pompeii and the
Archeological Museum in Naples to see all of the treasures that were moved to Naples from Pompeii

We did a week in Sorrento in March and loved it. We flew into, and out of, Rome so we spent the last couple of nights there too. Six nights in Sorrento and two nights in Rome made for a perfect vacation. While in Sorrento we took a day trip to Naples and another day trip to the Amalfi Coast. Other than that, we just enjoyed the charm of Sorrento.

It depends what you want. Sorrento is a resort town with the usual shops selling fridge magnets and all the rest. I wasn’t really expecting that when I went (about 15 years ago) and was pretty underwhelmed. Not sure I’d want to stay in Naples for any length of time. It’s a busy, dirty quite poor city. Fantastic food though and you can’t say it lacks atmosphere.

We are leaving tomorrow for a month in Italy. We are staying 4 days in Sorrento and seeing the sights from there. However, we wanted to see the fabulous archeological museum in Naples and have some of that famous pizza . . . so we are squeezing Naples in on our way to Catania . .

We are taking the morning Circumvesuviana into Naples, stashing our bags in the train station lockers, taking the metro to the museum, then coming back for pizza for lunch, then back to the train station by 4 to catch the bus to the airport. Will that work? Looks good on paper, and in Rick Steves We Trust :)

Thanks again everyone! We decided we’re staying in Sorrento for 4 nights. We’ll try to see everything you have all suggested. I love this forum! It really helps me plan our trips to Europe!

@ Nancichris50 glad to hear you made a decision to stay in Sorrento and I hope you report back after your trip. We stayed in Sorrento in August with the intention of visiting both Naples and Capri but loved Sorrento so much we never did make it to either haha! I hope you enjoy it as well and are able to see all you plan to see. Buon viaggio