Staying in new town of Pompei vs near Sorrento

Month and year? Sorrento books up six to nine months in advance.

I have only stayed in Sorrento, the BEST location for daily daytrips. Sorrento is a purpose-built, postwar resort town on a cliff, with one tiny beach. Pompeii is a modern city with little charm. You have to make the price decision, but why sleep an hour or more from the Capri ferry? Daytime Naples is not unsafe for American tourists, but auto traffic there is aggressive.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-and-vesuvius-69e8366c-1e75-4a14-a0bc-0677269492d1

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your reply. This trip will be in June 2024. To clarify, I have booked the two accommodations described in my post already, so availability isn't an issue, but I am trying to decide which one to ultimately stay at (thereby cancelling the other one - cancellation for both is free at this point). I agree that downtown Sorrento seems ideal, but seems to be out of my price range at this point, with the lowest prices at least $130 CAD/night - I am hoping that I can determine whether Pompei or Sant'Agnello could be a second-best option for me.

Regarding Naples, I suspected as much that it was largely safe, and this is good to hear confirmed. Although I do notice your emphasis on daytime Naples - because of my typical sightseeing schedule, I am likely to be arriving back at my accommodation after dark (likely around 10 pm most nights), so perhaps staying in Naples proper is still not ideal.

I would stay in Sorrento as it has all the Train/bus/boat connections to the Pompeii ruins, the Amalfi Coast, and Naples. Pompeii is 40 minutes from Sorrento on the Circumvesuviano trains. The suburban city of Pompei ( with one letter “i”) does not have much atmosphere— one reason it’s not often recommended in guidebooks even though it’s near an attraction 20 million people visit every year.
Seven Hostel & Rooms in Sant’ Agnello currently has about the same June rates ($110) as Sorrento Deluxe B&B.
Book ASAP.

Given the things you want to do, I would pick the Sorrento location simply for its being a transportation hub, with easier and sometimes faster access to Capri and the AC. And since you will be depending on public transportation, I wouldn't worry about being late for the curfew. With an early morning start (a wise thing to avoid the heat of the day), you should easily be back in Sorrento by early evening.

We were very happy staying in Pompei in April 2022. The hotel we stayed at, The Forum, was across the street from the Amphitheatre entrance to Pompeii, and was as nice a hotel as we've ever stayed in. The street directly in front of the ruins has any number of restaurants and shops - we just walked toward the Duomo from the hotel and turned right. There are multiple restaurants to choose from, and the bars in the piazza in front of the Duomo provide a great view of the action. Our best meal was at Garum.

We chose to stay in Pompei because we/I wanted more than just a couple of hours in Pompeii. We spent most of a day in Pompeii, with another day for Ercolano, Oplontis and Stabiae. We also took a day trip from Pompei to Naples to see the Archeology museum. Speaking as someone who has actually spent a few nights there, I found Pompei to be totally charming.

Pompei seemed perfectly safe to me.

https://www.hotelforumpompeii.com/en/

https://www.garumpompei.it/

cmransom92, you might want to do a virtual walk around each of the properties on google maps so see what the surroundings look like. For instance, I just did a bit around the Villa Regina Circumvesuviana station and Domus San Vincenzo too (if that's where you're staying) and, hands down, Domus San Vincenzo wins for overall more attractive surroundings even if you're not going to be there most of the day. It does look like it could be an 'interesting' walk from the train station tho; another reason I'd figure the best route from the Piano Circumvesuviana station before you got there. Some of the streets are very narrow with little pedestrian space. I don't see another monastery but if I'm missing something, you might be closer to the Sant'Agnello train station than Piano?

One problem is that neither of them appear to have much for restaurants nearby, although the Villa Regina location looks to have two up the road from the station; no idea if they're any good or what their hours are. Really if you can swing it at ALL, I'd try to stay in Sorrento. You'll be closer to more visitor services and the ferries to Capri.

cmransom92, just to be sure you understand, the cheap, hot, jammed, roughly half-hourly, gritty commuter train, Circumvesuviana, that serves the ancient site (Pompeii Scavi-Porta Marina Entrance) and ends one branch in Sorrento, is completely different than the Trenitalia train that continues from Naples to end in Salerno, making up to three stops in MODERN Pompeii City. If one gets off at the closest Pompeii [city] stop, you have an over 1/2 mile walk, or cab ride to a DIFFERENT entrance to Pompeii Scavi, usually the Amfiteatro Entrance.

I mainly wanted to make sure you know that the Trenitalia train does not go anywhere near Sorrento.