Fellow travelers,
After spending 23 nights further north in Italy in October my wife and I are considering driving a rental car from Montepulciano (we will have gotten the car after a visit in Siena) and dropping it off near the Naples train station. The A1 highway goes east of Rome and Google says the route takes about 4 hours. It seems like a good use of a day’s rental car as bus/train connections aren’t too convenient nor is returning the car to Siena. Does this make sense to those familiar with Italy?
We enjoy museums and historic sites so we are planning to spend three nights in Naples (a day to Pompeii/Herculaneum/ and a day in Naples for the Archeological Museum, Rick’s Walks, etc..).
Then I’m considering a stay in the Rick recommended town of Ravello on the Amalfi coast. If the weather looked good maybe we could make a detour in late October to visit Capri for either a day trip or spend the night on Capri or in Sorrento and then take the bus via Positano to stay in Ravello the next night. Then get to Salerno and take the train to Rome for our final five nights. I wish we had two, three or more days for this area but we don’t. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
5220 posts
First of all I'd recommend dropping off the car near the airport and not the train station; drivers and traffic in Naples are a next level of crazy. Yes to Pompeii AND Herculaneum as well as the museum. If you have time, also visit the Villa of Oplontis which is one train north of Pompeii Scavi. I'd take extra days in Capri in a heartbeat over the Amalfi Coast, we loved it there. We actually based ourselves in Sorrento for 2 weeks in 2023 and did daytrips from there. It's a good transportation hub to get you to ask the place you're thinking of. Next visit we're going to plan for a few days in Capri.
Here's my Trip Report if you're interested. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-2-weeks-of-day-trips-from-sorrento
Posted by
5976 posts
Agree, I would drop the car at NAP.
With five nights for the area, I would let the weather dictate. If you are enjoying Naples, just stay there (or maybe check the forecast in case you need to reverse the stays). I would not do any one-night stays, so I would look at pics and activities and decide if you want the Amalfi Coast OR Capri.
Posted by
OP
Minnesota, USA
27 posts
Allan and Valadelphia, thanks for the input. I’ll look into a car rental drop at NAP. Staying in Naples five nights instead of three would make things simpler. I could also consider staying in Sorrento for two nights in case we day trip along the Amalfi coast by bus. Then take a train to Rome afterwards.
Allan, thanks for sending your trip reports.
I’ll need to plan a longer stay in the area for another time, but Naples has some sights of interest to us for at least three nights.
Posted by
5976 posts
Don't rule out Salerno. It has many fans here and two nights there would allow you to visit the AC by ferry (ferry runs into October). Try to avoid bus if you can (I have zero snobbery about buses, but I'd take a ferry over a bus on this route any time).
You could also keep the car in Salerno--I am not advocating driving on the AC necessarily, but you could drive it south. (Or if traffic looks light, go for it!)
Posted by
Seattle, WA
558 posts
Two things cross my mind.
First, I am having trouble counting your nights. ... and what that means for your days
10 nights:
- 3 nights in Naples (one day in Naples and one day for Pompeii/Herculaneum)
- 2 nights in A/C area: Sorrento or Capri (one night) + Ravello (one night). Then bus/ferry/private car transfer to Salerno for train to Rome.
- 5 nights Rome (4 days - this part makes sense)
Does 1 day and two nights to cover the Amalfi Coast and possibly Capri work for your style of travel? Even if you were to somehow use your Pompeii day to get down to Sorrento (rather than return to Naples), and reduce Naples to two nights and spend one night in Sorrento, one night on Capri and one night on the actual AC, how does it all work? I don't know, but I am asking the question. I have only once been to Naples and other parts of Campania (The Cilento, but not the AC to speak of, really. We merely took a very quick peek from Vietri sur Mare and a mile or so west of there, the day we drove from the Cilento coast to Paestum and then past Salerno and up to Naples.)
Second, I have returned a rental car to the airport at NAP (just last year). That is a little hair-raising too. With one way roads, streets we could not cross to make left turns and U-Turns we could not make, plus insane traffic and the need to gas up the car right before returning it, I suggest that you add one or even two hours to whatever plan you have in mind.
FWIW - and it may not be much - look at our TR (the third "reply" to self) that discusses our 2 nights in the Cilento plus 4 nights in Naples incl. Pompeii and Ischia. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel BTW, while our TR concludes with the weather gods smiling on us, it avoids mentioning the downpour we had in Naples one day and the sprinkles in Pompeii on another day - in late April. I don't think you can count on good weather for your brief October trip.
Perhaps some of the advice we got from the Forum in planning our visit to Naples and environs might be of interest to you. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/naples-and-environs-suggestions-per-favore (My one caution on this latter post is that we found the Capodimonte Museum to be disappointing ... 17th Century art did not ring the bell for us and Caravaggio's Flagellation of Christ was out on loan when we went.)
These links may not be as useful as Allan's TR, but they are offered in the same spirit.