What is the best method to get from Rome to Sorrento? Seems the train takes most of the day, because if it route. Are there shuttles or busses or something else?
Most of the day? It's just over an hour from Rome to Naples by train on the fast trains; from Naples Centrale, take a Circumvesuviana train (a commuter train to Sorrento) - just over an hour from Naples to Sorrento.
http://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule#
You don't say when you are going so this reply may not be helpful at all. The Freccia (fast train) from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale is indeed fast but it is also comfortable. You'll be seeing more countryside than tourist sites but that is beautiful in its own way. The Circumvesuviana is my least way to get to Sorrento and I go out of my way to avoid it. Private car service, depending on how many in your group, can be a good answer. Your hotel can arrange that for you. I also like taking the boat across the bay. I first did that a few years ago and haven't even considered another way. I felt like my vacation time started that much earlier. The boat is comfortable enough, the views are something you aren't going to get from the train, or the car. Down side: they don't run that frequently. So, I take advantage of the pier's seeing, seating, eating and drinking options. The wait isn't so bad after all.
thanks for the advise.
I second the frecca train from Rome to Naples. I STRONGLY agree with avoiding the local (Circumvesuviana) from Naples to Sorrento. I say this from experience. We had to use this run down train on our way to Sorrento to Naples in 2015. It was one panhandling group after another. Rowdy young men jumped on and off since there was no conductor taking tickets or monitoring behavior. People attached their luggage to rails with locks so someone couldn't snatch them and jump off the train quickly. I will never ride that train again!!! That being said, to take the ferry from Naples to Sorrento, you have to figure out how to get to the harbor from the train station. I think when I first looked into it, there were buses that went to the harbor. Arriving in Sorrento's harbor would mean you could lunch at Delfinos on Marina Grande! It is wonderful, and they will give you a free limencello if you show Ricks book.
(shrug) I live in a city where I get hit up by homeless people for spare change all the time. So I guess this sort of thing on the circumvesuviana would seem no big deal to me, although I don't recall that happening to me (it was some years ago). But I had no trouble at all with the circumvesuviana, and I took it back and forth between Naples, Sorrento, and back to Pompeii and Naples and back a couple of times. Who cares if the train is old? It's just a mode of transportation.