I’m going to arrive in Florence on Sunday around noon. I would like go get immediately on a train for Sorrento to stay for the night. On Monday I want to go to Pompeii. Is this feasible or am I pushing too hard? How difficult is a Florence to Sorrento trip? How many transfers? How long time wise will it take?
Quickest by train is Florence to Naples and then transfer to the Circumvesuviana train at Naples and take that to Sorrento. It depends what time of year.
You should search the trenitalia Italian rail site to get an idea if the travel time is too much for you. I am guessing it will take 6 hours Sorrento from Florence. This is too long for my taste. I went to Sorrento last May from Rome and it seemed long
Is there a flight, Florence to Naples? Then take special airport bus directly to Sorrento.
If this is part of your biz trip ( Florence 'workshop' presentation),?
I would suggest going to Naples and do your day at Pompeii from there. Presumably you will be returning to Florence to do your presentation after this?.
Not really necessary to go all the way to Sorrento, if the point of the trip is to see Pompeii. Save some wear and tear on yourself.
rome2rio.com gives you an overview of transport options from FLR to Naples or Sorrento--- https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Florence-Airport-FLR/Sorrento
Honestly, there are a lot of Roman monuments in ... Rome. Have you already been to Rome? As important as Pompeii is to Western culture, this is a long way to go. We didn't get to Pompeii until our fifth trip to Italy. Does your schedule permit Frecciarossa rail service? Still have to change in Naples. Your special case (?) might justify staying across the street from the Porta Marina entrance to Pompeii. (Only maybe 2 options, see Google Maps.)
Edit: We can give better advice if you give us the big picture, including month, year, and budget level. Circumvesuviana service stops after dinner. You might be forced to sleep in Naples, which is not a bad result.
A previous post with background on this trip.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/need-suggestions-for-short-trip-to-italy
It is next month: arriving Florence Nov. 6th - departing Florence Nov. 11th.
Dates and arrival/departure city are locked in; schedule looks like this:
D1/arrive mid-day in. Florence
D2/?
D3/? + rest & prepare
D4/ Teach all day workshop in. florence
D5/?
D6/Early departure from Florence
OP has previously been to Pisa, Florence, Rome and Venice although I don't know how much time was spent in Rome: lots of ground which can be covered there.
Waldenfepher, your challenge is that your workshop and prep day fall middle of trip, requiring you to be in Florence on day 3 and 4. To be honest, I would choose a location much closer to Florence for Day 1 and 2. Sorrento would take roughly 3 hours on a train from Firenze to Napoli, and then another hour on a bare-bones commuter train to Sorrento. This doesn't include your time through immigration (if Florence is your Schengen entry point), transport from airport to SM Novella station, wait times for trains, and transfer/checkin at a hotel. Figure you will likely arrive after dark: sunset on 11/6 is at 4:53 PM.
And it looks like you have to return to Florence the next day, after Pompeii, checking your baggage at the scavi while you sightsee. Pompeii is roughly halfway between Sorrento and Napoli on that same commuter train line.
IMHO, this is not a trip I would take on right off an international flight. If you felt you MUST see Pompeii, I wouldn't go any further than Naples as, with daylight hours being short, you wouldn't see anything of Sorrento at all. Really, we can't entice you with a much easier overnight somewhere closer to Florence? You could probably squeak in two nights if the return trip for day 3 rest-and-prep wasn't very long.
Wow Joe32F and Kathy (and others) .... you folks really pay attention to what gets posted. Nice!! Like guardian angels looking out for me.
So my trip changed a little it now looks like this... [My tenative plans in brackets]
Sun D1/arrive noon in. Florence [Train to Naples, Pompeii or Sorento]
Mon D2/? [Tour Pompeii, Herculaneum]
Tue D3/ [Early train to Rome] Rome overnight
Wed D4/ [1 or 2 Rome sites then noon train to Florence ]? + rest & prepare(from 3 pm on...)
Thur D5/Teach all day workshop in. florence
Fri D6/[Day trips to Orvieto, Siena or San Gimignano]
Sat D7 [Another day trip]
Sun D8/Early departure from Florence
On other similar trips I have been able to spend time in Rome (5 days), Venice (2), Pisa(1/2), Florence (12), Fiesole (1/2). So I really do want to venture off to Pompeii, but I am not locked into Sorrento by any means. Reading Rick's book made Naples sound a little dangerous and not as tourist friendly. I was looking for a place to overnight, but Tim says I can stay at Pompeii, so I will look at that.
Only two weeks out so flying from FLR to NAP looks booked for Sunday afternoon. Overall, I get to go these places so in a few years I can go back with my family and know my way around.
Like guardian angels looking out for me.
HA! Dunno about the halo but we do try to shepherd our fellows as best we can!
OK, your new itinerary is better and it's GREAT than you were able to add some extra days. Still, I wouldn't go all the way to Sorrento on arrival day: you simply do not have time to do anything there. While Naples isn't beloved by all, others have done fine there and it's going to be easier all around. The other plus is that instead of doing Herculaneum, I'd scoot back to Naples after Pompeii and see the archeological museum where many, many treasures taken from the scavi are housed. Having seen the excavation, you'd be viewing them in context of origin, if that makes any sense? Herculaneum is said to be excellent (I haven't had that privilege yet) but you don't have time for all 3. Pompeii is a vast site that can easily take up the lion's share of your day if you're keen on archeology.
Website for the museum:
https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/tickets-and-info/museum-hours-and-prices/
So, you could get to Naples on arrival day and crash. Get on the Circumvesuviana to Pompei Scavi - Villa dei Misteri station from Naples Garibaldi Station (connected to Centrale) the next morning: here's a schedule:
https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule
Do your sightseeing and take the same train back. Then scoot over the museum: open until 7:30 PM. Just a thought? I'm pretty sure you'll get some reassurances about Naples from some of its fans. Sure, you have to keep a grip on your valuables but that pretty much applies to ANY Italian city. :O)
Doing both Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same day is , um, 'ambitious'. I know when I did Pompeii, I had no thought/inclination to head to another site of that sort. You should take the time to do one right and not rush through two.
Your revised plan looks much better than the original.
OK I'll forget Herculaneum and concentrate on Pompeii and the museum in Naples.
Looking at the Rome to Rio site, it shows trains from Florence SMN to Naple with travel time of 2 hrs 52 minutes.
Where do I want to stay in Naples? Near the museum? From reading Rick's book, I want to avoid the train station area.
Where do I want to stay in Naples? Near the museum? From reading
Rick's book, I want to avoid the train station area.
As the Naples hotel question has gotten a little buried in a Sorrento-titled thread, I'd make a new post: think you'll get more responses that way. :O)
Naples Centrale station itself is fine. Somewhat chaotic but cleaner than you would think, always a bunch of animated cabbies in a queue outside. In fact, I would not hesitate utilizing any of them to take you specifically where you want to go in Naples. We used one to take us tout de suite to the Archeological Museum and he was absolutely great--I think it was a regulated 18 Euro. He spoke pretty good English, and would have been an awesome tour guide.
Walden, I mean this in a nice way, but you don't get as good advice when you pick one from Column A and one from Column B, as multiple scenarios and itineraries are spun out! When I mentioned sleeping across from the Porta Marina entrance to the Scavi, I was talking about a dude making a high-speed runout to Pompeii and NOwhere else for one night. (BTW Pompeii has an excellent bag check, but you don't need that with 2 nights in Naples.) Now that we're talking about two nights and a museum or Herculaneum (or better, Oplontis), you SHOULD be staying in the Naples station area (which is all-new, sterile and non-threatening) because it's better for travel speed.
For a guy on your schedule, I would skip the museum (unless you must see the erotic fresco room and the Farnese Marbles, which latter have nothing to do with Pompeii) because it's crowded, time-consuming and open less hours and days than Pompeii. (Check seasonal hours and local sunset.) I mentioned Oplontis because it's less like Pompeii than is Herculaneum and it's 15 minutes closer to the Circumvesuviana station than Herculaneum and it doesn't take as lomg to see every scrap of it.
You don't seem to have found the past posts here that Naples is not a frightening Behavioral Sink of crime and pestilence, but a wonderful cradle of Western Culture (and European history, did you see the old movie "That Hamilton Woman" I think is the title?)
Rometorio is fine for planning, but a guy who's been to Italy as often as you have should already be on Trenitalia looking at Frecciarossa schedules and comparing price packages.
I would skip the museum (unless you must see the erotic fresco room
and the Farnese Marbles, which latter have nothing to do with Pompeii)
because it's crowded, time-consuming and open less hours and days than
Pompeii.
Tim, I'm a bit confused about the statement above? The museum is only closed on Tuesdays and a couple of holidays, and the website's listed hours are 9.00 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. Those are longer hours than at most other museums I've been to. It may also be less busy in November than during high season (can anyone confirm?).
https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/tickets-and-info/museum-hours-and-prices/
The OP certainly doesn't HAVE to go but it sees largely very positive reviews from archeology fans. It is, however, possible for some of the galleries to be closed at any given time.
As far as trains from Florence to Naples, I'd also check Italo as well as Trenitalia. It's a private company that services mostly larger cities in Italy (yes it has runs from Florence to Naples) and prices are competitive.
Editing to add: the cheapest tickets are usually non-changable and non-refundable on both rail services so I wouldn't pre-purchase those for your arrival day. Flight delays are common enough not to lock into these tickets for a train you might miss, thus losing your fare. It's only advisable should you get a cheap enough fare to take the risk should those become unusable and you end up buying new day-of tickets at a higher rate. Make sure you read the conditions on the separate price tiers/ticket types.