We are going to be spending Wednesday night to Sunday morning in the Naples area. We would like to see Pompeii, Paestum, Sorrento and Positano during that time. Starting at the Naples airport. Does anyone have a recommendation for organizing and getting around from place to place in the most organized fashion. We will be heading to Rome by train on Sunday. I wish we were arriving in Naples earlier in the day, because I want to take a bus through the Amalfi Coast, but I imagine at night time we will miss out of the awesome views. Thanks
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11667 posts
Audrey,
You might get more answers by posting this in "To the Boot," but here's my perspective. Three days Thursday, Friday, Saturday will limit how much you can see. Depends on how late you get in Weds night . If very late, you might want to stay in Naples for one night then see Pompeii on your way south to Sorrento onThursday. Sorrento makes a good base, otherwise, and is a charming town. The Amalfi Coast is a full day trip by bus from Sorrento, but beautiful and fun. Absolutely an amazing bus ride. Positano, mentioned in your post, is of course between Sorrento and Amalfi. Nice thing about Sorrento is it's an easy place from which to go to Rome. You can easily be in Rome by noon on Sunday. Paestum has had quite a discussion lately in"To the Boot" so you might look that up. It's further south from Sorrento by quite a distance than Amalfi. It will definitely be an entire day to go there. A private driver (Rick mentions some in his guidebook) would be a great way to do this efficiently. What time of year are you traveling?
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
First, you will need to get on the bus from the Naples airport to the Naples Centrale train station where both the Trenitalia and Circumvesuviana trains have stops on two different levels. If you really want to see the ruins at both Pompei and Paestum, here's a thought. From the Naples Centrale train station, take the Circumvesuviana train to the Pompei-Scavi stop. Tour Pompei. This should take awhile. Then, take a taxi to the other train station in the center of Pompei which is a Trenitalia train station. It's just over a mile or so away. Then, take the Trenitalia train from Pompei to Paestum. This journey should take just over an hour if you don't get a run that requires a train change at Salerno. After Paestum, return to Salerno and get on the SITA bus for your trip up the Amalfi Coast. You'll change buses at Amalfi (I think) as the north and south SITA buses meet there. You can get off at Positano and get back on a later bus. The SITA bus from Amalfi goes back to Sorrento. From Sorrento, get back on the Circumvesuviana train to Naples and then back to Rome. From the above routing, you will need to plan how much time you will spend where and where you need to spend your nights.