Hi,
WE, WHO ARE A PARTY OF FIVE, WILL TRAVEL FROM ROME TO SORRENTO. FROM SORRENTO WE WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE THE COAST, DO SOME HIKING AND EXPLORE POMPEII AND OTHER SITES (open to suggestions). My question: should we rent a car? If not, are buses and trains easy to access? Other suggestions?
Thanks!
Janet
The drive along the coast is not easy and van rentals are very expensive in Italy.
Most would be looking for a private tour guide with a van to tour the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. You'll get so much more out of it.
Buses and trains are easy to access. Rome2rio.com can give you different transportation modes. If you rent a van, it may be difficult to maneuver, depending on time of year.
Month of the year makes a huge difference. Your list does not currently include any places hard to reach by public transit. To the contrary, Pompeii is BEST reached from Sorrento by Circumvesuviana train, for any number of people. Every May night, we saw 30 cars lined up to enter an underground garage in Sorrento. Welcome to Los Angeles.
We traveled from Rome to Naples, then to Sorrento by train. Very easy. We travelled to Pompeii on the local train, also easy. For traveling along the amalfi coast, we took the bus in November. There were not a lot of tourists on the bus at that time of the year, I heard it gets pretty packed during the summer. Coming back, the bus either left without a lot of people or he decided to wait another hour, not sure. Their timetables were not reliable. With 5 people, it may be better to hire a guide for that, I looked into it. I think it was $300. I don't recommend driving it. A bad thunderstorm occurred on the way back to Sorrento, I was so happy to be sitting in the bus & not driving those roads.
Mary
Go with trains or buses. Public transportation is easy and accessible. Before boarding ANY train, make sure you validate your ticket at one of the plentiful validation meters on the train platform. That's why you see people running on the platforms...going back to validate their ticket! :)
