Naples Travel Forum

Me again. Thank you all for your answers to my questions. It would seem everyone is in agreement. Could you answer these questions then. Why not rent a car? I could drive to Pompeii and get there by 10:00, do a couple of hours (from what some of you have said 2 hours is enough and I am not one to look in nooks and crannies), leave Pompeii at 12:00ish, head to Sorrento (or would there be a similarly charming town / village to see near by?)and get there by 01:00. Hang out for an hour or so, leave at 2:00ish (or when the train leaves) and be back in time? The ship actually departs at 18:00, so if we are back by 16:30, that should leave lots of time for any kind of delay. Or maybe I am fooling myself!

Yes, you could rent a car but you would have to a) go and rent it and deal with the procedures (taking up time) b)deal with the local driving c) find parking places. You make it all sound very simple but it is not quite as you envision it! If you take the train, you can save a lot of hassle. The Pompeii Scavi station is right by the entance to Pompeii. Then to go on to Sorrento all you have to do is go back to the station and take the next train going in the correct direction. There are very frequent trains in both directions. I don't quite see the point of going to Sorrento if you are only going to "hang out" for an hour or so. It takes time to orientate yourself and Sorrento merits more than a "kiss me quick" visit. If you have your own wheels there is a serious consideration to take into account - the traffic! Do yourself a favour and use the train!!

I don't know your full itinerary (are you on a cruise docking for the day at Naples?), but I think that hawkhead has given you excellent advice.

First, unless you have driven in Italy before, driving in Naples is a non-trivial task. Even a lot of Italians won't do it. If you are arriving at the docks in Naples, you would have to drive through the city around the Bay to get to Pompeii and Sorrento - taking the highways that bypass Naples would take you well out of you way (but could be faster ;-) ).

Second, Pompeii deserves much more than 2 hours. I have trouble imaging anyone saying otherwise. If you go all the way to Pompeii and back 2,000 years only to spend a couple of hours taking a quick look at this or that, you might as well not go at all.

Third, Sorrento deserves more than an hour - drive-by-tourism means that you'll go lots of places and not see anything at all.

Fourth, the odds of getting lost when driving need to be considered...when you're on the train, it's a lot harder to get lost.

In general, I just don't think this is a good idea...(could you tell? ;-) )...

bill

Where are you from, Original Poster?
Perhaps someplace where the driving habits are similar to those of Naples. If not, you will be very very sorry if you choose to drive. The traffic in Naples itself is terrible and no quarter is given to newcomers. An instant's hesitation and you're finished. Once out of the city, you will find yourself in a heavily built up area all the way to Sorrento. It looks benign enough on a map, but traffic will be heavy and southern Italian drivers regard rules of the road as rather silly suggestions. Lane markers are ignored, tailgating at high speed is endemic, two lane roads are used as three, traffic jams may bring you to a full stop at any point, away from the autostrada signage is poor, and parking is a hassle.
As for fooling yourself about leaving time for delays, remember that unless you travel on Sunday, you will be entering the city at rush hour. When I did this a couple of years ago it took well over an hour just to circle the large piazza I had to negotiate to get the car back to the garage, never mind the main roads into town.
And although I haven't been a victim of this myself, I'm told that a rental car is a prime target for break ins. With the time you have available you probably don't want to risk dealing with a broken glass claim back at the office.

I'm actually glad to have had the experience of driving in and out of Naples during two separate rush hours, but only because it's something to have done. and I had no time constraints. And I'm a Boston driver, so I could deal with the aggression.

I was just in Naples by cruise ship, and I did what you suggest doing, except I hired a car and driver as I have no illusions that I could drive a car there, even though I can deal with Washington D.C. traffic.

The driver picked us up at 8 am and drove directly to Pompeii - we got there early in the morning while it was still cool and also while not many people were there. I rented an audio tour, but because I have mobility issues we didn't really do more than a quick overview of the site. We did only stay for 2 hours because that was the limit of my energy (which was why I hired a car in the first place).

Then the driver drove us down the Almalfi Drive and back. We stopped for lunch and also for photographs at a few places. I was revisiting the locations of a trip I made in 1964 - I just wanted to see those places again and take some pictures, and I succeeded in doing that.

I would have been happy to spend more time everywhere, but as it was we were barely back to the boat by 5 as the driver got lost in Naples trying to get there through the traffic.

Listen to the advice given above: it is given by people who know what they are talking about.

And I agree entirely. Even if you consider yourself capable of driving (and navigating, and congestion, and finding somewhere to park etc etc), then the time taken dealing with paperwork before and after will not save you anything at all (although it will add some stress).

Get the train and enjoy the experience!

And if you take the advice and use the train, at times the tracks are adjacent to the road and you will feel mighty smug (and relieved) that you aren't "out there" and "having to cope" - and if it looks bad from the train, imagine what it would be like to be a neophite right in the thick of it!! The times we did take to wheeled vehicles, we were full of admiration for the skill of the driver. I wasn't going to mention the rush hour traffic but it took 2 hours from Sorrento to the airport and the airport exit is early in the trip into Naples and all we could see was virtually stopped traffic way into the distance. Even at 19.30 or so, coming the other way, the traffic was horrendous, especially at one suburb where the traffic lights were totally ignored and even the bigness of the coach was no deterrent for attack! My husband told me I would be right at home, as I learned to drive in Paris but even I wouldn't have tackled it!! No, ditch the idea of a car, take to the train - as they say here "let the train take the strain"!!