Sorrento Travel Forum

We have a holiday planned to Sorrento. Travel date is 21st September for two weeks.This will be our first visit to this destination. Can anyone give us any information on weather conditions at this time of year. Also any suggestions of trips out and things not to miss would be most welcome. Thankyou JANNCOX.

www.weatherunderground.com will give you a good idea of historical weather but in this day and age, anything's possible! Definitely plan a trip to Pompeii - you can take the Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento to Pompeii Scavi and the site is right there. Plan to arrive at opening time. Also take the same train to Herculaneum and Villa Oplontis. The train is a commuter one and while not posh is efficient, cheap and pefectly safe and runs frequently. Same train also goes to Naples and you could use it if you are arriving at Naples airport - there is a shuttle bus that goes to the train station. Also, there is a bus that goes from the airport to Sorrento and vie versa but the times may not coincide with your arrival/departure. I strongly urge you to take the local bus from outside of the train station and go along the coast to Amalfi - for me it is one of the world's bargain trips - the journey through stunning scenery is the day out and you will have enough time to have a wander around Amalfi, have lunch and then return. You can also go to Capri - didn't do that, so no opinion. Have a look at my Sorrento pages. Also those of Leics.

Do make the effort to go to Naples (via Circumvesuviana train as the previous poster mentioned). There is a lot there to see besides the archaeological museum. I particularly liked the Cathedral (with archaeological remains beneath) and the cloisters of S Chiara.

You will LOVE Sorrento! I agree with the previous posters advice to be sure to go to Pompeii and Amalfi. In fact, the entire Amalfi coast is worth exploring. You can do it easily by using the SITA bus. Don't miss Ravello. The little town is up on the hill above the coast and has amazing views. YOu may be able to find a music event there while you're in town.

You can also take boat trips up and down the coast line. Be sure to take the boat to Capri. See if you can pick a day when no cruise ships are in port.

Naples is also a worthwhile visit. After you explore Pompeii, visit the Archeological Museum in Naples to see where they are keeping all the artifacts that they have unearthed. And eat pizza! Naples is the home of Pizza.

www.aminta.com has a great webcam of the Bay of Napoli and all of Sorrento. Enjoy!

Can't think of anything to add re day trips that hasn't already been said, except that it's worth making an effort to visit the archeological museum in Naples, which houses a lot of artefacts from Pompeii. Re the weather, I visited in the first week of October 2007, the temperature was pleasantly warm, low 20s Celsius - t-shirt weather for an Englishman. Certainly for visiting Pompeii, which is vast and without much shade, you wouldn't want to go when it is much warmer; don't forget to bring some bottled water when you are trapsing around so that you don't get dehydrated. There was a recent (geniune?) post about Sorrento enquiring about topless beaches. Let's say that Sorrento's 'beach' is nothing to write home about, regardless of attire!

Yes, it will be lovely.

Unmissable:

Pompeii, Herculaneum, Villa Oplontis (at Torre annunziata) are all easily accessible by the frrequent and cheap Circumvesuviana trains. Timetables here:

http://www.vesuviana.it/web/en/Orari

A trip to Capri by ferry/hydrofoil:

http://www.capri.net/en/ship-timetable

Possible: Coast-hopping by boat:

http://www.metrodelmare.com/

Maybe a daytrip to Ischia from Naples (get to Naples in an hour on the Circumvesuviana):

http://www.alilauro.it/ischia.php?lingua=english

Absolutely unmissable: along the Amalfi coast road on the bus (superb views, I have found the service to be perfectly reliable) to Amalfi, Positano, Praiano (more than one day required):

http://www.sitabus.it/wps/portal/OrariCampania (under Quadro 15)

Unmissable: From Amalfi get the bus up to beautiful Ravello (same website as above).

Explore Sorrento (of course). Go walking in the surrounding hills.

You'll have an excellent time........:-)

Thanks for all the advice, it will all be very useful to us in September.
JANNCOX.