Sorrento Travel Forum

I think I want to travel to Paestum from Sorrento on Friday or Saturday June 12th or 13th. Is Paestum worth the trip? How do I travel there? I cannot find a tour for those days. Please help.

Also, I have booked a trip to Capri on Wednesday June 10th and Pompei/Vesuvio on Thursday June 11th. Should we do POMPEI/Herculean instead? There is a Blue Cruise that travels around Capri and down the coast to Amalfi. Does anyone know if this is a good cruise? We would like to take a cruise that allows swimming. Is there a good cruise? Is the water in the bay cold this time of year?

Any suggestions on what else to do? We are staying in Sorrento 5 days. What restaurant offers good Italian food in Sorrento?

Herculaneum is entirely different to Pompeii. The eruption affected it in a different way, and Iwould suggest it is well worth seeing both.My pages have info.

You may prefer to include a trip up Vesuvius, and only you can decide whether that is the case.

But if you are keen to visit Paestum then I suspect you would be fascinated by Herculaneum, and might even be able to include a visit to the Villa Poppea (at Torre Annunziata) if you travel independently.

You do not actually need an organised tour to visit Pompeii, Herculaneum and Villa Poppea......they are exceptionally easy to get to from Sorrento.

Both have stations on the Circumvesuviana train line (Pompeii-Scavi-Villa-dei-Mysteri, about 30 minutes from Sorrento, and Ercolano about 10 minutes further towards Naples). Circumvesuviana trains are frequent and very cheap. The Pompeii station is directly opposite the site entrance, Ercolano is 5 minutes walk (signed)downhill, Torre Annunziata is another couple of stops further on and another 5 signed minutes'walk.

Circumvesuviana timetables here:

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

You need the Napoli>Sorrento line.

I don't know of any cruises which allow swimming, but you could easily visit Capri independently from Sorrento using the regular ferries/hydrofoils. Timetables here:

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

You can also easily visit Amalfi, Positano etc using the regular ferries from Sorrento:

www.metrodelmare.com

or by taking the coast-road bus from outside the Circumvesuviana station in Sorrento (a superb journey, imo...my Amalfi page has bus travelogues). Buy tickets from the newsagents at the station entrance. Timetables here, under Quadro 15:

http://www.sitabus.it/wps/portal/OrariCampania

For a 5-day stay I would suggest a day on Capri (the walk to Villa Jovis is lovely, as is the walk to the Arco Naturale), a day for Pompeii and Vesuvius, another day exploring the other ancient sites, a day exploring the Amalfi coast (perhaps bus one way, boat the other). You can do the beach thing at Positano or Amalfi, or in Sorrento itself (the Marina Grande beach is quite small but there are lots of bars/restaurants etc).

You will find no shortage of places to eat in Sorrento, but I cannot suggest anywhere specific other than the few places in which I ate (on my pages). It is a very tourist-focused place.

As for Paestum:

First you need to get to Salerno. Check the Circumvesuviana timetables. You may need to go into Naples and then get a Trenitalia train to Salerno. Jouenry time to Naples is one hour, from there to Salerno from 37 minutes to around 1.5 hours depending on train.

Then you need to change to another (Trenitalia) train from Salerno to Paestum. Journey time is around 30 minutes.

Trenitalia times and fares in English here:

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

You do not need to book tickets in advance.

There is also a regular bus srvice from Salerno to Paestum, but Iam afraid I don't have the information.

The tourist information people in sorento will be able to help you will train/bus info and will also know of any possible Paestum tours.

I did not manage to get there on my visits, sadly.........it is a must-see for next time I go!

Paestum is definitely worth the visit, as is Pompeii. Plan a morning for Paestum, hot in the afternoon. Pompeii is a very full day or even two if you're into it. We loved it (family of 3). Capri is very touristy but gorgeous. It's worth the hour-long wait to get into the Blue Grotto. Walk around, enjoy the scenery. Expensive shops... We had a delicious meal at a huge restaurant in Sorrento called La Parruchiano on the main street. Pretty much anywhere you go in that area is going to have good food. Amalfi, Positano, Bellagio, all beautiful. Enjoy!