Two-day Detour Before Amalfi Coast

Old Jul 21st, 2016, 11:02 AM
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Two-day Detour Before Amalfi Coast

Heading with my wife to the Amalfi region in mid-September and we have a two-day opening to fill. I currently have hotel reservations in Gaeta; it seemed like a nice spot to relax, eat and sit on the beach for a couple of days before we continue on to meet friends in Naples. But I'm having second thoughts about that idea and now I am giving serious consideration to Paestum, which appears to be about the same distance (or travel time) to Naples as Gaeta. The ruins and associated museum get rave reviews and the mozzarella bufala and gelato options are compelling as well. If we choose Paestum, that would require me to change our arrival flight to Naples, but that looks doable and perhaps may save me a little $ (the drop in airfare since we booked is greater than the cancellation/change fees).

I'm aware this is an apples vs. oranges question, but to the veterans of this board, is there a clear choice between the two options?

Appreciate the insights as always.
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Old Jul 21st, 2016, 11:42 AM
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Will you be visiting Capri with your friends?

My memory may be faulty, but I don't recall nice resort-y beaches near Paestum. In any event, I'd check availability of the sort of lodging you want before making the flight change.
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Old Jul 21st, 2016, 12:15 PM
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Perhaps not a clear choice, but I would stick with Gaeta as the beach there is a tempting option. Be sure to visit Sperlonga while there--a charming village.
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Old Jul 21st, 2016, 02:21 PM
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Paestum has nice beaches, some great food and cheap hotels. I would definitely head there. You're also close to Salerno which has a good historic centre.
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Old Jul 21st, 2016, 05:04 PM
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I haven't been to Gaeta, but I loved Paestum for all the reasons you mention, and also Salerno, which I consider a vastly underrated destination. Good luck!
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Old Jul 21st, 2016, 06:51 PM
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Thanks for the replies so far. Jean, we are in fact going to Capri - catching the ferry from Naples. Another factor is that we are likely doing a day trip to Pompeii and not sure we want to do both Pompeii and Paestum in the same trip. But that buffalo mozzarella...
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Old Jul 21st, 2016, 06:56 PM
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Pompeii and Paestum are nothing like one another. Pompeii was a Roman city destroyed by ash. It has no Greek temples. It is (understandably) often crowded and is clearly "urban." Paestum has three of the best preserved Greek temples anywhere in the world, set in a large peaceful area, where you might see few other people.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2016, 11:35 AM
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I haven't been to Gaeta, but there is a beach within a mile or so of Paestum. You can stay at the beach there. Just Google Paestum beaches and click images.

Scroll down to the sandy beach pics on this link.

http://cromwell-intl.com/travel/italy/paestum/
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Old Jul 22nd, 2016, 12:07 PM
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I cast a strong vote for Paestum. We stayed overnight at the Villa Rita, a short walk from the three magnificent Greek temples. If I had it to do over again, I'd stay two nights. Paestum is about 90 minutes by train from Naples (no changes needed).

Here's my trip report, just drop down to the Paestum section:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm
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Old Jul 23rd, 2016, 03:11 AM
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You can find also realy good bufalo mozzarella along the amalfitan coast, for example at Tramonti they make a delicious mozzarella!
Go to Salerno, from there you can visit both Paestum or Pompeii, eat mozzarella, visit the storical centre, do some shopping or have a walk along the sea!
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Old Jul 23rd, 2016, 08:41 AM
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Paestum has nice beaches.
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Old Jul 24th, 2016, 07:22 PM
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EYWandBTV, your trip report was tremendous. My wife and I visited Ostia Antica last year on a trip to Rome, which we thought was fascinating, but my sense (largely from this site) was that Pompeii and Ostia Antica had a lot in common, except perhaps that Pompeii is so much more massive.

Maybe we stick with Gaeta as our first stop off the plane and convince the others to do Paestum instead of Pompeii.
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Old Jul 24th, 2016, 07:41 PM
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Again, Paestum and Pompeii are NOTHING like each other.
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 06:01 PM
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My point in my last message was more about the similarities between Pompeii and Ostia Antica.
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 06:39 PM
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That makes more sense.
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Old Jul 25th, 2016, 06:46 PM
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Pompeii is a legendary site, of course, but I much preferred both Ostia Antica and Paestum. And all three are rather different from each other.

I've been to Pompeii twice, both times in April. Nevertheless, it was hugely crowded each time, and I remember it as hot and dusty even in the spring. Because of concerns about vandalism to the frescoes, many of the houses were kept locked, and you had to be lucky enough to catch them when one was open or to find a custodian to get in to see them. Moreover, because of the weight of the volcanic ash, a fair number of the roofs fell in. Looking across Pompeii, I was reminded of a bombed city from the Second World War. Ostia Antica, in my book, was actually better preserved, because it was abandoned because of malaria-carrying mosquitos and the silting of the Tiber, rather than a nightmare inundation of ash, rock, and fire.

I did think the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii, with its well-preserved frescoes, was a real highlight, and I enjoyed Herculaneum more than the main site. It was buried and preserved by mud flows, as I recall, and the buildings were thus actually better preserved. So don't miss those if you go there.

Paestum is unique. It doesn't really take all that long to see it, because the main attraction is the three temples, and the museum and the remains of some of the nearby houses (one of which has a remarkably well-preserved swimming pool). But the temples are among the best preserved anywhere. They were actually partially underwater for a while: on at least one of them, you can see where sea creatures drilled into the columns up to about five feet above the temple floor. Where else are you going to see that?
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Old Feb 9th, 2017, 04:48 PM
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I realize that I should give back to the community, so here is my admittedly belated postscript.

We ultimately decided to spend the first two nights in Gaeta, and we are so glad we did. We stayed at the Grand Hotel le Rocce, on the road between Gaeta and Sperlonga. The hotel was reasonably priced and had fabulous views of the Mediterranean. It was a very long and steep set of stairs down the beach, and the beach is small, but the water was magnificent. Sperlonga is a very picturesque little town (bobthenavigator's description of it as "charming" is spot on) that you can cover in a couple of hours. We were not there at night but could see that there was a row of restaurants and clubs that probably had life after dark. Gaeta itself is larger, not really touristy but with a rich history, a city that seems to have its own day-to-day life. A fun city just to walk around, particularly in the evening when you can take a nice stroll along the harbor. And the food - my best meal in 2016 was at La Salute just off the harbor - really fresh pastas and seafood, and a really friendly host who, when we complimented his house wine (falenghina), gave us a bottle as a gift to take home.

From our hotel in Gaeta, we drove about 15 minutes to Formia, where we dropped off our rental car at Hertz and walked maybe a block to the train station. We caught a one-hour train to Naples, met our friends at the station and then took a harrowing cab ride to the ferry terminal, where we caught a high-speed ferry to Capri. I was not enthusiastic about Capri, and in fact for a while was advocating spending the time in Sorrento instead. But boy was I wrong. We loved Capri. We stayed at La Scalinatella, which was slightly off the beaten path on a quiet side street away from the heavy-duty shopping. It was a beautiful hotel, fabulous breakfast and lunch and memorable service. We took a half-day boat trip and were able to get into the Blue Grotto (only had to wait 10 minutes and well worth it) and do some swimming before we were dropped at a beach club where we spent the rest of an afternoon. We went to Anacapri the next day, where we had a memorable lunch at Da Gelsomina. Our dinners in Anacapri were not really memorable.

From Capri, we ferried to Positano, where we based for four nights. Since we couldn't decide between Paestum and Pompeii, we decided to cover both. We hired a driver - Tonytaxi - for an entire day - he picked us up at 8am, drove us down the Amalfi coast, through Salerno and on to Paestum. But first, a stop at Vannulo, the buffalo mozzarella farm. Oh yes. I'll post separately about Vannulo's buff mozz, but the star of the show was the ricotta. I wouldn't have thought to ask but Tonytaxi came through for us with that recommendation. The four of us sat at a table outside, armed with nothing but four forks, a loaf of bread and a load of ricotta wrapped in white paper. In ten minutes, it was gone. And we weren't even hungry. I can never look at a container of Polly-O the same way. From there it was only 5 or 10 minutes to Paestum. It was fabulous and not particularly crowded. The temples are magnificent and incredibly well-preserved. Admission to the park also gets you into a very well-done museum. We spent about two hours in Paestum - I could have stayed longer - and then we were off to Pompeii, which was no more than an hour's drive on the highway. Pompeii was what I expected - immense, hot and dusty, and kind of crowded. Glad I went, but with something like Pompeii you either do it in a couple of hours or spend a couple of days. We did the former.

The rest of the trip was spent in various towns along the Amalfi. We liked Positano but at the end of the day probably didn't need to spend four nights there. I might suggest instead basing in a different town and spending a day in Positano while visiting other towns like Ravello and even Sorrento. Meals in Positano were pretty good, but our best meal in Amalfi was a lunch in Ravello at Cumpa Cosimo.

All in all, a phenomenal trip. Glad I kept an open mind and glad I solicited the advice here. It was excellent.
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Old Feb 9th, 2017, 10:53 PM
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How much did the all day driver cost?
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Old Feb 10th, 2017, 06:33 PM
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400 Euros for 4 of us for 8 hours in a very nice Mercedes minivan - basically 50 Euros per hour. Well worth it.
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Old Feb 15th, 2017, 04:10 AM
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GREAT REPORT & MEMORIES I WILL NEVER FORGET ......of the fresh Buffalo Mozz with the olive oil & tomatoes from "heaven".


The food we ate in Capri, Positano, & Paestem area was beyond!!!!!!!!!

TrendGirl2
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