SusanWilliams

Can anyone please tell me how we can do a 2 day trip from Rome to Sorrento.

We were thinking of taking the train from Rome to Naples - transport to Sorrento??? Stay at a hotel for 1 night and only leave Sorrento late afternoon back to Rome airport.

We fly back to South Africa around 10:00 pm?

Please if you can give me suggestions how we can do this? I know it's not a lot of time, and we don't want to take those arranged 1 day trips?

Any suggestions how we can make this possible?

Sassafrass

OK, I remember your other plan for trying to go to the Blue Grotto. Is that still part of your thinking? It would work with a whole day, but not two parts of days. Had you decided to skip Orvieto? Or Florence? Adding Sorrento means something else must be cut!

The problem is you want to visit two places that are in opposite ends and corners of Italy, which is a fairly long country. Be aware that Sorrento is on the bay of Naples and quite beautiful, but it is not on the AC. It will be crowded already in June.

Don't do only one night in Sorrento before flying out of Rome. It is doable, but given you would just be arriving in Sorrento the afternoon before, so not able to have good sightseeing time, it is not a good plan.

It would be better to go to Sorrento first and put all the time in Rome at the end.

There are a couple of different possibilities you could do.
1. Forget driving from Florence via a night in Orvieto. Instead, skip Orvieto, train from Florence to Sorrento. Stay two nights. Train to Rome, stay three nights.
Or,
2. After Venice, fly to Naples, take Currie bus from airport to Sorrento. Stay three nights.
Train to Rome. Stay four nights. Do a day trip to Florence from Rome.

This is terribly rushed
Day 1, arrive Venice
Day 2, Venice
Day 3, train to Florence
Day 4, Florence
Day 5, train to Naples, local train to Sorrento (you would already by at the train station, so easier to continue by train)
Day 6, Sorrento (tour AC)
Day 7, train to Rome
Day 8, Rome
Day 9, Rome
Day 10, fly home

Still rushed, but fewer hotels, and would be my choice if Sorrento is a must
Day 1, Arrive Venice
Day 2, Venice
Day 3, Fly to Naples, bus (or car service) from airport to Sorrento
Day 4, Sorrento (tour AC by boat)
Day 5, Sorrento (Pompeii or Naples or something else)
Day 6, Very early train to Rome
Day 7, Rome
Day 8, Day trip to Florence or another day in Rome
Day 9, Rome
Day 10, fly home

With three nights, you would not have to stay in Sorrento, though it is any easy choice.

KayF

It's been a while since we did that trip but it's not hard. You need to get tickets on the fast train between Rome and Naples, it takes around 2 hours. Then once you arrive at Naples station, you get another, local, train to Sorrento. The Sorrento train goes from the same station, you just need to look for the signage. The local train takes about an hour. If you leave early in the morning you would have the rest of the day in Sorrento.

If you have booked a hotel in Sorrento it would be too early to check in but I'm sure they would keep your luggage until later in the day.

Check the Italian rail website for train times. I believe there is also a bus but I'm guessing it would take longer.

Kay

bvlenci

You'd spend the better part of one day getting there, and the better part of the next day getting back to Rome, with the additional complication of a flight out of Rome the same evening. By no stretch of the imagination is this a two-day trip to Sorrento.

I myself would never stay so far away from the airport the night before an international flight, even if it is in the evening.

If you insist on doing this, you can change to a little local commuter train, the Circumvesuviana, at the main train station in Naples. Its final destination is Sorrento. The trip would be from 4 1/2 to 5 hours hotel to hotel. That doesn't allow time for a meal on the road, though, so you should allow extra time to pick up something at the station to eat on the train. For the return to Rome, you should plan to be at the airport by 7 PM. Because of the distance involved and the chance of unexpected delays, I wouldn't leave Sorrento any later than noon. If you want to eat any meals that day, other than what you carry on board the train, you should leave even earlier. You could eat dinner at the airport if you get there early enough.

SusanWilliams

He he he thanks Sassafras you're amazing!!

Nope our previous plans are still in tact.
our first part still looks like this:

Day 1 Friday, arrive Venice
Day 2 Saturday, Venice
Day 3 Sunday, train to Florence
Day 4 Monday, Florence
Day 5 Tuesday, Drive to Orvietto (by car)

Option 1:
Day 6 Wednesday, Orvietto to Rome
Day 7 Thursday, Rome
Day 8 Friday, Rome
Day 9 Saturday, Rome
Day 10 Sunday, Fly home From Rome 22:00pm

Option 2:
Day 6 Wednesday, Orvietto to Rome (train to Naples, local train to Sorrento
Day 7 Thursday, Sorrento (train back to Rome late afternoon)
Day 8 Friday, Rome (3 hole days in Rome)
Day 9 Saturday,Rome
Day 10 Sunday, Fly home From Rome 22:00pm

Option 3:
Day 6 Wednesday, Orvietto to Rome
Day 7 Thursday, Rome
Day 8 Friday, Rome (3 hole days in Rome)
Day 9 Saturday,Rome (train to Naples, local train to Sorrento
Day 10 Sunday, (train back to Rome late afternoon)Fly home From Rome 22:00pm


I just want options if for some reason we're finished with Rome? and wanted to do something else?

my husband's still set on driving from Florence via Orvietto to Rome

Kay : thanks - now I know how I can do it if we want to "rush" - at this stadge our tripp sounds a bit rushed

WWK

Option 4:

Skip Orvieto. Eurostar to Naples. Transfer to hotel in Sorrento. Spend three days exploring Sorrento, with day trips to: Capri,Pompeii, and by boat to Amalfi Coast.

Transfer to Naples. Fast train to Rome ( 70 minutes)

Two days in Rome, then fly home.

Like the others above, no way I would chance staying in Sorrento the night before an international flight!

WWK

That should've read, Eurostar to Naples from Florence. I think you can also fly that route to save some time, just have never done it that way.

bvlenci

First of all, it's Orvieto, not Orvietto. You'll need the correct spelling to find it on train schedules online.

I've lived and driven in Italy for years, and wouldn't drive from Florence to Rome with a stop in Orvieto. If you were doing this over a period of three days and wanted to stop here and there, it would be another story, but you don't have time for stopovers.

I wouldn't even drive from Florence to Rome. The trip *might* be slightly shorter by car, but not by the time you factor in the time to get the rental car. Driving out of Florence without accidentally violating one of their ZTL (limited traffic zones) is problematic, and if you do that, a hefty fine, with a hefty credit card charge by the rental company, will follow you home. The train fare is only €15 per person.

Option 1 makes most sense to me; it gives you three full days in Rome, which is what I consider a minimum to see and experience the city.

The trip from Orvieto to Sorrento would take 4 to 6 hours, with two changes of train, depending on how good your connections are. (My time estimate above was based on Rome to Sorrento; starting from Orvieto would add an hour to an hour and a half.)

This means that option 2 is virtually impossible, because you'd just have to turn around and head back to Rome when you get there. Option 3, in my opinion, is too much traveling for too little time at the destination, and, as I said above, I wouldn't consider leaving from Sorrento to catch a flight in Rome, even if it is an evening flight.

I'm willing to take a longish train trip for a short time at the destination if the train trip itself is scenic, but, believe me, there's nothing scenic on the way from Rome to Sorrento, except for occasional glimpses you get of the bay and Mt. Vesuvius. For the most part, you see ugly tall apartment buildings, industrial ruins, illegal trash dumps, and homeless encampments. And the inside of tunnels.

bvlenci

The Eurostar trains in Italy bit the dust about five years ago, or, rather, were redefined on some routes as Frecciabianca trains. They now have the Frecciarossa high-speed trains between Rome (or Florence) and Naples.

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/inde...005817f90aRCRD

kybourbon

Your trip is impractical and I think that's already been pointed out by several people on the multiple threads you've started. You simply aren't allowing time to see the cities. You basically have 8 sightseeing days and part of arrival/departure days. Arrival day is usually jetlagged and a blur. You are attempting to visit 7 cities (Venice, Florence, Orvieto, Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi) in 8 days. Most of these cities deserve a minimum of 3 days each. Your only day in Florence is when most sites are closed. You will be spending most of your time in Italy on transport experiencing train station/trains.

Sassafrass

Just like spending several hours each way for ten minutes in the Blue
Grotto, the same is true for Sorrento. Not enough sightseeing time to justify the travel time. To do anything of value there, you need an unbroken day, not bits of two days.
Flying Florence to Naples - not at all a good option!
Really, still stuck on driving that bit? Not good. Look how many people are telling you the same thing!

Sassafrass

Sorry if I sounded snippy on the driving thing, but your hubby can drive at home or on another trip where you spend time in the countryside. I think someone else may have pointed out how much time it will take to pick up the car and return it, when you can more easily take the train city center to city center.

Nine days is really pushing the so-called big three of Venice, Florence and Rome. One day trip from Rome or one from Florence works OK. There simply is not time for Sorrento or the AC with a whole day and night already spent in Orvieto. There just isn't!

Everybody faces this same problem when they start to plan trips to Italy: the lakes, Verona, Padua, Tuscany, Pisa, The Amalfi Coast, Pulia, etc., etc. never enough time and always more to see. You cannot see even major sights or cities in nine days. It is not possible. We have to accept that. What you have to make sure is that you really see something and have the memories of experiences, rather than racing from place to place, getting only a glimpse here and there, with most of your memories only of train seats.

Newbie00

I agree with all the others.

I would drop the drive altogether. If you really want to see Orvieto, it is doable as a day trip from Rome ... so add the night to Rome, and if you are 'done with Rome' as you say ... you can add a day trip (Orvieto, Ostia Antica etc)

If you really want to - Walks of Italy do a day trip from Rome to Pompei and the AC which is LONG, but doable.

I also agree with all the others. There is no way ever that I would plan on staying in Sorrento the night before departure. No matter how late the departure.