Amalfi Coast from Sorrento - what order
 

We will be staying at the Hilton in Sorrento, and only have three days. My thought is to use one day to see Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Another day to see Capri and whatever we couldn't do on the first day (Naples, Pompeii or Herculaneum) and a third day to take the SITA buses down the Amalfi Coast.

Would it be more advisable to go all the way to Paestum, then head back to Sorrento making stops in the towns along the way? Or, should we go to Paestum and stop at each town along the way then head straight back to Sorrento from there?

That is alot of things to do in three days. Herc. and Pompeii usually close at sunset, so you have to figure that in. If you are taking buses between them and Naples you have to figure that in, time and distance.

I don't see how you can "see" Naples itself in one day, do you mean just visiting a museum or two?

You could do Pompeii and Herc in one day.

You could see Capri in one day but then again you have to factor in travel time which would exclude time to visit what you missed the day before. You could possibly see part of Naples that day if you took the boat from there to Capri, but then factor in the time it takes to get to naples. (You can catch boats to Capri in Sorrento)

The next day on the bus, well, it takes a long time for public transportation to get you to Paestum and were you planning on getting off the bus on the way back at each stop? Impossible. The buses are crowded depending on the time of year, are on a not so rigid schedule and you would spend most of your time waiting for them, then they might be full and pass you by.

I would suggest you pay for a personal driver to take you to the AC and Paestum, where he could stop and let you out and wait for you in different places.

You can easily get to Pompeii and Naples using the "Circumsuviana" (sp?) little trolley/train that runs between Sorrento and Naples all day long. You'd have to plan well to see both Pompeii and Herculaneum in one day...(I'd start with Herc.) You can take a boat from Amalfi to Capri...or take the bus down from Sorrento to Amalfi and then the boat back up to Sorrento. Depends on the time of year and what' open. Hireing a driver from Sorrento, isn't a bad idea if you want to make a lot of stops, but its easier to see the coastline if you are sitting up high in a bus.

Thanks for the information. I've actually got an extra half day on each end of this.

We get in to Rome at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday and head to Sorrento. We then go back to Rome on a Wednesday and just need to get there to sleep. So that gives us several hours on Saturday; all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; then the morning of Wednesday.

As for seeing Naples, yes...I thought we'd see a few museums tops.

Ok, real questions are this: from Sorrento to Paestum, should we make our stops on the way down the coast or on the way back up?

A hired driver or bus mean driving both directions. What about a ferry from Sorrento to Amalfi, then on to Paestum, then a bus ride back making stops along the way?

I think you want to get on a bus in Pasteum and get on and off the bus at the various cities on the way back, right.

No, for the reasons I put above, you will not have time to do this in one day. It isn't like a hop on hop off bus, it is a working bus for commuters as well as tourists.

You could fit in one or two at the most.
You could possibly take the ferry to Amalfi and then hire a driver to take you back to Sorrento, stopping along the way. Salvatore is stationed along by the buses as well as some other drivers you can hire/bargain with for that.

Look at Ira's trip report, he went to Pasteum.

Also remember the buses stop fairly early, around 10pm.

It is a roundabout way to get to Pasteum, requiring changes of transportation.

Thanks all.

I've looked at all posts going back like two years and they don't answer my question.

I know that one could spend a week roaming these towns. That's not my situation.

I think the buses start running around 6:30 a.m. How long, in late April, does it take to get from Sorrento to Paestum via bus? If they stop at 9:00 or 10:00 in the evening, that gives me almost 15 hours to get down the coast, see the ruins, stop at towns and get back to Sorrento.

Or, if ferries are running I get even more time. I am also having no luck finding any definitive information on the ferries in April...in English.