Which is a better place to stay. we would like to spend 3 days in this area on mar 30.

Montrealvic,

While Naples can be fun in its own insane way, I prefer Sorrento as a base. From Sorrento you can take ferries/hydrofoils to Capri, the train to Pompeii and Herculaneum, the train to Naples, buses to other towns on the Amalfi coast. There is plenty to do in 3 days staying in Sorrento.
Though Sorrento does not lack tourists, it is a much more relaxing place to stay than Naples. Naples is a big city with over a million people and the traffic to match. I have stayed in both and I prefer Sorrento. There are a lot of nice hotels in various price ranges in Sorrento also. Hope this helped!

I have also stayed in both and I think that Naples is not for the faint-hearted. I lived in NYC during the so-called "bad" years (70's and 80's), but even I was not prepared for how dirty Naples was... and that was before last year's garbage crisis. As Scullysiuox noted, Sorrento is fairly convenient for bus, train and ferry travel. But if you have a sense of adventure, and can overlook some ugly aspects, you may find Naples to be more genuinely Italian than the ever-so-British friendly Sorrento.

sorrento no contest

another vote for Sorrento.

My vote: Sorrento

Sorrento is beautiful. Get a hotel on the cliff that overlooks the beach. Bring some nice clothes to stroll the main boulevards at night and enjoy the locals who are doing the same thing. You will fall in love with the city.

Personally I think that you cannot compare one to the other.

Having been in Sorrento and Naples more then once I think that it is a hard choice.

The bottom line, IMHO is what you want.
I sure agree with everything all the posters have said about Sorrento.

And many people do not like Naples. But I do. At this point in my life if I had to choose one over the other I would choose Naples.

But then I like Milan which many do not like.

Either way, you can not have an unhappy time unless you absolutely do not like large cities. And if this is the case then I would not suggest Naples.

I hope you have a happy trip, regardless of where you go.

Hi Mont,

Sorrento is a pleasant small city.

Naples is an amazing large city.

You can get from Naples to anywhere else you want to go, with the exception of driving the Amalfi Coast road, as easily as from Sorrento.

You might find the Naples portion of my trip report helpful.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044
Enjoy your visit.

I can't say much about Naples, however the Naples train station was enough to make me glad that we kept on going to Sorrento. Sorrento is very pretty - I would go there. We really enjoyed it.

I think LoveItaly put it very well. It is like apples and oranges since the two places are so very different. I personally like Naples and would stay there, but I will say that Naples is one of those love it or hate kind of cities. Both camps are very strong in their opinions of why it's good/bad, depending on who you talk to. Because of that, you might want to take the simple route and stay at Sorrento, which is generally a crowd pleaser (as it should be). But please take the time to see Naples if you can, and form your own opinion! It's definitely worth a look.

topping

Hmmmm, Detroit or Carmel-by-the-Sea?

Perfect, Rufus! I couldn't have done it better myself. You've just illustrated the "love it/hate it" aspect of Naples. Good one!

I agree, I was rather unprepared for how dirty Naples was. I arrived by train into Naples to take the ferry to Capri, so my time in the city was brief ( a few hours)...but let me tell you, I couldn't get on that ferry fast enough. Even though I've never been to Sorrento, I def vote for going there instead!

I would agree with the other posters and stay in Sorrento. It is a much more calm base, from which you can take day trips into the frenetic city that is Napoli, as well as easy ferry connections down the Amalfi Coast.

On this thread and others I've seen several references to how dirty Naples is and how scary the train station is. Could someone explain these a bit more with concrete examples?

We only went through the train station, not into Naples itself, but I didn't find the station scary at all. And I went in very nervous because of what I'd heard. The hardest part for us was trying to get from the lower platform to the upper platform to find the train, because it was not clearly marked. We found a couple of guys in train uniforms and asked them how to get to the train, and one of them wrote it on my hand. Easy. And the station is NOT dirty. Just busy.

Rufus - LOL

busy like penn station busy??? personally doesn't bother me. how does it compare to train stations in NYC? that would personally give me some perspective.