We are also going from Venice to Sorrento.

We opted out of an entire day on the train and are flying via Alitalie from Venice to Naples. It is an early flight and arrives in Naples at 8:15 in the am. This actually adds a ful day to our stay there.

We aren being picked up at the airport by a driver and will spend the day with him exploring the coast. We will do Pompei the next day, and leave for Rome the next morning.

The fare on Alitalia was approx $90 per person, not cheap, but worth it not to take the train. Since our flights both to and from Italy are on FF miles we went for it.

One bit of info, if you go to Alitalie to look at the fares they are MUCH cheaper on the italian website than the US one. SO choose Italy and if you need translation help you can use http://babelfish.altavista.com/.

Good luck.

Donna

Hi everyone - thanks again for all your feedback!

Laner - didn't mean for my schedule to look like a military schedule. :-) We are flexible with the timing and we expect some delays.

Donnapg - thanks for the tip on Alitalia's Italian website versus their English version. The prices were definitely higher on the English version!

The more we think about the drive from Sorrento to Venice, the more we like the idea. I know it might sound crazy trying to drive in a day, but we're from California and used to driving everywhere. (LA to SF being regular trips we take.) We actually like the thought of being able to drive through the center of Italy past all these little downs that we've never had the chance to see except maybe on some obscure clip on TV (i.e. Everybody Loves Raymond's episodes in Italy where the Barone family are driving through the country). It would give us the chance to see the other side of Italy (outside of major cities). I have already informed the hotel in Venice about our drive and late arrival and I plan to have a cell phone on me in Italy and call them as we get closer to Venice.

Okay, now for my next dilemma... to stay in Varenna or Bellagio??? I was looking at Varenna based on Rick Steve's book, but I still hear many great things about Bellagio too. Anyone have insight to help me decide? I know Varenna is small and quiet and Bellagio is packed with tourists, but on the downside to each, will we get bored staying in Varenna or will it be too noisy and bothersome in Bellagio?

Re Varenna vs. Bellagio:

At this point in your journey, will you have a car? If so, spend the night in Bellagio.

If not, you can reach Varenna by train. You can still easily visit Bellagio by taking a 10 minute boat ride, which you will definitely want to do to see the unique view.

You will probably find restaurants and everything else is slightly cheaper in Varenna. Although Bellagio is the legendary destination of poets and painters and affluent tourists, Varenna is a very nice place with lots of tasty eats and a lakeside promenade that I actually prefer to Bellagio's.