We we initially planning to use buses, trains and boats for our 5 night stay in Sorrento. I now see that there is a planned maritime and rail strike for 2 of the days.
Can anyone advise wether a car would be more hassle and expense than is warranted or will be missing out on sights (Pompei, Paestum, Capri etc..) without one.
Our B&B in Sorrento does have parking so that would not be an issue.
Thanks in advance

Do you know who is planning on being on the rail strike? Does it include the Circumvesuviana Rail line, or is this only a Trenitalia strike?

A car won't help you get to Cápri and I would take the bus to Positano and Amalfi rather than a car. If you have a car, you probably won't enjoy the ride and the driver won't be able to take his eyes off the road and there are almost no pullouts on that road. You also won't have to worry about finding a parking place. I highly recommend the bus for this.

For Cápri, it seems there were several options to take to get to the island. Hopefully not all will be on strike (??)

This is the info about the strike:

May 17th ~ 18th 2007: 24 hours nationwide strike of railroaders and maritime personnel belonging to FS (Ferrovie dello Stato – State Railroads), from 2100 (May 17 ) till 2100 (May 18 ).

My husband is leaning towards just taking our chances with the public transport. Thanks for the advise.

Hi Grimmy - You really don't need to worry about this strike - it needn't affect you at all.

The Circumvesuviana is a private line and will be running normally - so ... you could plan your visit to Pompeii (- or Ercolano or Vesuvius) on the strike day and you won't be affected.

Or ... you could use that day to visit the Amalfi Coast by bus.

I suspect most of the ferries will run normally too - I believe most of them are private, not FS - except Tirrenia/Caremar, maybe ... ?

Perhaps someone else can correct me on this ...

Steve

The ferries are run by various companies. All are privately-owned, except Caremar which is publicly owned. The law which requires certain trains to run during a strike also applies to some ferry services, so the islands are not completely cut off.
On my first visit to the area in 1979, the Circumvesuviana was on strike for half a day, so I went from Napoli to Sorrento via Capri. On another occasion, there was a 24-hour strike on FS/Trenitalia, but the Circumvesuviana, local buses, trams and boats were all running normally.

Anyway ... if there is a strike there will be even more traffic on the roads than usual. Consequently a car will be a hassle even more. I would forget about it.

Thanks so much all. You've set out minds at ease and we've decided against a car.
I think we're just having last minute jitters.

HI G,

If the Trenitalia trains aren't running, you will have to take the bus to Paestum.

A very nice way would be by ferry to Salerno and the bus from Piazza della Concordia.

For Ferry schedules Positano – Amalfi - Salerno (P.zza della Concordia):
See http://tinyurl.com/j4ufa

These are estimates:
Positano - Sorrento 09.45 - 12.50 - 15.40 - 18.10 4 E
Sorrento - Positano 11.00 - 14.30 - 17.00 - 17.25

For buses to Paestum see http://tinyurl.com/263377

Enjoy your visit.