Salerno Hotel:Montestella, Jolly, or Plaza
 

We will be staying in Salerno for 4 nights next May, and want a hotel near to the train station. We are considering the Jolly, Montestella, and Plaza Hotel.

The Montestella was listed in Frommer's, but other than that I have not been able to find almost anything about it online. It's website is depressingly sparse. Has anyone stayed there?

Other than that our two choices seem to be the Plaza Hotel (reviews indicate dreary, and sterile - but right across from the train station), or the Jolly (reviews generally described it as kinda run down, and it would be a trek to the train station every day).

Any thoughts on those?

Hi T,

Is there a reason for staying 4 nights in Salerno?

((I))

Hi Ira,

I figured someone would ask us that. For the four days we will be in that area, we plan to spend one day each: Amalfi Coast, Naples, Pompeii, Paestum. Of course fitting in side trips as we have free time.

I don't think we want to stay on the Amalfi Coast, since 3/4 of the days we would have to fight the traffic to get away, and we would waste too much time travelling.

We also considered Sorrento (and maybe we'll end up there), but then the trip down to Paestum is a very long day trip. Staying in Salerno would save us about 4 hours in travel time that day. We figured we were not planning on staying much time in our hotel, just using it for a base, so Salerno seemed like the right choice because it is such a transportation hub.

Plus it sounded like Salerno would be a break from the tourists, and that the seaside area is very nice.

Do you think we should consider staying somewhere else?

I would stay in Sorrento and hire a driver one day to see Paestrum, Ravello, and Amalfi. Pompeii is more impressive than Paestrum.

Stayed at the Jolly/Salerno quite a few
years back. It is part of the Jolly
hotel chain, which did feel that was
above expections on staff, quality of
service, rooms and especially their
dining rooms. Stayed at those both
on the boot, north from Milan, and
south to Siracuse and found all very
acceptable. The of the one at Salerno
was as the western end of a long stretch
of parkway/ beach... Richard of LaGrange Park, Ill

Although it's been a while, I remember Salerno as a very pleasant place; it gets short shrift from some people who probably have never been there. Just a glance at my Cadogan guide reveals:

"Anywhere else in the south of Italy, a city like Salerno would be an attraction in itself; here it gets lost amidst the wonders....." of the coast nearby.

This same guide gives the Montestella three stars, remarking that it is in the pedestrian zone.

Hope this helps; please report back after your trip. I have many memories of Salerno, for a bought a beautiful set of dishes at a ceramics shop there and think of the city whenever I use them.

Hi T,

>...we plan to spend one day each: Amalfi Coast, Naples, Pompeii, Paestum. <

Why not stay in Naples?

You can take the Circumvesuviana to Pompei and Sorrento (from where you can take the ferry or bus all the way to Amalfi and back).

You can take the regular train to Paestum, 1:30 hr, only 1 hr longer than from Salerno.

You can also visit Mt Vesuvius.

I think that nighttime in Naples would be more interesting than in Salerno.

((I))

PS,

Enter <Naples and hotel> in the "search this forum" bax for a number of suggestions on where to stay.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We hadn't even considered Naples. I guess everything we had read implied it was kinda dirty and crime ridden, but there most be some areas that are nice.

I went through Salerno on my way to Amalfi and I got a very nice impression of it. Sort of the way I felt about Ostend when I was passing through there. I must have a thing for port towns that I didn't know about:)

Perhaps these would be better places to live than to visit, however...

Salerno is a port town but smaller and less hectic than Naples. It would be a nice change to stay there but it wouldn't make places any easier to get to on the coast. It is a long way over to Pompeii unless you have a car or a driver to cut across the mountains.