Welcome home Orchid. Sounds like you had a great time. Would you mind discussing the pros and cons of the Hilton Sorrento on the board here? I am scheduled to stay there also. Is there some problem with the hotel that I should know about beforehand? Thanks very much.

Orchid, I would also like to see you give details about the Hilton here on this thread. We have a lot of HHonor Points and were thinking about Italy for next year. Thanks!

I haven't reread the entire thread so don't know the connection, but regarding the Holiday Inn near the airport in Naples I have no personal experience with that hotel, but wanted to mention that IMO the airport is so close to town it isn't really necessary to move from your hotel to one near the airport, as it only takes half an hour or so to get there from "downtown Naples."

orchid68-Welcome home and glad you enjoyed Italy and Naples. How was CASERTA Palace? Anyway, my trip to Italy next summer has been postponed. I decided to do Canada instead since I had a credit for airfare that needed to be used up by then. But we are planning on going possibly in 2005 to Italy. Hilton Honors no longer accepts Continental One Pass point transfers, so I didn't have as many points as I anticipated.
Did you find the HILTON to be located in a good location, or was the walk too far to downtown/hydrofoils?

Just topping this in the hopes that Orchid will post here review of the Hilton here. Thanks.

Hi-
Sorry that I have not gotten back sooner but I still feel as though I have been hit by a Mac truck. I just can't get caught up on my sleep and my body clock is still way off.
I loved the Hilton. Maybe if I was traveling with someone the Excelsior would have been for me. I stayed on the executive floor, which is well worth the extra money. First of all, the 5th, 6th and 7th floors face the bay and Mount Vesuvius. Some of the lower floors face the road, which is not a nice view. The room was tremendous, and when I would wake up in the morning, there was Mount Vesuvius looking straight at me. The room was very large, even by American standards. There was a dressing room and a very large bathroom partioned off for the various functions. It had the greatest shower. I know I seem fixated on the bathroom, but you should have seen some of the bathrooms we had, and they were four- and five-star hotels. You could not even bed in the shower without hitting the wall, and I am slender. At this level in the Hilton, you have a separate floor for your breakfast, which was wonderful. That area is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. There is always a buffet with wonderful things to eat and drink, including water, juice and wine -- oh, yes, and wonder chocolate-covered fruit -- and it is all included in the price. There is friendly, personalized service. The one big draw-back is, unless you are a walker you will have to take a cab to and from the center of town. I am a walker. The walk back is kind of tiring ... part of the way is uphill. The day I left I inquired about another street that I saw, and was told that it went to town. Do not know about it. I was only in town a short time the afternoon that I arrived because it started to rain, and it rained every day that I was there. I did stop in at the Excelsior and walked around. It is a very beautiful hotel, but seems stuffy, if you know what I mean. A door to one of the rooms was open -- the maid was tending to it -- and I popped my head in. The room was quite lovely, but small. There were two twin beds, which were made of heavy wood, and they were next to one another. I do not know if that was a lesser room, since it was on the first floor, but it was facing the water. There wasn't too much to see in Sorrento -- I am a bad judge of that since I was traveling as a single -- but it is a jumping off point for whatever you want to do. The tour that I was on ended up in the St. Lucia section of Naples, which is the best area. If I knew that area was only fifteen mins. away from the airport I would have stayed there the last night rather than the minus four-stary Holiday Inn. There is so much to do and see in Naples. In Sorrento, if the weather is bad, as it was in my case, unless you are a black-belt shopper, there is nothing to do. And there is really nothing too much to buy, either. You know, the usual. On the rainy days I hired a driver and went back up to Naples to the museum; another day to Caserta Palace, which is really well worth the trip. Oh yes, Gail, I went to Casertavecchio, which is where the original castle was -- in ruins -- and is still a small medieval-looking village, with restaurants. Quite lovely. From Sorrento I went to Revello, Positano and did the Amalfi Coast, in the rain.
Gail, there are no shuttle buses to town, but there are cabs just outside the door, but I do not know how much they cost. All cabs in Italy have to be negotiated, no matter where they are and where you are going. I hear it is safe to walk around. Also, this time of the year, it gets dark around 5:30 p.m. The staff is extremely helpful. The food at the hotel was very good, as was the service.
I guess I have covered just about everything regarding Sorrento. If you have any further questions, when I go back on line again I will answer them.
Maybe I will be more awake by then.
Wherever any of you stay, you will just love the area.

Hi Orchid: Enjoyed reading your post on the Hilton! I read your original post before we left on our trip and was delighted to hear that the Hilton had a hotel in Sorrento. Was anxious to hear what you thought of it after your stay.

The last few days, of our 31 day European trip, we stayed at the Hilton in Rome. A lovely young couple(on their honeymoon) also staying at the Rome Hilton, left the hotel at 6:30 PM to drive to the Sorrento Hilton that night. They had talked with someone who had just came from the Sorrento Hilton and had very positive things to say about it! I wished many times that I had given them my email address so that they could let tell me not only their thoughts of the Sorrento Hilton but what the drive from Rome to Sorrento was like. I have not heard good things about the roads in the south of Italy. That is the only reason we have not ventured south of Rome. I think after spending a over a week driving in chianti my husband might be up to anything. Even worse was the road in and out of the Hotel Torre di Cala Piccola near Porto S. Stefano! Can't be any worse than that drive!

The roads are fine south of Roma, Traveler2. What were you told?

Orchid, Could I ask a little more about the walk into town? Could you estimate how far it is? A mile? Two miles? More or less? Is it mostly downhill on the way into town and uphill on the way back? Thanks for any clarification.

Chardonnay: I have read many postings about the roads being pretty scary. After typing this I decided to do a search for driving to Sorrento and have read from one end of the spectrum to the other about driving. Many say take the bus or hydrofoil others say that they were really paranoid after reading all the posts on this forum about driving but that it really wasn't too bad!
Another said there was no way they would ever get in a car and drive it! (I am not so sure a bus is much better though as you have no control in a bus and it is bigger!)

Traveler 2, the one road that is very narrow and has a steep dropoff is the Amalfi Drive, but you are usually going so slow with the traffic that it is safe, lol, you may be inching along it.

The autostrada is the same in the South as it is in the North, and if you take it all the way to Reggio Calabria it is a very wide and well kept highway.

The only other place I can think of where it is nerve wracking to drive is right in Naples. The road from Naples to Sorrento is two lane and has turns but it is safe.

I think it depends on how experienced a driver you are, how patient, etc. I have driven from Naples to Sorrento and was fine and when I drove the Amalfi Drive from Sorrento to Positano I got a little nervous, but I am afraid of heights.

I took the bus many times too and it can make you a little woozy because the drivers are so experienced with the road that they zoom right along if the traffic allows. If you have any concerns though, I would suggest a taxi, then you wouldn't even need a car.

Chardonnay: Thanks for info. My husband is a good driver, but narrow hairpin turns and traffic are not his cup of tea, but on the otherhand I am afraid he is typical of most American males and feels naked without a car! (This not to say that all American men are that way!) So if we are ever to see the Amalfi Coast that is probably the only way I will see it is by car.
Oh by the way, patience is not a description I can use for my husband when it comes to driving especially!

orchid68-Thanks so much for your reply about Sorrento, etc. and the Hilton.
It will definitely help me when planning my next trip Italy. Ciao!

Travereler2, I hate to be a wet blanket, but if he is going to drive in Italy he will need patience, especially on the Amalfi Roads. It gets really crowded and I didnt notice in your posts when you plan to travel, but traffic can be really testing on that road. There are busses, scooters, cars and whatever else you can imagine on a very narrow two lane road. I still think it is relatively safe but it can try a person's patience, especially when they start blowing their horns and I have seen many inexperienced drivers driven to distraction.
But keep in mind there are places to stop and compose yourself and walk around and stretch and look at the magnificient scenery.
Good Luck! Maybe you can take over if he gets too stressed.

We've been to Sorrento twice in the past few years (had to return to get those damn music boxes we forgot).

I'm amused at the concern about hotels.

Sorrento is a great little town Safe. Lot's of restaurants (try eating at the Foreigner's club outside facing the Bay if you're there during summer).

Yes, the Amalfi bus ride is an experience. Barely made it. The bus driver drives with one for flooring the gas, the other flooring the brakes and his hand on the horn.

We stayed at a cute (and inexpensive) hotel (there's something to be said for the Bellevue Serene and it's location) directly beside the main square. We were on the 4th floor with a little terrace outside our little (little) room.

2 minute walk to the steps leading to the marina. Same into the retaurants, etc.

Chardonnay: Thanks for the information.
We just returned from Italy. I am not sure when we will go back, but I am ready to go as soon as possible!
I missed seeing the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica, because of all the events going on during the Popes 25th Anniversary etc. I informed my husband that we would have to go back so I could see them.
We travel in either fall or Spring.(not around Easter)