We'll be based in Sorrento for 5 nights.
Is a day trip to Caserta Palace doable by train or bus? Would it be feasible to do it on the same day we go to Naples to see the archeological museum?

Thanks!

Anyone?

hi, grimmy, - i just googled the caserta palace [looks wonderful] and it came up on the Sorrento web-site. so they obviously think that it is near-by enough for it to qualify as a local attraction.

By the looks of it is is big enough for at least half a day to itself - and if you are going to naples and pompeii you won't want to tack anything onto that day, anyway.

to find out how far it is, try the via-michelin web-site and put in the address of your accommodation, and the palace. alternatively surf the web until you find the right site to give you buses etc.

good luck!

We visited the Royal Palace and Gardens of Caserta in 2003. Just the gardens alone took up all morning. Our tight schedule didn't allow us time to tour the palace - something I'll always regret. The newer town of Caserta must certainly have a train or bus service.

Another regret was not visiting the old town of Caserta on the hill. Who knew! We had just intended to use Caserta as a night stay on the way to the Amalfi Coast. What a delightful surprise!

We did Caserta Palace on a bus tour from Sorrento that was combined with Monte Cassino. Loved both places, and the Palace is definitely worth seeing -- truly fabulous. We didn't have as much time there as we would have liked (about 90 minutes) and took a horse-drawn carriage ride of the gardens first that I would not do again -- the gardens are mostly park and not worth the effort. The Palace is huge and very impressive but also has gorgeous paintings on the ceilings and lots of lovely art work and furniture. Having visited many castles/palaces throughout Europe, I was very surprised at how lovely it was since one doesn't hear much about Caserta Palace. Although we made our reservations for the tour from the US before leaving for Italy, once in Sorrento we saw advertisements in the windows of a number of travel agencies that were offering this trip. Many of these offer the same tour, and I believe it only leaves once a week, so you may want to book in advance if you choose to go with a tour. Monte Cassino was also fabulous.

We stayed at a hotel above Sorrento a few years ago and their website has directions from the hotel to all surrounding attractions. Here's the link for their Casserta directionss They also suggest a tour and travel agency.
http://www.ilnido.it/excursion_caserta.php

Thank you all so much . Just the kind of info I was looking for. Sounds like it's a doable. Will now check out websites.

I beg to differ with Gabrielle about the Gardens being "not worth the effort". While the horse-drawn carriage ride holds a certain appeal, if you never leave the carriage you can't possibly experience the nooks and crannies hidden around the park. Reconstructed Roman baths, small ponds and paths under the trees, the sheer magnificence of some of the specimen trees as you stand next to them. It's not just about the cascade from the mountain to the palace - although that is certainly amazing!