We will be in Italy in October. We plan to take a train from Cinque Terre to Sorrento, knowing that is a fairly long way. Would we be wise to spend a night in Naples before going on to Sorrento? I know that we would be changing trains at least in Naples. At 69 I am a pretty intrepid traveler. However, my husband may be more easily tired. We would travel either second or first class. Our previous experience tends more toward second class as I have seen no real discernible difference between the two. I know that we will need to get supplements. Thank you for any advice.

You can check schedules from the Cinque Terre (each of the five villages has its own station) to Napoli Centrale on www.bahn.de. The journey is around seven hours, with at least one change.
The Circumvesuviana local train to Sorrento runs every half hour and takes about an hour. Note that it is used by commuters, so early evening services from Napoli are likely to be crowded. The last train leaves Napoli at 2244.

Hi J,

Are you sure that you want to visit the CT and Sorrento on the same trip?

You might not want to get a railpass.

You can check the prices of all of your trains in Italy at www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

3 years ago my sister and I took a night train between La Spezia and Naples (Napoli Centrale) with no changes, then went downstairs to the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento. Worked for us.

The overnight sleeper train leaves La Spezia at 0124 and gets to Napoli at 0911. The train comes from Torino via Genova. It would be better to get a local train north to Rapallo, for example, to catch the same night train at 0028 which would give more time in bed, rather than hanging around La Spezia station in the early hours of the morning.