Trip to Italy
 

I am traveling for the first time ever alone to Italy. I am meeting my daughter who is in school in Florence. I will fly into Rome then go to Florence for one nite. We then plan to go to Capri or Sorrento for two nites and then back to Florence for 4 nites. Last leg of trip is Rome 2 nites and home. I do not know how to take the trains and need suggestions on how to get to Capri or Sorrento. Advice on where to stay in Rome, Capri, Sorrento, Florence. Help. I am going in July.

Are you married to this plan? It would be easier logistically to take your five nights in Florence at the beginning, then head to Sorrento/Capri, ending with two nights in Rome Or you might steal one of the Florentine nights and make it three in Rome. Put your daughter on the train back to Florence.

The easiest way to get to Sorrento and Capri is by train to Naples. Once there you can continue by light rail to Sorrento or take a taxi to the docks and board a ferry to either Sorrento or Capri or have a driver take you to Sorrento.

I think if you offered some guidance as to budget and interests we could provide better assistance.

IMO - You are backtracking too much. Have your daughter meet you at the airport in Rome and leave for Sorrento from there. After your 2/3 nights in Sorrento take the train back to Florence and then end in Rome.

To get to Sorrento, you must train to Naples and then switch to the local commuter train.

To get to Capri, you must train to Naples and then ferry to Capri.

You daughter should know how the trains work if she is studying there. www.trenitalia.com

Hi D,

"Dinna fash y'sel, lassie," as the Scots might say.

I also suggest having your daughter meet you in Rome and going to Sorrento from there.

You take the shuttle train from FCO to Rome TE, and then the train to Naples.

For Sorrento, you can take the Circumvesuviana commuter train. For Capri, you can take the ferry.

You can get to Florence, by taking the train from Naples or Salerno.

It's a very nice ferry ride to Salerno, and the boat docks about 3 blks SE of the train station.

Your daughter can accompany you to Rome, or say goodbye at the Florence train station.

What's your hotel budget?

((I))

Those are some difficult logistics. If you could consolidate your time in Florence, I'd suggest getting an apartment for a week for the two of you. Even if you don't stay 7 nights, it could end up being cheaper and more convenient than a hotel.

Have you bought your air tickets? If not, fly into Pisa or Florence instead Rome.

Does your daughter have classes during the week? Is that what is dictating the order in which you see things?

If so, I suggest you spend your first night in Rome alone, rather than head all the way up to Florence. You'll be exhausted! For your first night in Rome, book yourself into a very nice hotel and take a taxi to it from the airport to reduce the stress. Have your daughter meet you there the next morning and begin your adventure together.

Let me start from the beginning. My daughter will be in class from Monday thru Friday and I will be arriving on Thursday evening. I have never traveled alone so I wanted to meet her in Florence and then we could travel to Capri or Sorrento together and return to Florence on Sunday evening. The last two or three days we will go to Rome because we are all leaving from there but I am open to suggestions. I am looking for hotels that are recommneded because they all look so beautiful.

If you are arriving in the evening at the airport in Rome, it will take you a good two hours before you are on a train to Florence, and then another 1.5 hours until you arrive in Florence. You won't easily get to sleep with all the excitement, which means you won't be leaving Firenze until noon the next day anyway -- unless you are willing to risk your health!

I really recommend that you stay put in Rome your first night and let your daughter get up early to come meet you there. Or, since you aren't arriving until the evening, have her catch a late train after her class in Florence and spend the night with you in Rome.

If you can book the Albergo del Senato, it's a great hotel in Rome.

Sorry. I just realized your daughter will be in class all day Friday.

I think I still recommend you meet up in Rome on Friday night.

Since your daughter only has the weekend, would you consider going someplace other than Capri or Sorrento? There are islands closer to Rome and Firenze, as well as scenic beach locations. There are also Tuscan hilltowns that might be quite nice. You are going to be battling with enormous crowds of tourists and weekenders in July to get on a ferry to Capri or to anyplace scenic on the Amalfi coast.

It sounds as though you are doing it this way solely because you don't want to travel alone, but you will have to travel from the Rome airport to Florence alone, so what difference does it make if, instead, you take a shuttle into Rome and stay there Thurs? You can book the shuttle ahead of time, they will be waiting outside the baggage area with a sign with your name on it. Couldn't be easier. I used www.airportshuttle.it.

Then have your daughter take a train after her classes on Fri to meet you and go to Sorrento the next morning. Actually, with so little time, I wouldn't go all the way to Sorrento, I'd spend the time in Rome and Florence with a daytrip to Tuscany from Florence.

Where do you recommend we go if we don't go to Capri.

Do you mean you would skip the Amalfi Coast altogether? I think with the time you have, that wouldn't be a bad idea.

In that case, with 9 nights, I WOULD take the train directly to Florence from the Rome airport (train to Rome Termini, then change trains to Florence), spend 4 nights there with one daytrip to Siena (I'm sure your daughter will have enough other things in Florence to show you to fill the other days) and then 5 nights in Rome (where you could spend months and not see everything).
Have a great trip!