Ischia, Italy -- any recommendations?

[2serendip]

Our Windstar ship will be spending the day here. Have any of you been there, and what do you suggest for us to do? Thanks!

[euro cruiser]

Spas! That's what Ischia is all about.

[Hlitner]

My wife's reaction to your question was "don't go." If your ship offers an option to spend most of your day at a decent resort you might want to take advantage of this option. Otherwise, you can walk around the main town (Ischia) and have lunch at one of the cafes along the docks. You can also see the island very cheaply by using the local buses. They sell an all-day pass which was pretty cheap. They have two different bus routes that circle the island in opposite directions, so you just pick your route and off you go. I should mention that we visited the island of Ischia while we were on a cruise docked in Naples (just took the jetboat) so that we could see the place and know enough to advise others about the island. Our overall reaction was that it is an island we do not recommend to folks docked in Naples since there are many better options.

 

Hank

[CoralReef]

Ischia is a lovely island! Our first time in Naples, we chose to spend the day in Ischia, because hubby's grandfather was born there. We were blown away by how beautiful it was. Ischia has a couple of pretty beaches, and is a charming island with softball-size lemons on the trees, picturesque white and pastel buildings, bougainvillea draped everywhere, and a green volcanic slope looming over the center of the island.

There is a medieval castle you can visit, which hosts a torture museum. It's the Castello Aragonese, across a causeway from the town of Ischia Ponte. There are lots of shops and restaurants, and a famous botanical garden as well as hot springs and spas. The island is highly geared towards tourism, albeit mostly Italian tourists. However, we didn’t get a sense of crowding (except on the bus!), and we enjoyed the cobblestoned streets and the picturesque town squares and churches. We had excellent Neapolitan-style pizzas in the pedestrianized shopping area of Ischia Porto.

 

The ferry dropped us at Ischia Porto. To get to Grandpa’s birthplace in the town of Forio, we took the bus. Buses are frequent, and can be found at the bus stop located about two blocks to the right of the ferry dock (standing with your back to the sea), and one street inland from the harbor. Since we thought we might continue all the way around the island, we bought giornaliero (24 hour) bus passes at 4 € each. The numbered buses all show their destination on the front, so it was easy to get anywhere. Also, the CD bus goes clockwise around the island all day, and the CS bus goes counter-clockwise. (Remember D = destra, S = sinistra.) For the castle (Castello Aragonese), you want Ischia Ponte, about 10 minutes clockwise from Ischia Porto. Forio was about 20 minutes counter-clockwise (although we took the 7 bus) from Porto. The bus did get awfully crowded, but was a cheap and convenient way to travel around the charming island of Ischia.

Lovely place, hope you enjoy your time there.

[iancal]

If I was just going to be docked in Naples for one day I do not know that I would go to Ischia. There are other better (in our opinion) places to see in the area. We spent a great day there, but we were based in Sorento for a week. It was very pleasant. We took the bus around the island and stopped at a very quaint village. It made a nice change from the hectic pace of a month long trip to Italy.

[6rugrats]

My wife's reaction to your question was "don't go." If your ship offers an option to spend most of your day at a decent resort you might want to take advantage of this option. Otherwise, you can walk around the main town (Ischia) and have lunch at one of the cafes along the docks. You can also see the island very cheaply by using the local buses. They sell an all-day pass which was pretty cheap. They have two different bus routes that circle the island in opposite directions, so you just pick your route and off you go. I should mention that we visited the island of Ischia while we were on a cruise docked in Naples (just took the jetboat) so that we could see the place and know enough to advise others about the island. Our overall reaction was that it is an island we do not recommend to folks docked in Naples since there are many better options.

 

Hank

 

We also visited Ischia on a Windstar cruise a few years ago. It was not on our original itinerary; we had to substitute ports. We both agreed there wasn't much to see/do here and were disappointed to waste a stop here.

[euro cruiser]

We also visited Ischia on a Windstar cruise a few years ago. It was not on our original itinerary; we had to substitute ports. We both agreed there wasn't much to see/do here and were disappointed to waste a stop here.

Odds are that since this was not on your original itinerary you did not do any research ahead of time. Stuck somewhere like that I can see how one could come away thinking there was not much to see or do.

 

However, there is. In addition to the spas, Ischia is also known for wine. Here are a couple of wineries that offer tours and/or tastings http://www.pietratorcia.it/home.htm http://www.dambravini.com/it/index.php

 

There are also several museums and gardens that can be visited, information can be found at this site http://www.comunelaccoameno.it/arte_eng/musei/musei.asp

 

The gardens at La Mortella are particularly interesting http://www.lamortella.org/

[Hlitner]

We do have a story about Ischia. This past April we were on a long Holland America cruise (about 4 weeks long) which did a typical port day stop in Naples. Since we have been to Naples many times on cruises and also spent weeks on the Amalfi Coast we wanted to do something new. Our ship had a really experienced port lecturer (he was English and used to work on cruise ships) and he and I had a long discussion about options. We mentioned to him that about the only places we had not visited in the area were Ischia and Procida and ask for his advice. He said that he had never been to either island and that if we did go he wanted a full report so he could add the info to his notes. We had a gorgeous day and went over to the ferry terminal to see what was available and there was a convenient jetboat to Ischia. We thought the island was beautiful, but did not think it would interest most cruise passengers. In fact, we told the port lecturer that we would only recommend it for those, like us, who had been to Italy many times and were looking for something new. We do think its a perfect port stop for a smaller ship (like Windstar) since its off the normal tourist path. Keep in mind that we have never seen Ischia offered as an excursion off the mass market cruise ships stopping in Naples and we suspect its because they really do not think the island has much to offer a day-tripper. I guess the next time we are docked in Naples we will try and get a boat to Procida, which is now about the only place in the region we have not visited.

 

Hank

[6rugrats]

Odds are that since this was not on your original itinerary you did not do any research ahead of time. Stuck somewhere like that I can see how one could come away thinking there was not much to see or do.

 

However, there is. In addition to the spas, Ischia is also known for wine. Here are a couple of wineries that offer tours and/or tastings http://www.pietratorcia.it/home.htm http://www.dambravini.com/it/index.php

 

There are also several museums and gardens that can be visited, information can be found at this site http://www.comunelaccoameno.it/arte_eng/musei/musei.asp

 

The gardens at La Mortella are particularly interesting http://www.lamortella.org/

 

Quite true, and we were provided with very little guidance, as the ship had not planned to stop there, and there really was no information provided by the very short port talk.

[euro cruiser]

I dislike that I have become so cynical about this, but in my experience the cruise lines don't put much effort into educating passengers about things they can't make money on. In your case, however, it was an unplanned stop so they were caught unaware as well.

 

On the other hand, you'd think that someone on the staff would be prepared for things like this, a contingency plan so they could provide great customer service even under challenging conditions. I'm not a travel professional, but I generally have back up plans when I travel in case things don't work out exactly as I had planned. Why don't they?