Amalfi Coast Tour From Sorrento - Advice Please!

[Robroy]

Hoping for some sage advice from the experienced travellers here on CC rather than worry about missing our ship sailing!

My wife and I have hired a highly recommended private driver for a May 1st tour along the Amalfi Coast. We arrive in port at 8am and sail at 6pm.

The suggested tour will take us from Sorrento (starting about 8:30) up the coast and hitting Ravello around 1:00 for lunch - continuing along past Pompeii (we visited Pompeii once before and don't plan to see it again due to time constraints) and back to Sorrento. My question is this: the tour can be customized to our liking as we have the driver for the day. Given this route, and the fact that May 1st is a holiday in Italy, is it feasible to get back to Sorrento by 4pm at the latest, or would it be more prudent to return along the same route we took to Ravello? We have never taken private port tours before, as the cruise ships have always offered what we wanted but in this case, Silversea cancelled the Amalfi Coast tour - unless you wanted to take their private tour at $1400 per car.

We've always wanted to see the coast and area but naturally are concerned about the prospect of missing the ship on a non-sanctioned tour.

Any experienced advice would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Rob

[Loonbeam]

It certainly sounds feasible. That said, I would work it out with the driver. We used RIL and the driver adapted our itinerary that day to account for traffic conditions, etc.. Let them know where you want to go and what the priority is and they will figure the best actual road route.

 

Hoping for some sage advice from the experienced travellers here on CC rather than worry about missing our ship sailing!

My wife and I have hired a highly recommended private driver for a May 1st tour along the Amalfi Coast. We arrive in port at 8am and sail at 6pm.

The suggested tour will take us from Sorrento (starting about 8:30) up the coast and hitting Ravello around 1:00 for lunch - continuing along past Pompeii (we visited Pompeii once before and don't plan to see it again due to time constraints) and back to Sorrento. My question is this: the tour can be customized to our liking as we have the driver for the day. Given this route, and the fact that May 1st is a holiday in Italy, is it feasible to get back to Sorrento by 4pm at the latest, or would it be more prudent to return along the same route we took to Ravello? We have never taken private port tours before, as the cruise ships have always offered what we wanted but in this case, Silversea cancelled the Amalfi Coast tour - unless you wanted to take their private tour at $1400 per car.

We've always wanted to see the coast and area but naturally are concerned about the prospect of missing the ship on a non-sanctioned tour.

Any experienced advice would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Rob

[maryann ns]

The tour companies' reputataions depend upon their getting you back to the ship on time. We did a private tour from Sorrento in 2009 and had time to spend an hour and a half in Herculaneum as well as drive the Amalfi coast and have a wonderful lunch high in the hills overlooking the water. So without doing a tour in Pompeii or Herculaneum you should have lots of time. Your driver will be aware of traffic issues and will make sure you get back on time.

[Robroy]

Thanks for your input Loonbeam and MaryAnn. Nice to hear that people have done this before and from others' experience it sounds doable. Trying to eliminate any stress well-ahead of time about potentially missing the ship sailing - paraticulary since our next stop is in Corfu. From everything I've read, the private tour option really can't be beat and the scenery sounds fabulous.

Appreciate your insights!

 

Thanks!

Rob

[maidncruze]

Hi Rob,

 

Did the same private tour a few years back and had no issue at all. In my opinion, the best way to see the coast is with a private tour.

 

Frank

[euro cruiser]

I would write directly to the company you have hired and spell out what you want and don't want, so that you can work it out in advance.

[bcnvcanada]

Please note that Sorrento is a tender port and allow for time to reach the pier. May 1 is big holiday is Italy, luckly your May 1 is on a Wednesday. Your tour sounds good.