Naples/Pompeii/Amalfi Coast before and on cruise

[3113Timmy]

I am finally going on my first overseas trip since the beginning of the pandemic!

 

 

 

I am flying into Rome (business class) arriving at 1130 on 13 April. I want to pack in as much sightseeing as I can to make use of my limited time. I have been to Rome before and have seen the Forum, Colosseum, Vatican Museum (but not St Peter's) and the Pantheon. I have a cruise leaving Civitavecchia at 1900 (Oceania Riviera) on 15 April - the third day. This cruise has Sorrento as the first port of call on 16 April for 10 hours.

 

 

 

This is my current ambitious plan:

 

13 April - train from the airport to Termini Station, store luggage, tour St Peter's Basilica, and if time permits, the Borghese Gallery, evening train to Naples (eat dinner on the train), sleep in Naples

 

14 April - either visit Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius (in good weather) or spend a day on the Amalfi Coast hiking (suggestions on route?), sleep in Naples. I have a second day on 16 April on the cruise in this area so please suggest which one should I do before the cruise!

 

15 April - an early start and tour the Archaeological Museum in Naples before getting a midday train to Civitavecchia via Rome. Cruise allows embarkation at 1300 hrs but doesn't actually leave until 1900.

 

 

 

Any appreciation would be most appreciated.

[euro cruiser]

First, yeah!  Back to Italy, finally.

 

My immediate reaction is to suggest that you pack in such a way that you can leave most of your stuff checked at Termini until you leave from there to the cruise, so you only have to take a carry on bag with you to Naples.

 

Second, if you're going to eat on the train buy something in Rome and carry it on with you, the train food is not good and wildly overpriced.

[euro cruiser]

Getting to and from the Amalfi Coast is time consuming, even from Sorrento, so I would do that when you're not constrained by the cruise timetable and save Pompei for your port day.

 

From Naples you can take the train to Salerno (about 45 minutes) and a ferry from there to Amalfi, Positano or a few other towns.  There are all kinds of different hikes, how energetic of a hike are you looking for?

 

The most famous is the Path of the Gods, between Nocelle and Bomerano.

Edited March 14, 2022 by euro cruiser

[3113Timmy]

Very energetic. I want to expend as much energy as I can and not break my fitness regime. I also need to not put on weight during the cruise, ha!

[euro cruiser]

There is a Frecce-Frecce connection from Naples to Civitavecchia, departing at 12:09 and arriving to Civitavecchia at 14:44.  The connection time at Termini is a half hour, allowing you time to claim your bags at left luggage.

[euro cruiser]

Well, for the truly ambitious there is the nearly straight uphill climb from Amalfi to Ravello.  Some pretty scenery but not as spectacular as the path of the gods.

 

The path of the Gods (sentiero degli dei) takes more time to get there, do the hike, and get back but the views are stunning.  There are plenty of YouTube videos you can watch to get a sense of it.  The hike itself isn't as strenuous but it's longer.

[euro cruiser]

Also note that you need to purchase Galleria Borghese tickets in advance.  I suppose if you're willing to miss it you could try a walk up purchase, post Covid I don't know how possible that may or may not be.

 

TICKETS - Galleria Borghese (beniculturali.it)

[euro cruiser]

You might want to order the Sunflower guide to read more about hikes along the coast.  It hasn't been updated in years but the mountains haven't moved.

 

Sunflower Guide Sorrento, Amalfi & Capri: Car Tours and Walks (Sunflower Guides): Tippett, Julian: 9781856913232: Amazon.com: Books

[John Bull]

11 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Well, for the truly ambitious there is the nearly straight uphill climb from Amalfi to Ravello.  Some pretty scenery but not as spectacular as the path of the gods.

 

As a non-hiker I'd take the frequent bus from Amalfi up to Ravello, and hike back down.

OK, I lied - as a non-hiker I'd actually take the bus up, and then take the bus back down 🙄. But you get my drift 😉.

 

I totally agree about visiting the Amalfi coast on 14th April rather than your Sorrento port-of-call day..

Even though the cruise stop at Sorrento seems to make more sense on paper, as per Eurocruiser's post there can be delays on the coast road and doing it on a port-of-call day is a little risky. We planned to take the Amalfi bus from Sorrento after crossing the Bay of Naples but the service is (was) only hourly and the queue for the bus was longer than the capacity of the bus, which would have cost us an extra hour - and with the risk of the same for the return to Sorrento 😮. So instead we took the half-hourly Circumvesuviana train to Herculaneum & back to Naples. 

There's a stop for that half-hourly train at Pompeii, very close  to the ruins. 

So you can figure the last train from Pompeii that'd get you back to Sorrento in time to re-board your ship (and for safety plan to catch the one before it) and break off from your tour of Pompeii when approriate.

 

JB 🙂