Sorrento in October

We are thinking of taking a trip to the Sorrento area mid October. We are
planning to fly into Naples and hire a car from the airport, base ourselves
in Sorrento and use the car to explore the surrounding area for 5 days.

A couple of questions for anyone who has been the

1. Is October a good time to go? It looks like the temperatures will be
around 21C max when we'll be there which is will be good for us as we don't
like extreme heat, but will everything be open as it's near the end of the
season?

2. Any suggestions of where to go? I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

3. Driving. I've driven in Northern Italy, around the Lake Garda area and I
found it to be fine, even when the trafic got a bit busy. Is the area
around Sorrento[1] significantly different for driving than the north?

Thanks very much in advance - the info will be very useful.

[1] I'm *not* going to be taking the car into central Naples, I've already
heard about the drivers there!

--
Andrew Richardson
East Sussex, UK

On Sep 27, 4:15�am, Andrew Richardson
wrote:
We are thinking of taking a trip to the Sorrento area mid October. �We are
planning to fly into Naples and hire a car from the airport, base ourselves
in Sorrento and use the car to explore the surrounding area for 5 days.

A couple of questions for anyone who has been the

1. Is October a good time to go? �It looks like the temperatures will be
around 21C max when we'll be there which is will be good for us as we don't
like extreme heat, but will everything be open as it's near the end of the
season?

2. Any suggestions of where to go? �I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

3. Driving. �I've driven in Northern Italy, around the Lake Garda area and I
found it to be fine, even when the trafic got a bit busy. �Is the area
around Sorrento[1] significantly different for driving than the north?

Thanks very much in advance - the info will be very useful.

[1] I'm *not* going to be taking the car into central Naples, I've already
heard about the drivers there!

--
Andrew Richardson
East Sussex, UK

Driving the Amalfi Coast is unlike anything you've probably driven
before. The road is crowded, twisty, has lots of towns and curves and
suicide cliffs and buses and trucks and one-vehicle-at-a-time tunnels,
etc. And people just walking out in front of you to cross the street
when you least expect it. You are so fixated on the highway (and
rightly so!) that you can't enjoy the stupendous scenery. I've driven
all over Northern Italy and I think you'll find the Amalfi Coast a
whole dimension different than driving in the north. You might want
to take a tour bus, rather than drive it yourself. Having said all
this, the Amalfi Coast is a fantastic experience, which you'll never
forget. So is Sorrento.

On Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:23:35 -0700 (PDT), zorba
wrote:


Driving the Amalfi Coast is unlike anything you've probably driven
before. The road is crowded, twisty, has lots of towns and curves and
suicide cliffs and buses and trucks and one-vehicle-at-a-time tunnels,
etc. And people just walking out in front of you to cross the street
when you least expect it. You are so fixated on the highway (and
rightly so!) that you can't enjoy the stupendous scenery. I've driven
all over Northern Italy and I think you'll find the Amalfi Coast a
whole dimension different than driving in the north. You might want
to take a tour bus, rather than drive it yourself. Having said all
this, the Amalfi Coast is a fantastic experience, which you'll never
forget. So is Sorrento.

We did it on a tour. I can't imagine driving it myself. Watching out
for the drivers, pedestrians and other obstacles would detract from
seeing the sights.

However, we couldn't stop everywhere where we wanted to.

It was beautiful and unforgettable.

"Andrew Richardson" wrote in message
...
We are thinking of taking a trip to the Sorrento area mid October. We are
planning to fly into Naples and hire a car from the airport, base ourselves
in Sorrento and use the car to explore the surrounding area for 5 days.

A couple of questions for anyone who has been the

1. Is October a good time to go? It looks like the temperatures will be
around 21C max when we'll be there which is will be good for us as we don't
like extreme heat, but will everything be open as it's near the end of the
season?

We went in April and it was packed - I doubt you'll have any problems in
October.

2. Any suggestions of where to go? I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

Yes, but do it on a bus so you can enjoy the scenery. You could get the bus
there and ferry back.

Pompeii and Herculaneum are obvious local attractions, they are both
spectacular, you can get a 3 site ticket with the Villa di Poppea which is also
well worth visting.

And Vesuvius of course.

You can do all the above without a car, the circumvesuvia train will get you to
all the above except Amalfi which you can do by bus. There's also a coach
service direct from Naples airport to Sorrento.

3. Driving. I've driven in Northern Italy, around the Lake Garda area and I
found it to be fine, even when the trafic got a bit busy. Is the area
around Sorrento[1] significantly different for driving than the north?

Yes. The drivers seem far crazier in Southern Italy!

--
Andy

Andrew Richardson wrote in
:

We are thinking of taking a trip to the Sorrento area mid October. We
are planning to fly into Naples and hire a car from the airport, base
ourselves in Sorrento and use the car to explore the surrounding area
for 5 days.

A couple of questions for anyone who has been the

1. Is October a good time to go? It looks like the temperatures will
be around 21C max when we'll be there which is will be good for us as
we don't like extreme heat, but will everything be open as it's near
the end of the season?

2. Any suggestions of where to go? I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.
I second the proposition that the Amalfi Coast is fantastic, but would
resist driving, the SITA bus takes the same road and you can watch the
scenery instead ofthe very narrow and twisty road. That said it is quite
a road. but you will find that the driving in the region is toughter
than in Garda as there is just nowhere to get over and the traffic is
often pretty bad. October weather is nice.

Sorrento is very compact and driving is not impossible but I who drive
"everywhere" would just as soon take a train, taxi or bus in this
region.



--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

"Andrew Richardson" wrote in message
...

2. Any suggestions of where to go? I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

3. Driving. I've driven in Northern Italy, around the Lake Garda area and
I
found it to be fine, even when the trafic got a bit busy. Is the area
around Sorrento[1] significantly different for driving than the north?

Thanks very much in advance - the info will be very useful.


Andrew, the scenery is spectacular, but please do not do the driving on the
Amalfi Coast. You will be too stressed driving those hairpin cliff roads
with such steep cliffs below to really enjoy it. We took a tour and my heart
was in my throat the entire time...there are large mirrors on the curves and
even being on a bus was scary; hoping that whoever was coming the other way
would slow down enough! Sorrento is lovely as is Capri..
Have a wonderful and safe holiday!

--Jean

Andrew Richardson wrote:
We are thinking of taking a trip to the Sorrento area mid October. We are
planning to fly into Naples and hire a car from the airport, base ourselves
in Sorrento and use the car to explore the surrounding area for 5 days.

A couple of questions for anyone who has been the

1. Is October a good time to go? It looks like the temperatures will be
around 21C max when we'll be there which is will be good for us as we don't
like extreme heat, but will everything be open as it's near the end of the
season?

2. Any suggestions of where to go? I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

3. Driving. I've driven in Northern Italy, around the Lake Garda area and I
found it to be fine, even when the trafic got a bit busy. Is the area
around Sorrento[1] significantly different for driving than the north?

Thanks very much in advance - the info will be very useful.

[1] I'm *not* going to be taking the car into central Naples, I've already
heard about the drivers there!

We were in Sorrento in December a few years back. While I am the last
person to indulge in "stupid foreigner" comments about Italian drivers,
I must say that driving in that area was a real pain, and this was
totally off season- I dread to think what it is like in high season. It
took literally a whole hour to drive to from Herculaneum to Pompeii, and
getting back to Sorrento took a couple more hours. The problem was not
so much the quantity of traffic as the totally brainless driving style.
People don't park, they just get out of their cars and leave them
standing in the middle of the road. Gridlocking junctions is taken as
normal- if you don't drive into the gridlock then somebody else will in
front of you.
I didn't find the Amalfi coast drive so terrifying like some other
posters - the traffic moves so slowly there are hardly any great risks
involved - the main trouble is there is hardly anywhere to stop.

Nevertheless, it's all worth it just to sit in the little restaurant on
the harbour with the photos of Sophia Loren and the other great stars
on the wall, and to imagine how they also sat in exactly the same
restaurant between takes and maybe also looked at Capri through the
pouring rain...
One day I mean to go back and stay in this http://www.hotelilfaro.com/
tiny hotel, Hotel Il Faro, right next to the restaurant. Well, maybe not
next year, maybe the one after...

T.

"Tom P" wrote in message
...
We were in Sorrento in December a few years back. While I am the last
person to indulge in "stupid foreigner" comments about Italian drivers,
I must say that driving in that area was a real pain, and this was
totally off season- I dread to think what it is like in high season. It
took literally a whole hour to drive to from Herculaneum to Pompeii, and
getting back to Sorrento took a couple more hours.

Yup - in April the traffic was terrible. The circumvesuvia train was good
though - IIRC about 20 mins from Sorrento to Pompeii, and about another 20 to
Herculaneum.

The problem was not
so much the quantity of traffic as the totally brainless driving style.
People don't park, they just get out of their cars and leave them
standing in the middle of the road.

We saw this several times, it was unbeliveable. People just stopped in the
middle of a road on a bend with no chance of anyone getting past them while they
nip into a shop for something. I get ****ed off enough at the dickheads here in
the UK parked on double yellows in the high streets, but at least they don't
grind traffic to a complete halt.

Completely different to Northern Italy (the lakes) where I found the driving
quite good. Maybe because half of them were German :-)

Gridlocking junctions is taken as
normal- if you don't drive into the gridlock then somebody else will in
front of you.
I didn't find the Amalfi coast drive so terrifying like some other
posters - the traffic moves so slowly there are hardly any great risks
involved - the main trouble is there is hardly anywhere to stop.

It's not so much that it's "terrifying" (I've driven on far more terrifying
roads) but that you won't be able to enjoy the scenery nearly as much if you're
driving.

--
Andy

Andrew Richardson wrote:

2. Any suggestions of where to go? I heard the Amalfi coast drive and
Positano are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

Do you like ancient ruins? well, aside from the nearby Herculaneum and
Pompeii, which by the way are very easily reached by the local train
and sure do not require a car, there is also Paestum.

Paestum is the ruins of an ancient Greek city, taken over by the
Romans, and then abandoned when the malaria got too bad.

It has lots of impressive buildings - three big temples and other
miscellaney, including a hinterland of unexcavated old town. The
archeological museum there is also quite nice. Normally I avoid touts
of tourist literature, but those little guidebooks they sell for
Paestum are really really handy, I must say.

It's a great place to get to by car, unlike H. or P.. When I went to
Paestum some years back, I made the mistake of taking the BUS. Oh yie
yie that took just forever and not being a local I kept in high-stress
thinking again and again I got on the wrong bus or missed a transfer or
something! On the way back, though, I was glad to find a local train
station about a half mile away, which took me into Naples, from where I
took the local Circumvesuviana commuter train back to Sorrento. So: a
car's a great choice, there.

Have fun,
--
Dan Stephenson
Photos, movies, panos from the Europe, USA, plus N.Z.:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

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On 2008-09-28 10:08:52 -0500, "Andy Pandy"
said:

Pompeii and Herculaneum are obvious local attractions, they are both
spectacular, you can get a 3 site ticket with the Villa di Poppea which is also
well worth visting.

Is Poppea that palce right next to Pompeii with the big winepress?
--
Dan Stephenson
Photos, movies, panos from the Europe, USA, plus N.Z.:
http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

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