Florence and Sorrento travel questions
Replies: 11 - Last Post: Oct 2, 2012 10:32 AM Last Post By: strangecurrencies
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Florence and Sorrento travel questions
Hello,Will be in Italy between 14-24th October (will be in Switzerland from 10-13th). I am about to make my inter city train reservations after going through millions of posts for suggestions. The itinerary is almost fixed and looks like below (i guess it looks rushed but am not sure if I will be back anytime soon). What do you think?
Itinerary:
14th October: Lugano to Milan to Venice
15: Venice
16: Florence
17: Florence (Lucca / Siena)
18: Florence
19: Florence to Sorrento (via Naples)
20: Sorrento
21: Sorrento to Rome
22: Rome
23: Rome
24: Return
Q1. Florence to Naples trenitalia fare looks expensive (Euro 80). Can I do this on an Intercity / Regional train? Will it be significantly cheap and where do I book these tickets?
Q2. Utterly confused about Sorrento stay options. We plan to do day trips to Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius and Capri. Should we stay close to Piazza Tasso(expensive and not so pretty hotels) or stay a little further up to get the ocean views since we have a limited budget.(About Euro 70 per night)
Q.3 What are the recommended day trips from Florence? I am considering Sienna and Lucca...which of the two is worth spending a night at?
Thank you so much! So much to book!!!
Edited by: strangecurrencies
2
Still...its your holiday!So...on the first question,of course you can do it by intercity/regional(like any trip).It just takes a lot longer.
A direct intercity will take about 5 and a half hours instead of 3.Taking several regional trains will mean most of the day on the train.
An intercity is around 45-50 euros.
3
Hello, it's a bit rushed but still doable with a few notes:- Siena and Lucca are at two opposite directions from Florence and can't fit in the same day. They deserve a day each, but since you don't really have time you may need to choose one only (there's also Pisa, among other beautiful Tuscan cities). Both can be a daytrip, so you won't need to change hotel too often.
- Florence to Naples on Regional trains is not recommendable: it would be almost 4 hours to Rome, then 2.5 hours from Rome to Florence. You'd save some money but spend all day in a slow train!
- Capri at the end of October may not be the best, especially if it will rain. Ferries may have issues going to the islands depending by sea conditions. Sure there's the Amalfi Coast nearby, but why aren't you consiering to visit Naples too?
- For a stay in Sorrento consider also public transportation. You might stay in Sant'Agnello, Piano or Meta, all along the train line from Naples, and cheaper than central Sorrento.
Hope this helps!
4
On the second....(how are you going to do those day trips when you only have 1 full day in Sorrento?)....better to stay near the centre if your only purpose in Sorrento is to visit other places.On the last...there are lots of possible day trips.Of those 2 I would stay in Lucca...its further away from Florence and more difficult to get to,but nicer and more interesting than Siena for me.
Have a nice trip,and think about what kind of trip you would like before you fill it up with going from place to place ;-)
Remember at that time of year (and especially if you are not using advance train discounts for Frecciarossa etc.)then there is absolutely no need to book anything in advance......
5
it looks rushed but am not sure if I will be back anytime soonLet me be blunt.
When I see a rationalization like this, what I really hear is something along the lines of, I don't know if I'll ever be back, so I'd like to do as much as possible in as half-assed and superficial a manner as possible. And with so much travel time in between the destinations I'm supposedly so interested in seeing that I'm willing to shortchange both those destinations and myself.
You've got 10 nights in Italy. Three destinations would be taking it briskly. You've got 5, if you stay overnight somewhere in Tuscany that isn't Florence. Seven travel days out of 11. And that's not counting day trips, which are plentiful.
You can see a lot more of less, or a lot less of more. I strongly suggest you make some tough decisions about your real priorities and slow down. There's a difference between getting a taste and merely getting a whiff.
Okay, I'm done being blunt. So let me hold out this olive branch: I think you're probably not "clicking through" far enough on the Trenitalia website to see any potential discounted fares. Those discounted fares will commit you to a specific train at a specific time on a specific day. So think hard before you commit.
7
Miss out Venice if you are only considering such a short time there, stick with Florence and Rome and then add some day trips from these cities. For Pompeii when in Rome visit Ostia Antica to me it is much better than Pompeii of course without the same history.8
HiIn Sorrento a double room at Hostel Le Sirene - http://www.hostellesirene.com/en/index.php - may be more affordable for you.
For a more leisurely itinerary I would forget about day trips from Florence. Reduce your stay in Florence and add another day to Venice. I would skip Capri and visit Positano or Amalfi.
9
Cant thank you enough for your views and comments. Really appreciate and I believe they make a lot of sense to me....re-looking at the itinerary to see where all I can save time.About Rome, it seems to have quite a few neighborhoods to place ourselves in. The top ones Novona, Colloseo, Fiori, Trevi all look booked for my budget. I am also thinking Travestere for its night life but again can't seem to find anything closeby (some supposedly Trastevere BnBs appear to be fairly far off when I look them up on the maps).
How about staying at Cornelia (theres a BnB my wife likes there) with a bus stop and metro station at walking distance. Apart from the Colloseo and Vatican we would really like to get a feel of the places like Travestere and its night life, so is the public transport safe enough if we are travelling late at night towards Cornelia (which I believe is not much of a tourist hub).
Any other location that you could suggest which is relatively central and and is good for nightlife.
Or is the transport good enough to not worry about the location of the stay as long as its not too far off.
11
Hi Flapic, so I have booked a place at Circo Mossimo which looks fairly central for the historical monuments and Trastevere as well.Any specific streets in Trastevere to experience its nightlife and markets.
Sorrento: Since the only accomodation in my budget appear to be horribly rated bnbs I am looking at other neighborhoods such as Sant'Agnello / Piano de Sorrento or even Positano
