after having had great advice on here the last couple of years on tuscany and bologna/venice areas, our love affair with italy will hopefully continue next year, but we cant decide where to try next…..

i think we’d like to try the sorrento/amalfi area, visit pompeii, maybe visit capri or ischia, but…..it looks bluddy expensive!

is this generally an area for the more ‘well-off’ bods, and if you cant afford it then dont try and do it on the cheap, go somewhere else? or can it indeed be done at a more reasonable cost?

if not, then which other (cheaper) areas may be worth exploring considering we like sandy beaches, lovely scenery, people watching as the world goes by, nowt too strenuous.

puglia maybe?

thanks

Beautiful and well worth a visit BUT a beer on Capri or in Positano is 9 euros! Sorrento slightly cheaper. Also expect it to be crowded.

Lovely places to visit and if you need some travel tips but it appears your question is just about cost…so I’d say no it’s not just for the well off but if you eat out..lunch or dinner.. you might regret it unless you’re loaded.

Sandy beaches are not a common thing either

To go against the above, I was a little underwhelmed by that area. Naples is great funny, if a little nuts, but the rest of that coast was a bit “meh”.

We loved Verona and the Lakes, Malcesine particularly was beautiful.

We enjoyed sorrento. Loads to see in the area. Don’t remember thinking it was particularly expensive, we just went to Capri for a few hours so didn’t have to spend lots there.

We stayed in the admiral hotel which was nowt special but decent enough For us. It’s in a bay a few minutes walk along from main sorrento. Great views from the front looking straight across to Vesuvius. There’s a great fish restaurant there if that’s your bag, it’s a co-op run by the local fishermen, was full of locals every night.

Only bad thing I can remember is the transfer from th’airport, took a very long time purely due to traffic.

I’d happily go back 👍

I disliked sorrento though possibly more due to timing than anything else. We were there in summer and it was very brits abroad.
Pompeii was worth a visit certainly as was hurculaneum (I preferred it, if only because of the comparative lack of crowds). You need a guide, there is no signage inside so without one it’s just walls.
Naples was interesting but felt genuinely unsafe in places. Wouldn’t bother me so much but my wife wasn’t happy walking around. The tunnels were good.
The coast was lovely to walk, if you like driving I’m sure that it’s a nice drive too. I don’t and it’s far enough south for very crazy standards of drivers.
Vesuvius was interesting to hike up and down.

For my money I’d not be in a hurry to go back. I saw enough of Pompeii to have “done” that and there was nothing else there to make me think I’d go again.

On the flip side, Florence, lucca, bologna, verona, puglia, piedmont, Rome. All places I’d go back to again in Italy.

Been so Sorrento. Was over run by American’s when we were there but didn’t spoil the mood too much. It’s stunning but a little boring…definitely fine for a few days but there is only so much wandering around you can do, drinking espressos and beer so make sure you’ve got a decent hotel lined up…but then if you’ve got a decent hotel lined up you could be anywhere. Did the Capri thing and try Herculanium instead of Pompeii…the preservation is much better apparently. I’d loved to have gone up Vesuvius too.

Also been to Ravello which is even more stunning, but similarly after a few day’s it all gets a bit repetitive. I’d love to tour round the Amalphi as I’m sure there are some lovely little places tucked away off the usual tourist trails.

Also from Naples they have an HS2 that takes a little over an hour to get to Rome…it was 3hrs by car. Then a similar time to get from Rome to Florence which is my favourite place in Italy that I’ve visited so far, so maybe do a multi stop trip?

We were warned off Naples. Its a pretty tatty industrial city apparently and not much of interest to see, and quite rough inlaces. Even the local Italians consider Naples to be rough and best to avoid. Probably better off jumping on the HS2 and heading upto Rome. But then we didn’t do it so can’t recommend or warn off.

I loved Sorrento. Ended up in a posh hotel, (one we booked was HORRENDOUS, mould all over the ceiling from leaking bathroom above, as an example)

Vesuvius and Pompei, ace.
Capri, I’d really give it a miss.

Only bad thing I can remember is the transfer from th’airport, took a very long time purely due to traffic.

We got diverted to Bari on the east coast due to a baggage handler strike at Naples! That was awful!

Sorrento is a 3 or 4 day stop in my opinion. Maybe a day or so longer.
I did the usual, Capri, hike up Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Really interesting, but didn’t find much else to do in Sorrento apart from eat.
Capri was expensive, but we only did a day trip. Didn’t think Sorrento was any more expensive than other tourist traps.
I’ve been thinking about doing with the family, but part of a train touring trip.
I didn’t like Naples, was dirty and smelly when I was there. Bin men were on strike.
Fellow brits abroad were rare, we went early season while kids were in school. Fair few middle aged Americans though.

Piemonte and liguria

We stayed in Hotel Herculaneum in Ercolano for a few days, giving time to go up Vesuvius, around Herculaneum, a drive to Amalfi (lovely); Pompeii (stays open quite late so no need to rush) and a day in Naples – a lot of the ‘treasures’ from Pompeii are in the museum in Naples. The museum was interesting – the labelling is haphazard and generally Italian only. Naples and Ercolano just seemed run down, and Ercolano in particular in not really somewhere to stop, accept for the archaeology.

We had another visit to Naples last year and had an afternoon to kill having arrived by train from Rome late morning and catching the overnight ferry to Palermo. We paid a taxi driver to take us around for a couple of hours, and saw a totally different set of views, and got an insider’s view of life there. Now we would definitely go back for a proper explore.

We drove (from Pisa!), although we took the train into Naples – otherwise driving around the towns was fine – a bit more chaotic than Tuscany, but I used to commute to work by bike in London!

Just finishing a fantastic holiday in Sulmona, Abruzzo.

Great area, proper authentic Italian experience. Amazing mountains, an hour down to Pescara and beaches. Two hours from Rome. Lots of history, Roman remains, beautiful churches everywhere, unspoilt mountain villages.

Still cheap as chips round here. 2 Euros for a massive gelato. 5 euros for 2 coffees and 2 pastries, 3 euros for a half litre of Montepulciano, the local drop.

We stayed in the hotel Gran Riviera in Sorrento for our honeymoon. Loved the whole area, was actually amazed at how cheap some of the food was considering the quality, Artus Domus in Sorrento and one of the guide book recommendations in Ravello in particular.

Took a day off honeymoon duties and did some hiking on the Amalfi coast, with a bit bit of imagination and some basic mapping you can enjoy some great hiking.

thanks for your replies. im not sure youve made it any easier for me as opinion seems to be divided 😀

plenty of food for thought tho, cheers.

(abruzzo sounds good tho, im off to google that)

We pedalled into Abruzzo national park twenty odd years ago – it was OK but soured a bit by attempted mugging within 20 mins of leaving Naples airport (youths on mopeds). Lots of shouting, swearing and tug of war saved a bum bag with passports and money, and quite amusing watching them try and fail to pick up a loaded touring bike 🙂 A lovely family led us out of town behind their car but was hard to relax after that.

I know many people love the area but we’re in no hurry to return to Naples itself.