Weekend in Sorrento

[StiffyByng]

We're heading to Sorrento for a weekend in October. Flight lands around 10.30 on Friday morning, and we'll hire a car from Naples (DH has done this before - rather him than me!). So hopefully some of Friday, and then flight back late on Sunday.

I am desperate to see Herculaneum and would like to see Pompeii too if possible. Can both be done in a day? We're both willing to put in the hours and have walking stamina.

And any ideas on where to stay? And eat? We would like somewhere luxurious but not top end (max £400 for two nights) - is this achievable?

hello! There is only one place to stay in Sorrento, fabulous and luxurious, LE SIRENE.
I worked with its sister hotel in Positano a few years ago. I can't recommend highly enough the Sirene ( www.bellevue.it) right in the centre, romantic, all you could want for a childfree holiday in the heart of bustling exciting Sorrento! can you tell I used to write travel brochures?! Might be a tad expensive now but I would throw caution to the wind and go for it. Have a prosecco on the lemon tree covered terrace.. with the ambient music, you will feel like you've arrived in heaven...

I preferred Herculaneum to Pompeii. We got there as it opened in the morning in may and almost had the place to ourselves. We stayed one night in hotel Herculaneum before going to the amalfi coast and the hotel was great.... the surrounding area was quite busy but not threatening at all. The area around Naples train station was a bit intimidating.... But we had lots of small children with us. During the day and with just grown ups it would be fine.
Pompeii was big dusty and quite "empty" of artefacts but full of hoards of tourists on tours. More to see in Herculaneum (you could really imagine it a s a town).

Oh and i agree that compared to Herculaneum Pompeii is a bit "dull" in some ways.... But it's Pompeii!! Plan your route in advance or go on a tour to get the most out of it

Noo, Pompeii is a must see! I think Italians can sometimes be quite blasé about their ancient sites but particularly this one is under such constant threat from Vesuvius and the environment that you don't know how long it will endure.

Does anyone else wish they were there now rather than in a rather soggy UK?

Definitely me!

I am totally ignoring her, and my determination to go this year is very much driven by my awareness that they shouldn't be taken for granted.

Another vote for ditching the car.
Trains are cheap enough and easy to use
Definitely go to Pompeii it was fascinating.
We did the Vesuvius tour too, it was quite bumpy and a steep climb but the view was breathtaking !
Sorrento is just lovely.

Just reporting on my MN-informed weekend away. Thank you for all the tips. We trained and bussed everywhere, stayed in a great hotel in San Agnello, walked into Sorrento for a dinner or two. Sorrento itself wouldn't be for me as a proper holiday base. Even with the caution on this thread I hadn't appreciated what a very, very touristy place it is; Italy feels more interesting without Irish bars I think. But we did go to Herculaneum and Pompeii. We took a short guided tour to get us started in Pompeii and a self guide for Herculaneum. After our tour in Pompeii we wandered by ourselves for hours and would have gone back for a second day if we could. It was all breathtaking although a bit sad to see the state some of Herculaneum is in. Quite a few of the places in our guide we're currently shut to visitors.

We will go back and take the kids a few years down the road.

Glad you enjoyed it. We stayed in St Agnello as well, but the walk into Sorrento wasn't very pleasant due to the narrow pavements and very busy roads (and 34 degree heat), so we took the train.

Thanks for the update. We did our trip last week. I was very underwhelmed by Sorrento itself although our apart suite was nice and very suitable for our needs , it felt like we were in the middle of a working city rather than a tourist town.
We'd probably go back without DS and stay in one of the neighbouring villages to see the sights properly.

We walked a back way into Sorrento rather than down the main road. Luckily our hotel was on the coast so that was the quickest route too.