Birthday mini break - Rome or Sorrento?

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I am trying to plan a trip to Italy for DHs birthday for 3 night next year in May. I'm focused on Italy as we have been to Venice and the lakes and always have a lovely holiday.

I'm torn between Rome and Sorrento but would appreciate some advice or opinions on these if anyone has been.

TIA

Sorrento. Rome too busy

Both are gorgeous but Sorrento is a base to explore the surrounding area rather than particularly a city to visit for itself IYSWIM.

It's amazing for Pompeii, Herculaneum, capri, positano etc but you will either be doing a lot of driving or will spend hours on the Trans Vesuviana train which is not fast.

Personally, I'd go to Rome if o only have 3 days. I think Sorrento needs a full week.

Rome. It's fabulous.

Sorrento, the amalfi coast is lovely. Rome is my least favourite Italian city.

You ideally need a bit longer for Sorrento as pp has said. Rome is a great city, we did 3 nights there whilst travelling around Italy (we did 5 nights in Sorrento). I've not been to Rome in May so can't really say whether it will be busy then. It is a really nice place for a short break Another Italian city that I absolutely loved was Bologna

Rome has changed so much, not for the better. I’d go to Sorrento.

Love Sorrento ❤ went there on honeymoon. So beautiful 😍 could visit Capri or Amalfi coast while you're there.

We are in Tuscany atm. Also very beautiful. Italy 🇮🇹 is such a great country.

Love Sorrento but I don't think 3 days is enough to do the essentials of Capri, Positano, Ravello and Amalfi and Pompeii and Herculaneum and it would be a sin to holiday there and miss any of them out.

Can I throw Florence in the hat?

Pre-covid, we did 3 days in Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Fast train to Rome for the remaining 3 days (considering travel, flights etc). Didn't get as far as Sorrento. What would you like to see and do?

I thoroughly enjoyed both. I much prefer travelling out of the summer season. No queues for major sights in Rome like the Vatican museums, Colosseum, Trevi fountain etc- and also not as hot. I actually wished we'd spent more time there.

If you like seeing museums and major, well know sites- then Rome
If you prefer beautiful sea views, and possibly a day trip to Pompeii- then Sorrento

Both lovely. Rome you can do on foot. Sorrento needs a car or organised tour buses to see the sights people have listed. Also, Sorrento is approx an hour transfer from Naples airport, Rome has its own, which might make a difference for a short trip.

Florence

(Sorry - I know that wasn't the question)
IMO 3 days isn't long enough for either Rome or Sorrento.

I went to Rome for 3 days. Did all the main things. Rome is busy but it's like going to London for 3 days. You can pack it in, the main bits are relatively close together. There's obviously lots now you could do but you can do the main things and eat out, lots to explore.

As PPs mentioned you need money l longer for Sorrento. For a start, you need to get from Naples to Sorrento and back again for airport, and then it takes a long time on that windy road to get to Amalfi (unless a motorway has been built since I went in 2003!). It's more relaxed but you don't relax in 3 days anyway. It's just like a nice seaside town which is a good base for exploring but not that exciting in and of itself.

Sorry, all the mistakes... There's obviously lots more you can do.... As PPs mentioned, you need much longer for Sorrento

Thanks all for great advice, I am edging towards Rome due to the lack of time as you say it would be difficult to fit everything in. My reasoning with Sorrento was that I have found a pretty good package for the 3 nights including flights, hotel B&B and transfers that seems a lot better for the equivalent cost in Rome. I guess we could go back if we couldn't fit everything in

I guess it depends what you want. Do you want lazy days and lie-ins, wandering around hand in hand and popping into nice shops for 3 days (Sorrento)? Or prefer whizzing around famous sites (Rome).

www.hotelvisavis.com/en/services/ As another alternative, we just spent a week here. It was marvellous and easy to get to other local towns - Portofino/Cinque Terre villages etc.

Or Stresa on Lake Maggiore - 3 days is perfect. Easy to get there from Malpensa. www.hlapalma.it/en/sky-bar/
Boats trips to the Borromean Islands. Lovely food.

Another thing to note is that if you wanted to go to Pompeii thats fine. We did Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1 day via the rather slow train (we stayed in Naples though). The same train goes to Sorrento too.

Note that the vast majority (in fact possibly all) of the actual frescos, statues, artifacts etc from Pompeii are in the museum in Naples. There is a 45min ferry from Sorento to Naples, but if you did that also, thats another day out. I had wrongly assumed that I'd see all the frescos and things you see on the TV at Pompeii itself.

Walking up Vesuvius is another thing to do, but we personally weren't bothered to do that. Too many reviews of taxi drivers leaving, charging extra for the return journey etc and just couldn't be bothered to climb up a mountain covered in ash!

For Rome, we walked the entire city to see the sights. We did get a train to the Vatican museum, because it was further from our hotel and we wanted to get there early. Despite also only having 3 days there, I felt we saw the main sights. Some were fairly close together and once you've had a look at the fountain, steps etc- I didn't need to sit there all day. From memory we somehow managed the following in 3 days:
Colosseum
Vatican museum and sistine chapel
Lunch in the Jewish quarter
Spanish steps
Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Roman Forum
Palatine Hill
Capotolin Museum

A week is barely long enough in Rome - there is so much to see. But you can do the edited highlights. Sorrento is quite a way from the airport.

I wasn't overly keen on Sorrento itself unless you're in one of the very nice hotels on the sea front, it felt a bit tacky to me. It is a great base for the boat to Capri and the train to Pompeii and Herculaneum.

However if you have a package deal for Sorrento I'd probably go for that just for ease and enjoyment. Rome is actually less than two hours from Naples on the high speed train so we actually did Sorrento and Rome in the same trip ( NB I'm not recommending you do that).

Rome, without a doubt. As I've just said on another thread, Rome has been much less busy for the last two years as Japanese and Chinese tourists haven't been travelling. It won't be that busy in May I don't think.

Sorrento has a beautiful coastline, but the resort itself has become really tacky. Lots of Full English cafes and live football matches etc.

There are nicer places along that coast tbh.

PS agree that Sorrento is extortionate compared to Rome, which is cheap as chips to eat out.

Just wanted to correct another PP upthread - you don't need to pay for expensive excursions/tours from Sorrento.
Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples & Vesuvius can be reached by train from Sorrento.
The entire Amalfi coast can be accessed by public bus (Sita) - Amalfi, Positano, Minori etc. & you can get a bus from Amalfi up to Ravello. All perfectly doable & cheap.
But 3 days isn't much - just depends on your priorities.
May will be nice & warm & sunny - mid-20s.

Placemaking as also thinking of going to Sorrento next year!