Panicking - sorrento with teens

[Teakettletrio]

We are off to Sorrento for half term with three teenagers. We all want to go to Pompeii and Vesuvius so that’s easy. However the rest of the time my kids just want to swim. The weather forecast is not looking great - rainy and 18-20 degrees. My plan had been to go to the thermal baths on Ischia for the day but that worked out at £350 for us to go and that’s beyond our budget for a day trip. So that’s off the table. What can we do?
We have a hire car, so we can travel about a bit but what are we going to do with them? I’m now thinking I’ve picked the wrong place to go and it’s going to be a miserable holiday with lots of moaning. Help!

I went to Sorrento in Feb half term with my two teen boys. The thing they enjoyed the most was the hike up Vesuvius, make sure its a clear day though. Not sure I would have hired a car, the train is convenient and we took a bus to Positano

Don't knock Naples it's great! It is quite rough and ready but very buzzy and definitely a must visit IMO. I think the catacombs isn't very expensive to go in to if it's raining and is quite an interesting trip. You can also get the Funicular train up in to the hills for a good view. The food is incredible and honestly I'd go to Naples for the weekend just to eat a pizza and go to Pescheria Azzurra😂

Sounds like a great holiday

We are planning to get the train to Vesuvius. We’ve hired a car to get us from the airport and back as it was the most cost efficient way to do it. Plus I can’t lug suitcases about as I’m recovering from an injury. DH doing the driving.

If it’s not too late or really needed for some reason I’d cancel the hire car. The trains and buses are good, I’d spend the money saved on the ferry to Capri.….sorry, cross post re car.

I was there a week ago. The locals are dressed for winter, hats, scarves, boots. Take layers. Hotel pool was freezing but we did enjoy a few hours in the sunshine and out of the wind.
Pompeii is a full day out, book tickets online beforehand.
The train is very easy towards Naples . Bus available towards Amalfi, Positano, Ravello. Hike the Path of the Gods.

I agree that Pompeii is a full day, there is a lot of walking around. We did Herculaneum in the morning and then a bus up to Vesuvius in the afternoon.

If you go to Vesuvius you have to book in advance.

Procida is really charming and its quicker and cheaper to get to than Capri. Ferries leave from Naples or Pozzuoli - Pozzuoli itself it also really interesting with a Roman amphitheatre and a temple at the harbour.

Central Naples is great! And the archaeological museum has some real treasures. Just standard safety measures - no flashy jewellery, don't wave your phone around, don't spend too long in the area around the station which is a bit rough. Passeggiata - the time around sunset when people congregate outside and walk around is especially fun around Santa Lucia. Get an ice cream and people-watch.

There is also a place called Gaiola where you can snorkel around some submerged Roman ruins.m, near Posillipo I think.

Do you? I’d looked online and it seemed to say that you could just do it on the day.

This is what I’m worrying about. That it’s too cold and windy to swim. Maybe we will be a bit more hardy, as Brits used to the North Sea!

also - about booking for pompeii online. I saw that children under 18 are free but you can only buy those tickets at the site. Should we pre book adult tickets though?

There is a nice beach at Nerano which is a small and very pretty fishing village. you can get a bus there from Sorrrento which takes about 40 minutes and is an interesting journey. The beach is pebbles but really nice and it is a "proper" beach. I expect the beach bars and bagni services will be closed, or at least winding down but you will have public access to swim. The water should still be warm enough to Brits to swim in. I also echo other suggestions of visiting Naples. Maybe do a street food tour - teens should love that. Also see the archaeological museum, it is mind blowing. You can get the public ferry to Capri which is much cheaper than a tour. Personally I wouldn't hire a car unless your husband has got nerves of steel!

Definitely bus the Amafi Coast you can do Amalfi / Ravello one day and Positano another . The train between Sorrento a Naples is reasonable too . Naples is very good.

Capri is amazing we walked all day and there is street food to eat on the shore

We found it much cheaper to get our own boat. We hired a speedboat and did capri and Anacapri ourselves. The kids loved it.

@ginasevern the public ferry is 40 euro per person. So 200 euro for the 5 of us. We are definitely not going to Capri.

Why do you say the driving is so bad? Is it the winding roads/narrow turns?

@exceptnorahshesuseditalready you hired a speedboat for less than 200 euros?

You can get the normal scheduled ferries from Sorrento to lots of places, no need to book a boat trip. The ticket offices are at the Marina, and you can also look online.

The roads terrify me, very narrow and winding and parking is impossible.

Naples is fabulous - just need to keep your wits about you. Underground tours are really good, the archeological museum. Get the funicular to the top of the hill and walk down through the Spanish Quarter. Count the number of pics of Maradona. Eat Pizza.

Agree the Amalfi coast is absolutely one of the worst possible places to drive in the world. 10000 times scarier and more dangerous than walking around in Naples as a tourist for a day! I almost had a heart attack as a passenger in a taxi on the road to Positano watching the cars and busses whip round the hairpin turns. I'd avoid driving around there if at all possible.

@TwoTuesday i don’t know how many more times I have to say it, but for 5 people on a basic ferry to Capri from sorrento and back again is 200 euro. Look it up! It’s not a special tourist boat, it’s the normal ferry.

@Archymum I just watched a YouTube video of the drive from Naples airport to Sorrento. It looked fine. No worse than the Hanger Lane roundabout! Am I missing something? This was what I watched https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=snv7Yb14ws4.

Yes, Italian drivers 🤣

We went last October half term. It was great and Naples was probably our favourite part. The food is amazing! We normally hire a car when we go away but deliberately didn’t because of the terrible driving. We just got Ubers and public transport everywhere the driving really is in a different league they pay no attention to road rules!

We were also on a budget and didn’t fancy the splurge for the boat hire, plus the weather was pretty ropey. I always think it is going to be warmer than it is, but I guess it is getting on towards Nov. We did a day by a beach but it wasn’t really warm enough, although we went on regardless!