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!

The thermal spas in Ischia are amazing but I don't think I'd enjoy getting the ferry there and back in a day just to go. We stayed in Ischia for a few days after staying in Naples and then I thought it was worth it.

If you're planning to visit Vesuvius / Pompeii / Sorrento / Naples then it doesn't really matter if you're in Sorrento or Naples as it's the same amount of travelling around.

Train to Naples, then ferry to ischia. Most of the hot springs are free, not sure how you got to £350.

Yes if you can I would. The charm of the Amalfi coast towns doesn’t sound like it matches what your kids will be up for. They may be more keen on a city, and would be easier and likely cheaper

I’ve cancelled the Sorrento hotel. Now panic looking for an alternative place. Has anyone stayed in Bacoli?

For vesuvius all tickets are sold online there is no ticket office at the top of vesuvius. It's quite hard to get online at top of vesuvius so I woukdnt risk trying to get a last minute online ticket (they hold a few back when its sold out) when you get to the top. I've just had a look at the official website it's sold out for the next week or so.

@ItWasTheBabycham 200 euros ferry from Sorrento to Ischia. That’s cheaper than train to Naples and ferry from there. Then entry to the paid thermal baths for 5 people. Approx another 200 euros or about £350.

That’s ok. We have a bit longer till we go.

bear in mind that there are restrictions on who can drive on the coast road by number plate and make sure that you aren't hiring a car that isn't allowed onthe roads.

Where are you flying to?

Herculaneum over Pompeii, for sure.

Also a bus or boat trip from
Sorrento to Positano or Palermo. Bus is very cheap and ferry wasn’t terrible when I did it.

There used to be a ticket which covered a set number of attractions in the area (or possibly a number of days) and included train travel. We bought them at the museum in Naples and went to the archaeology museum, Pompeii, Herculaneum and a couple of less well known attractions in the duburbs of Naples. Definitely worth looking at multi attraction tickets.

Naples

Take a train to Naples and/or a train to Rome
I think you can even buy tickets on Trainline

@Treeleaf11 which website were you looking at for booking Vesuvius?

If a train to Naples is £140 return, a train to Rome would be the cost of another holiday! Plus my kids want to swim, not be on trains for hours on end.

A train to Naples definitely isn’t 140 return. It’ll be just a few euros each. We took it loads last year, tickets for 4 of us Sorrento to Pompeii for example under £10 total.

I think this is the “official” site https://vesuviopark.vivaticket.it/en/event/visita-guidata-al-gran-cono-del-vesuvio/79785

Or you can book Vesuvius tickets with a bus transfer from Herculaneum station or Pompeii station or Naples on a site like this: https://www.tiqets.com/en/mount-vesuvius-tickets-l146329/?partner=visitpompeiivesuvius

You need to get some sort of bus up to the top from one of the main places - not sure if the buses need to be booked or not. But you’re aiming for a set entry time for the tickets so might be a good move to combine the transfer and tickets.

https://www.seat61.com/places-of-interest/day-trip-to-pompeii.htm

Circumvesuviana is £3!

Rome to Pompeii requires a high speed train Rome to Naples at cheapest 38 euros per person return or 88 euros per person on a walk up fare. Then switch to the local railway for the rest of the journey with associated costs. So for the 5 of us around 500 euros. But anyway, we are getting sidetracked. I’m not going to Rome!

That’s a shocking price. Was it a particularly expensive restaurant? We are going there next October. I see us catering in our bills a lot. But we are staying at st agnata too, so hopefully not so pricey then.

It wasn’t even a restaurant, it was a beach bar, one of the ones you get there in the lift. Santa Agata was fabulous and very good value. We only went into Sorrento twice so didn’t horribly overspend.

@RememberDecember
are Ubers easy to get in the Sorrento area ?

@Archymum
how much were your airport transfers and who did you book through, or did you travel on a package?

Ubers and taxis are easy to get in Sorrento and there’s a good bus service too.

There’s so much to do in the sorrento/naples area, and so much in Rome that they’re definitely 2 separate holidays.
If they really want to swim, when we took DD to sorrento at Easter when she was 10 we stayed at La Solera which is just outside sorrento (they ran a good shuttle bus). We chose it because it was the only hotel we could find with a heated pool in low season. Probably similar temperatures to October (locals were in coats, we were fine). That was 16 years ago so don’t know what it’s like now but might be worth a look?