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 links provided by @Talipesmum suggest that the cheaper local train is approx £5 pp each way and the express train £8 pp each way, Naples - Sorrento. The local train you can only pay for in cash on the day.

But I agree, I wouldn’t be travelling up to Rome from Sorrento. That’s a different holiday.

You HAVE to go to Torna a Surriento Trattoria (back of Sorrento). It’s so much fun. I promise you won’t regret it and your teens will love it!

We stayed here in Oct 2019 with a 15 & 13 yo was the best holiday
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16698308?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

@ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea gosh I can't remember how much. We weren't on a package and I'm sure we just booked it ourselves- maybe it was a recommendation from the apartment where we were staying?

We went to naples, honestly loved it.
we did this which my teens throughly enjoyed :
https://kayaknapoli.com

it's comparable to any busy city in terms of safeness, its out felt really authentic.

There is a slow ferry to Ischia going from Naples as well, around 12 euro each way.
https://www.traghetti-ischia.info/en/?ttricporto1=napoliTutti&ttricporto2=ischiaTutti&ttricdata1=tomorrow&ttricdata2=tomorrow&trgac=entraginfo&gadsource=1&gadcampaignid=21387845968&gbraid=0AAAAADnh-TpU0fMGaxaNGbQ4z0-uHscad&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6bfHBhDNARIsAIGsqLgCOMQWVwlDlp-yRd66lIWbWRHX7xZqLjP74GExjQZa4FmAksWxOUaAsXDEALwwcB

ischia has a fantastic cheap bus service, you won't need a car over there.

Where on earth are you getting these prices from? You’ve panicked and cancelled your hotel without a back up based on some made up pricing from a random website?! Wow.

It will be fine for teenagers to swim, colder than the summer months but fine once you’re in!

And it’s €19pp return on the ferry from Sorrento to Capri and £13.50 return on the train Sorrento to Naples. You can get your tickets at the ferry terminal and train station on the day or by the normal apps you’d use anywhere (trainline and Ferryhopper are my go to).

You seem to be really overthinking this to the point you now have no hotel! It’s a week ffs, you’ve got 2 day trips planned. You are there with a husband and three teenagers and you’re worried about “lugging cases” and not having enough to do? Really?

I’d be contacting the nice Sorrento hotel with pool and telling them I’ve clicked the wrong button in error and rebooking. Then I’d calm the f down and start packing. If your teenagers are used to the North Sea then they’ll be fine in a pool in Sorrento in a couple of weeks 😅

@CountryQueen where on earth are you getting your prices from? Those prices were from Ferryhopper, Trainline, Trenitalia and NLG Ferries. Others on the thread have concurred with the quotes I’ve had. Even on the Circumvesuviana all the travelling costs would add up for 5 of us. Have you got a discount code maybe?

I cancelled the Sorrento hotel as I realised it just wasn’t going to meet our needs. But you can stop worrying on my behalf. I have got another one booked that has two pools and a hot tub and a private beach nearer to Naples.

And btw your message is the equivalent of ‘calm down, dear’ which never helped anyone.

Thank you @oldFoolMe that’s a useful tip.

Buy it on the day, i can't remember exactly but as a budget traveler i would not have paid more than €10 a person. Its the local commuter train that all the Italians get.

There’s so much to do in Naples that doesn’t require warm weather. I think it’s a beautiful city and the children will love all the street food.

If you ever do go back to the Amalfi coast, the bus is cheap and will take you around all the little towns. Ravello is a highlight. I wouldn’t have tried to combine Amalfi coast, Capri, Ischia, Pompeii, Naples in a week - you’d be knackered and no room for any downtime like swimming!

Yes do this! Try and stay away from the train station as it’s a bit rough around there. Look for somewhere near via Toledo, Dante area.

We did a week in Naples in April. I loved it and there is loads to do.

You can buy arte cards which give you access into loads of attractions for free. It’s very reasonable. The trains to Herculaneum and Pompeii are cheap. £5 or so each.

Theres a Facebook page for visiting Naples with loads of advice.

Where do you mean by “nearer to Naples”?

Scroll down. I was just showing you that the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Vesuvius was £3. With rock hard seats as I recall. But not £140.

@fruitbrewhaha Bacoli

If you’re staying in Bacoli you can visit baiae and phlegrean fields. Theres all sorts of Roman history there. Read Roberts Harris Pompeii. It’s a good story that brings the Vesuvius eruption to life and part of the story is set in that area.

If you’re staying in Bacoli you can visit baiae and phlegrean fields. Theres all sorts of Roman history there. Read Roberts Harris Pompeii. It’s a good story that brings the Vesuvius eruption to life and part of the story is set in that area.

Yes, the local trains are good and cheap. And some of them aren’t that local - I think it’s not very expensive to get from the mainline station in Pompeii to Paestum, for instance.

Thank you. This was what I realised last night that all the things we wanted to see were on that side of the bay of Naples. So it made sense to not stick ourselves out in Sorrento and just keep travelling back to places. Particularly since the overall view of Naples was that it was definitely worth a visit.

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.

And there's me thinking that you wanted alternatives to swimming due to the inclement weather forecast!

I do want alternatives and I’ve been given loads. My point is that it wouldn’t be much of a trade to say to the kids ‘you know you wanted to swim today but it’s raining and the pool is freezing? Well we are going to embark on a 6 hour round trip to Rome instead! Rejoice!’ 🤣

Yes, lots of winding twists and turns and narrow passing places. But that's the least of your worries. You obviously haven't heard about Neapolitan drivers. They are infamously crazy!

Yes this is the website we used to buy tickets for Vesuvius. You need to look into how to get up there. We got a mini bus from Ercalano which worked quite well ( the reviews for the company were quite sketchy though).
I did find the planning of our Sorrento/Naples trip quite complicated, it took a lot of research to figure it all out.

Many apologies but I didn't mention Capri in particular, I didn't go there. There are many other ferry destinations from Sorrento eg Seiano.

I said where I was getting my prices from. Ferry hopper and trainline for half term week. Where are you getting your prices from?

As for the “calm down” well yeah, you really should cause now you’re in the position where you’ve to schlep to Milan stations for travel from your new lodgings.

That said, you’re clearly on a budget and travelling is still expensive so I’d say capri is unnecessary for your trip this time. Just sack that off. Vesuvius and Pompeii will feel like plenty