<p>Two family members and I will be traveling to Rome for ten days in early September. For two of those nights, I thought we could travel to the Naples area for sightseeing. We are particularly interested in Capri and Pompeii. I have been to the area before–though for only one day–and I am hesitant to stay in Naples itself (though if someone can recommend a nice, well-situated hotel in Naples, please do!). I thought instead we could stay in Sorrento or any similar town. My requirements:</p>
<p>-Approximately 150 dollars per night, if at all possible, though I am somewhat flexible on this point.
-Triple room, or for a less expensive hotel, 1 single and 1 double room
-Ease of travel to Pompeii and to Naples using public transportation
-I would prefer proximity to the coast for the views. I really want my family to love it.</p>
<p>I know this is a tall order to fill, but I figured if anyone could help, it would be CC parents! Thanks in advance to the CC travel gurus!</p>
<p>(As a sidenote, if anyone could recommend an inexpensive hotel close to FCO, I would greatly appreciate it).</p>
<p>I would not hesitate to spend a night in Naples. The danger seems much exaggerated. We have stayed several night when wanting to get an early ferry to Capri or Positano or to drive down the Amalfi coast. It’s the home of pizza and has lots of other great food if you’re foodies. Can’t recommend a hotel in that price range but Tripadvisor.com has great ratings and you’ll find many in that range.</p>
<p>Sorrento is a nice town. The Best Western Solara is a great place to stay (who would have thought?) and it’s reasonable. There’s public transportation and lots of guided tours to the towns you mention.</p>
<p>I adore Capri (it’s still a mob scene in September though) but if you have not been down the Amalfi Coast you must go. This is the place most I know long to return to and your family will love it. Truly spectacular!! Lots of cars for hire and busses too. Start in Naples or Sorrento and make stops in Amalfi, Positano (stop for lunch at Black’s on the beach) and Ravello (or lunch here in the hills overlooking the sea at Mama’s) ending up in Sorentino. Hotels are expensive on the Amalfi Coast or I would advise staying there.</p>
<p>You can also take a ferry from Naples or Sorrento to Positano during the summer which should include September.</p>
<p>All in all this region is one of my favorites on the planet. I’ve investigated airport hotels and have decided it’s just worth getting up a bit early to have that last night in Rome.</p>
<p>Stay at Piccolo Paradiso in Massa Lubrense. It is west of Sorrento. It is absolutely the best. You can easily take the buses and trains around. The food is the best, make sure to eat there as well. We stayed there a few days, and wished we had had two weeks. Excellent prices.
[Hotel</a> Piccolo Paradiso Piazza Madonna della Lobra 5 Massa Lubrense(NA) ITALY](<a href=“http://www.piccolo-paradiso.com/Inglese.htm]Hotel”>http://www.piccolo-paradiso.com/Inglese.htm)</p>
<p>I don’t know what happened to my previous post, so I will try this again:</p>
<p>Thanks for the great suggestions! Hmom5, I had considered Positano for lodging as well. If I could find a hotel that fit my budget, would you suggest staying there? Or does that make returning to Naples or visiting Pompeii difficult?</p>
<p>Sopranomom92, will we find it easy to use the trains and buses to and from that town if we don’t speak Italian? How long does it take to get to Pompeii from Massa Lubrense? The hotel you listed looks so beautiful–I’m tempted to book it.</p>
<p>Also, I forgot to say why I want to stay near the airport for the night prior to our departure. We have a 7am flight and I know from previous experience that it is difficult to get out of the city to the airport at 4am, as the Leonardo express doesn’t run that early. I have found staying near FCO to be a much easier solution, but I am having trouble finding airport hotels that offer triples.</p>
<p>Well, I am not going to edit my last post, but I don’t know why my last paragraph keeps showing up in the beginning as well. My apologies for the mangled post.</p>
<p>Just book it. You won’t regret it. We’ve sent other people there and they’ve been amazed. When we stayed, we parked the car and never moved it. The hotel is popular with British tour groups, so English is definitely spoken. We used public transport to go to Pompeii from there, also to Sorrento and everywhere. I don’t remember how long it took to get to Pompeii, but it was definitely easily done, we did it with 4 kids in tow, ages 7 to 17–you take a bus then a train. You could definitely stay at Piccolo Paradiso and go everywhere from there, including Capri, Naples, Pompeii, Positano, Sorrento. They are used to helping people figure out what to do–definitely go to see one of the Neapolitan shows in Sorrento. Have a great trip. I’m envious.</p>
<p>By the way, I discourage you from renting a car. Driving in this area is insane. Worse than Paris or Manhattan or Rome or even Palermo, Sicily. The scooter drivers drive on the center dividing line, directly at you. Really.</p>
<p>AiHy–if you see weird characters and weird orders, hit refresh before you assume it actually shows up that way. It’s some weird bug in the way CC works but there isn’t actually a problem.</p>
<p>Sopranomom: having just spent three days driving in the Padua/Venice/Rovigo area of Italy with ZERO problems, I’m finding it hard to believe that Naples is that much worse. I’ve found the key to driving in Italy to be renting the smallest possible car–the Fiat 500 (Cinque Cento). That way, you only need half the lane.</p>
<p>You should post this question in the <a href=“http://www.Fodors.com%5B/url%5D”>www.Fodors.com</a> forums. I have successfully planned many a vacation based on information in their forums.</p>
<p>Driving in Italy is a sport I love. Anyone who likes sporty driving hasn’t lived until they’ve done the Amalfi coast! DH and I fight over who gets to drive.</p>
<p>There are many, many beautiful hotels on the Amalfi Coast. The expense is typically centered on location. Positano is a great town with the top hotels but the price is very high at most. Good hotels on Capri are also very expensive. The trade off seems to be good hotels in non ideal locations vs. lower end hotels for the same price in the better locations when you’re on a budget. </p>
<p>So figure out what’s more important to you. Without a car I’d probably choose Sorrento for ease and price. You can ferry to both Capri and Positano and then use public transportation and you can get to Pompeii easily.</p>
<p>If you want to stay on the coast Pompeii will be harder but you can easily fill 2 days with the beautiful coastal towns. Priano is a good location with more reasonable hotels and you can water taxi to the other towns and do a day trip to Capri by boat if you like. Two days is just not enough! The coast is a place to linger!</p>
<p>Driving in Naples can be hellish; around Pompeii and out on the Sorrento peninsula, not so bad. I’d recommend staying out on the peninsula. It’s just gorgeous, and generally not that expensive. I don’t have specific recommendations, however, as we rented a “villa”— actually, a small house, but with beautiful views. Generally there’s a minimum rental period on these, but it’s worth checking, e.g. on vrbo.com</p>
<p>Thanks for the great suggestions! I have a lot of homework still left to do. We definitely won’t be driving, though, which is why location and public transportation are both such big concerns for us.</p>
<p>I am really jealous. My wife and I met and got married in Naples 23 years ago (we were both working there). We keep saying we want to go back, but have never made it. Just one word of caution about driving the Amalfi coast. I was being impatient and following too close to a car. The car stopped, and the driver got out and showed me his gun. I backed way off and didn’t go anywhere near that car again.</p>
<p>^^ If your priorities are Capri and Pompeii, I’d suggest looking in Sorrento. There’s a local train, the Circumvesuviana railway, that efficiently connects Sorrento to Pompeii, Herculaneum (Ercolano), and Naples. You can take either a ferry or a hydrofoil to Capri from either Sorrento or Naples, but I think Sorrento has a whole lot more charm, it’s set on a spectacularly beautiful cliff overlooking the sea, and the crossing to Capri is much shorter from there. </p>
<p>As for hotels, again no specific recommendations but when traveling in Europe I’ve usually had pretty good luck booking through a US-based online travel site like Expedia. I find their star-rating for hotels is usually pretty accurate, and the traveler reviews are often quite helpful and informative.</p>