Sorrento

dbmelone

I am arriving a day early. I see the info about a day trip to Capri. Can Herculaneum be done easily from the hotel? Do you suggest Capri or Herculaneum?

crackers54

dbmelone wrote:

I am arriving a day early. I see the info about a day trip to Capri. Can Herculaneum be done easily from the hotel? Do you suggest Capri or Herculaneum?

Herculaneum is closer to Rome and not enough time to get that in. Capri you catch the fast ferry short walk from hotel on the waterside. There is elevator to take down to water level. I had nice lunch at top with a view. Right off ther pier on Capri and go to ticket window for ticket across from the vine ulnar on Capri. If you want to take tour around island and blue grotto get tickets to left across from where slow ferry.

Do not take slow ferry not a good return time

OzJohnno

I can't say I agree with you crackers as I could have sworn that the Herculaneum site was on the Sorrento - Naples line and is hours away from Rome. If you're in Sorrento you can catch the train to Erocolo Savi about a 15 min ride and the walk from the station down to the ruins is about another 5 mins.

I was so very glad that we went to Herculaneum as the excavations have revealed whole houses and shops. It is almost the perfect way to see how the Romans really lived. We went to Pompeii as well but IMO Pompeii was not in the same class as Herculaneum. If it was my choice I would save Capri up for another day.

Rod

AlanS

Herculanuem (Ercolano) is just a short (<30 min) taxi, bus or train ride south of Naples. It is midway between Naples and Pompeii and about 40 km north of Sorrento. Travel time depends on traffic. There are some incredible ruins there, but much of it still has not yet been fully excavated and is covered by more modern buildings.

If you have the time, another place to investigate is Pozzuoli a suburb north of Naples- there are ruins of Roman Baths and the Anfiteatro Neroniano Flavio, a smaller version of the Rome colosseum. When I visited years ago, the lower part and floor of this colosseum was actually in better shape than its big brother in Rome. Just up the hill from Pozzuoli is Sulfatara- a hot, steaming caldera. If you want to see why the area has had earthquakes over the years, just look at it on GoogleMaps or Google Earth- the area around Naples, and especially around Pozzouli is pock marked with many old calderas.

smarks50

I believe Herculaneum is relatively close to Sorrento. You can take the train, hire a private car and driver through the hotel (the quickest way to visit) or book a tour through the Viator.com website. Whether to visit Herculaneum vs. Capri is a matter of interest; I love the sites, shopping and restaurants on Capri (and there are a few historic sites to visit including Villa San Michele that was owned by Axel Munthe) but for hard core history you can't beat a site like Herculaneum. If you decide on Capri, you can get the alascafi (hydrofoil) at the pier in Sorrento and be on Capri in about 25 minutes.

crackers54

I had only read of taking the train from Rome but just looked it up and by train is 40 minutes from sorrento and the train station is short walk from hotel. I wish I had known. I was not impressed with Capri and heard Herculaneum is better preserved than Pompeii. If you have time I would go for it.

Look it up on wiki travel.org. Gives directions by train.

Diane Simonetti

I have been to both. Depends what interests you. Capri is Oh-la-la. and Herculaneum is wow.

onthego

anyone from northern virginia going on the classic italy the end of April?

soho72

onthego wrote:

anyone from northern virginia going on the classic italy the end of April?

Hi, onthego. We're doing the Classic Italy, small groups, leaving April 30th. Is this your trip? I'd love to connect with someone who will be doing this tour.