Here's a sneak peek to this week's episode. Well, let's talk about what we would not do on the Amalfi Coast.
I'm Scott and I'm Melissa and we are the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoy it as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our firsthand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on earth. This week, we want to talk about our trip to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. We did this on a couple of different day trips from Naples a few years ago and wanted to share with you what we loved as well as some tips on what we would have done differently. So pack a bag, grab your sunglasses, and let's get started on Italy's Amalfi Coast.
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We've been watching all of the Instagram reels flooding in over the last couple of months about the Amalfi Coast, and we're getting a lot of questions and suggestions on a couple of our own posts. and we're getting a lot of questions and suggestions on a couple of our own posts. The Amalfi Coast is a beautiful group of cities that include Positano, Sorrento, and and many You might see pictures that Amalfi, include scenic more. dramatic cliffs, views, blue and brightly colored waters, houses on the We're going to talk cliffside. about all of that, but we're also going to give you some advice on how to enjoy it best. Maybe some things that they don't show on Instagram.
We're going to start with the Amalfi and then Coast, we also want to include a visit to Pompeii on this episode as well.
It's very easy to group these two trips together in the same visit, and we're going to tell you how. So Melissa, let's talk about how we did this trip and, you know, things that we said, like, what did we really enjoy the most about it? So we visited
it? So we visited the Amalfi Coast, Naples and Pompeii on our long summer trip to Europe. And we decided to stay in Naples and make use of some of the loyalty points that we had collected from some of your travels over the years. And so we had taken the train down from Rome and arrived in Naples. And then we had a couple of days before we were going to then fly out to fly out of Naples and head on to Greece. And so we really hadn't super planned ahead. I had done some research. We knew that we wanted to go to Pompeii. And then really last minute, we were trying to decide, are we going to do the Amalfi Coast? Are we going to go over to Capri? So we really had not booked anything yet.
Remember that Sorrento was really expensive when we had looked at it.
I think it was expensive. And then we just had, we had these points, we'd already booked that and we were on this longer trip. So we were just trying to make the kind of the best use of everything. So I really think it was a matter of that would have been like cash out of pocket versus using hotel points that we had at that time. And so one of the other things, though, and I do remember us debating because I think this was what about probably almost two weeks into our trip. And so, you know, with most hotels and things like that, you have to write a few days before to like change your mind. So we had read in Rick Steve's book about Italy, about the Amalfi Coast, and his recommendation was to stay in Sorrento. And then you could like take a bus from Sorrento and get to some of the other towns, really just depending on how much time that you had, you know, or book a tour or something like that. And so you and I had kind of debated back and forth. I kept saying, oh, I wonder if we should really switch it. Is this going to work? And then in the end, we just decided to kind of keep it how it was. Because I do think that then this was like toward the end of June. So I think at the time we were looking, it probably was, you know, pretty expensive.
And I think this was before we had really gotten our feet wet in travel planning and stuff like that. And we probably were more focused on the, you know, you got a couple of free nights at a hotel versus location. And I bet you that just kind of weighed in a little bit heavier.
Well, and I think for this too, because we were planning for a six-week trip, like we knew that we needed to book tours, like while we were on the cruise, right? We knew that we had to buy tickets and book tours for Rome. We had to plan, you know, hotels also for Greece. Like there was a lot. There was a lot of planning compared to I think if you were just planning a trip to Naples, Amalfi Coast, Capri. I think if you were just planning a trip to Amalfi like I think if you just like this part of the trip is the you would we would have spent a lot more time planning for that part of it. Naples, Coast, Capri, had, OK, trip, I think that's probably what played into a part of it for us in this
probably what played into a part of it for us in this case. I remember looking back at our original spreadsheet where we did all of our tracking and stuff like that. And I don't remember having a lot of planning in Naples about these trips. So in my mind, I go back and think we added these on kind of when we got to Naples and we figured out it was a big city and really it was just a big city. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Naples. We branched out and said, oh, okay, look, we can go down to Pompeii or we could take the day trip down to the Amalfi Coast. Or maybe we even asked somebody and they had recommended that. Yeah, I think that was kind of in our back of our
that was kind of in our back of our mind, but it was just not something that for whatever reason, like we didn't super plan this out, which is a little unusual, I would say for us. I just remember
just remember we, I mean, this whole trip was put together in just a matter of a couple of weeks. Like we didn't plan this out for months ahead of time.
Right. And so if you haven't heard that, we have the episode on a summer trip to Europe. And we will link that in the show notes so that you can go back and listen to that. But yeah. And also, it was like six weeks before, right, when we had to plan this. So there was definitely a lot of moving pieces. So what we ended up doing, so we, like I said, we took the train down from Rome. So we probably got there like lunchtime, a little bit after lunchtime or something like that. But I do remember saying, we decided, okay, this is kind of what we want to try to do for the next day. And so we just asked at the hotel, you know, we talked to them, asked the concierge, like, is like, do you have somebody like this? Is this a possibility? And so they checked around and ended up, you know, calling us and saying, yes, we can fund somebody for tomorrow. So as you say
as you say that, it makes me think that most likely what happened is on that train from Rome to Naples, you probably got to this section of Rick Steve's book.
Yeah, probably so. But besides knowing that, should we have booked Sorrento? And I think I decided because we had that one day that then the bus was just not going to be a good option. Or we would have had to take the train down to Sorrento and then taking a bus or a boat. And then would we be able to get back on time? It was just like a whole thing. And, you know, I think that you also, when you take a long trip like this, there's a little bit of, you know, travel fatigue, right? And we had had what, three days in Rome, which we're actually going to talk about next week, two or three days in Rome. And so that could be exhausting. We had a lot of tours, things like that. And so I think it was just like, okay, sometimes when you travel, like you weigh the benefits of the cost versus the convenience, right? So it costs more to have somebody like pick you up at the airport or pick you up at, you know, and take you on the tour, but it's a whole lot easier, right? The people and they are staying there with the signs and you don't have to worry about, you know, taking the train or doing it. It's just easy, but it's more expensive. And I think this is just what this was going to end up being. One thing that we absolutely don't recommend that you do is to
One thing that we absolutely don't recommend that you do is to try to drive yourself down the Amalfi Coast. Hire a driver for the day or take a tour. You can get day tours that go down through there. We're going to talk about the buses in just a few minutes. But, you know, one of the things that I said is, you know, if you hire a driver and you let the driver drive for you, that gives you some flexibility to, as you go to these great places, you can enjoy a cocktail or some wine or something like that. You don't have to worry about that. You have someone who's driving
you. Yeah. And I remember saying that too, is a lot of times, well, you like to drive, right? And so if you're driving, I'm seeing everything and taking pictures and stuff like that. You are not getting to see everything. And we knew for the Amalfi Coast, it wouldn't be like, oh, look at this, Scott, look at that, you know, because you were going to have to focus on those roads being, you know, windy and right on the right on the cliffs, too. And I don't think we had any idea how windy and how close to the cliffs those roads really
on the cliffs, too. And I don't think we had any idea how windy and how close to the cliffs those roads really were. But we're going to get into that in just a little bit. So I would add,
So I would add, though, that you might be in the situation where you are taking a road trip through Italy, so we have some friends who have done this so let's say you know you're not utilizing the trains and stuff like that and you are driving yourself so that might be a different story right because you have a car and that's what you're going to do so like I said that's different a word of caution though that I would say from our friends advice but then I also had somebody post on our post on Instagram when I posted this is they say, be aware and check with your hotel about the parking situation. So a lot of the hotels on, you know, depending on where they are on the coast, they may not have parking right there. Right. And that was our friend situation. So they had told us, okay, when they got there, they had to just like get the bags out, like pull over real quick, get the bags out, have one person take them or wait for them. And then they had to go wherever they told them to, you know, park the car, come back. And then it was like lots of steps and things like that. And then the person on Instagram was just like, yeah, just make sure not only do they have parking, like what do they charge for parking, you know, stuff like that. So, you know, things to be aware of when you are driving. So if that's the case, then that's, you know, a different story. And you then are going to maybe have more time to see the coast, right? If you're staying there compared to we just had the one day. So it wasn't like you were going to get to see a lot of
of it. Yeah. We had another set of friends who stayed in the Amalfi and Positano area. And one comment that they made was, if you're going to stay there, be ready for some steps. This place has a lot of steps.
Yeah. And so that might be, you know, a good tip to think about with your packing too, right? So, you know, pack light or have a bag that you can just have just the stuff you need there, right? So that you don't have like tons of, you know, big, huge, heavy suitcase to have to worry about the steps. Yeah, that's a good point.
Well, let's talk a little bit about what we did on our trip that day.
Yeah. So he picked us up and, you know, told us, you know, a lot about, you know, as we were driving, you know, things about the coast. And what I remember enjoying about having somebody drive us was that then he would stop at different overviews and overlooks and he would know the best ones. And then he would know the ones that he could also, it was easy for him to get out and then take our picture. I remember sometimes he would just have to wait with the car and then sometimes he could leave the car for a second. So he would stop at different overlooks and different like little roadside stands where they had like the big, huge, they're probably called something different, but I would just say the big, huge lemons, right? They would put the sunglasses on, just kind of like roadside stands, you know, little farmer's market type things that he would stop us at.
Yeah. And several times we're pretty certain that he knew the people, whether it's because he takes people there all the time or, you know, if he has some kind of relationship with them. And that's why he takes people there. But, you know, that was good because they gave us a few samples every once in a while. And, you know, I just remember that you needed those breaks because the roads were so difficult.
Yeah. And so I would say if you are prone to motion sickness, like that's going to be a situation where you're going to like either, you know, want to be in the front seat or want to be able to look out or, you know, that might be a situation where you might, you know, if you do okay with that driving where you're like, okay, I have to drive, maybe for example, I don't know. So we did that. I also remember it ended up taking a whole lot longer, like the driving part than we thought, right? Because I thought, oh, we have the whole day. We're going to get to go to Positano and then we can go to Amalfi and then maybe we can go come back and go through Ravello or something like that. And so literally by the time we got to like the Positano, then the Amalfi area, like we ended up going into Amalfi, the town of Amalfi itself. And then that's where he was like, okay, like this. And of course he had asked us, like, what do you want to do? And so we had said, okay, we would like to, you know, have a chance to go to one of the places and, you know, swim and have lunch and that kind of thing. And so he of course did recommend a place that he probably knew of, and it probably was very good, probably better than the place we went. And so I'd say this is probably the only time that we haven't taken maybe a local's advice, right? Because he recommended a place that wasn't by the water. And because we had such a short amount of time, I think that we were like, well, we really wanted to, you know, just get something right there by the water, rent some chairs, umbrella for a little bit, you know, have a swim. And then I don't remember, do you remember maybe we had a couple of hours by the time we did that?
If even a couple of hours. Yeah. So I think
So I think we, what we had done is we had like worn our bathing suits and then they had a place to change. It was one of those things where, I mean, you, you eat there, you know, and then you can kind of pay for some of those amenities. And then he was waiting, you know, he, he he just he waited for us. And so then by that time, I mean, it was, you know, mid afternoon. And so you've got to go all the way back. And I don't remember, but I think this is where then we ran into the situation where, you know, we're driving and then it's traffic. And we're like, oh, okay, what's the traffic? And there's a tunnel up ahead. And so there's a bus that has come to come out of the tunnel, but it's so wide that it like goes over into both lanes, right? And so then the traffic, so that's coming toward us, but then the traffic in our lane then can't go move because the bus is in the way, But then the bus can't back up because there's people behind it. And so it's, you know, and then so the difference, so there's drivers out, there's taxi people out. And so you're just like, okay, what, like, what are we gonna do now? And people are having to back up, move over as much as they can, right? But you're right on the side of the coast. And so we're asking him like, oh, is this common? And he was like, oh, yeah, yeah, like all the time, like all day, every day. And so we're asking him like, is oh, this common? And he was like, oh, yeah, yeah. Like all the time, like all day, every day. And so we're just thinking, wow, like and I think that we've joked before. That's like our American brain is like, well, you need to fix like why don't you fix this? Right. This needs to be fixed. And there's like, no, this is this is the way it is. So and the buses are, you know, the buses are long. So it's like, Hey, could you get, you know, shorter buses or something like that? I don't know. It's just, that was just our perception. So then I do remember him saying, it's going to take a long time to get back. We're going to have a lot of traffic. And so then I think trying to, you know, make it back the most efficient way, but you know, I mean, it was ended up being like an early morning to like dinnertime type tour. I remember some
friends of ours, Tim and Margaret, were there and they posted something on Facebook about how they, you know, they thought that that bus was literally going to hit them. It was so close. So if you're thinking about, you know, should I rent a car and drive through there? Unless you're used to those type of conditions, I would say no. I don't think you're going to enjoy it as much as if maybe you hire somebody to do it for you. And when we talk about hiring someone, I really don't believe that it was that expensive. It was maybe a little bit more than what we had in our head, but it wasn't like twice as much or, you know.
It was so
Well, let me just say this. Like if you think about sometimes you might take an Uber from an airport to an airport or somewhere, right? And that might cost you like what, $25 to $50 sometimes? Because an airport tends to be like further right? And that might cost you like 25 what, to $50 sometimes, because an airport tends to be like further away. And that's what maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour. And, and we're talking about from, I want to say it was like 9am to 6pm or something. I think at that time, I think it was around 250 euros. Now, if you're doing a long trip, I mean, yes, that is expensive, right? If you could take a bus for, I don't remember because I think that was one of those things where it's just like, okay, we're not going to do this. If you could take a bus for 10 euros a day or 25 euros a day or something like that, right, then that's expensive. But we just decided, okay, for us, that seems like a good value. We have a little bit of travel fatigue. We really want to do this. What is the value to us? And how much, here's the other thing too, is how much would an excursion cost, right? How much had we paid for some of these tours in Rome? How much had we paid to do the Tuscany trip or the Tuscany excursion that we've just done or to the Alhambra or something like that for two people. It's like, oh, that's one hundred and twenty five dollars for the whole day. That's not really too bad. Now, I don't know. I don't know what that costs right now. I will say that. But I would say that's the
will say that. But I would say that's the van, multiple people in there. Right. It's not just, you know, a private tour. Where this, we had a private tour for the day. And oh, by the way, he picked us up in this, you know, S-class Mercedes, black car, beautiful car, lots of legroom, stuff like that. And so it was a very nice tour that he did. It was very personal because he could talk specifically about the areas and, like I said, even knew people in the area. So, you know, that's a whole different game than getting on a bus and, you know, somebody kind of either reciting a script that they learned or, you know, maybe just telling you some generic facts that you pass through.
Yeah. And the other buses I talked about, too, which I'm sure you could do other tours, but those were like public transportation buses is what that would have been. Right. And I'm sure we would have tipped him on top of that. And so, like I said, I don't want to say, OK, it's still this price or you could get it for this price. You know, this was we booked it the day before. Maybe he didn't have anything, you know, something like that, you know, cut us a deal. I don't know. But we just felt like for us at that point in time, that was a good value to be able to do something that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to do.
Well, let's talk about what we would not do on the Amalfi Coast.
Okay. So one other thing that we would not do that I read several times that I wanted to add is we would not rent a moped.
Oh, yeah. That is definite.
Yeah. So you will see lots of people doing mopeds, locals riding mopeds, riding mopeds between cars, riding mopeds, all kinds of crazy ways. We've seen that in Greece too. But that is one thing as a, you know, being there as a visitor that we would not do. We would not recommend doing that. Rick Steves even said, do not, like, do not do that. So anyway, that would be the number one thing, I guess, getting to that. That wasn't really on the list, but that would be one thing that do not do. Well, the first thing we said we would not
the first thing we said we would not do, we kind of mentioned a little bit earlier, but let's, you know, dig into the reasons why we would recommend this. So first of all, we would definitely stay in Sorrento or one of the other towns along the coast. Rick Steves, like you said, he had recommended that you do this and he was right. So, you know, when you have someone like that who makes a recommendation, just as we're giving you right now from firsthand experience, take that into consideration and probably choose to follow that.
Yeah. Now, and I wouldn't just necessarily say that that has to be the place you stay. And I think what he was talking about specifically in that book is that if you are going to try to then go see several places from there, that would be a good kind of home base, right? So you could stay in Sorrento because you can take the train from Naples down to Sorrento. And then you could go to Pompeii one day. You could take an excursion to Capri. You could then take a bus or what we're going to talk about in a second. You could go see some of the towns along the Amalfi Coast. That was why Sorrento in particular. Now, another option then would also be to stay in some of the other towns, right? So certainly if you have that on your list to go stay in Positano, stay in Amalfi, you know, go over and stay on Capri or something like that. That's another option. But I think that was kind of his suggestion is if you were going to do the things that we had kind of laid out, that would be a good home
base. And also, like we said, Naples was just kind of a bustling city, like unlike when you get on the shore and, you know, it's almost we say once you cross the bridge heading over to Millie Island, now you're on island time. And so all those cities along that coast were were more like that. A little bit more laid back than Naples.
Yeah. The only thing I really remember about Naples is they had given us a name of a famous pizza place, right, that we had gone to. And then I think walking from the hotel to there, you know, it had a lot of places where you could, shops where you could buy things and things like that, more like a market type of feel. But yeah, I do remember like coming from the train station that we had, like it was like a big city, you know, big escalator, things like that. And we had just come from Rome. So it was kind of big city to big city.
That wasn't the pizza place that had the American pizza.
No, that was in Bergamo. We talked about that in that. So we have another episode, which is seven places you need to visit in Italy. So if you want to hear about our American pizza, it's in that episode.
Well, let's talk about the second thing that we would do differently. And I've said this a couple of times, so you might have heard this on another episode somewhere, but we would definitely do a boat trip to see the Amalfi Coast from the water. You know, we talked about the roads and the traffic and all of that stuff. And really what you want to see is you want to see those dramatic cliffs in those dramatic cities and buildings and stuff like that that are built on the side of the cliffs with the breathtaking, you know, colorful buildings and houses. And, you know, this is what you are really looking for. Well, there's no better place to see that than from the water looking back onto them rather than on the hill trying to look down over onto the ocean. Yeah. And do you remember looking out and there was just
remember looking out and there was just so many boats and the day that we did this drive, thank goodness, it was a gorgeous day, right? And the water was just so blue and it was beautiful. And I just remember there were so many boats out there and thinking, oh man, to be out there and then looking at it, you know, coming the other way. So from Sorrento, then this is why this would be a good option is because you have a couple of different options from there. Number one is you could do a private or a group like boat tour, right? So you could look on Viator and you could find, you know, either a group trip that's just taking a boat out for the day or a private one to where it's kind of at your leisure to swim or then go somewhere for lunch, that kind of thing. Or they do have ferries that go from Sorrento to quite a few of the towns. And so you could just, and that would probably be a cheaper option. It would be more of just a ferry, right? A way to get there, but it would still be seeing it from boat, you know, from the boat, that kind of thing. So it really just depends on what you're looking for, but you could, you know, specifically go to one of the towns and if you have multiple days, right, then you could pick different ones. So looking at a couple of those different options. ones. So looking at a couple of those different options. So, and then the other option is you can also take a boat to go to Capri. And then that a lot of those tours that I've seen also takes you to swim in the Blue Grotto. So that was kind of our other option. That was the other thing that we had thought about doing. And I think you can take those from Naples too, just because of where Capri is located. But like I said, in the end, we decided we really wanted to see Amalfi. So that was really the other option. So again, you can do that from Sorrento and if you have multiple days. So I had a comment from somebody on Instagram saying they enjoyed the Blue Grotto and swimming way more than their time on Capri. And they wished their tour had been longer swimming and less time on Capri. And they commented that they enjoyed some of the Amalfi Coast towns, you know, more than they did being on Capri. So it really is just, you know, depending on what you're looking for, right? If you're looking for the water and swimming and that kind of thing, or if you're looking at going into a town and shopping and, you know, whatever, and just kind of, you know, looking for an excursion, a boat trip that kind of meets what you're looking for. Well, let's go back
go back to, we said that, you know, we've gotten a lot of comments on Instagram. Like this has been one of our most engaging posts that we've put out there. And so we've gotten a lot of other recommendations on places to stay.
Yeah. So I wanted to include those because like I said, we wanted to share our experience and what we would do differently based on what we had learned and not taken, you know, the advice that we were given. And so a lot of people have said, oh, we stayed here and this is what we'd recommend. So I just wanted to kind of name off a few of those places to put them on your radar because, you know, the popular ones are, of course, Positano, going to Capri, maybe Ravello you've heard of. It's not necessarily right there on the water. It's a little bit further up into, I guess, the cliff sides, a little bit further back. But several people said that that was their favorite town to go to. But then also Anna Capri. So right there by Capri, but smaller. And I'm probably going to butcher this one, but Ischia, I-S-C-H-I-A, instead of going to Capri. And it's kind of, you know, it's kind of right there as well. So just looking at some of those, Ischia looks absolutely gorgeous from the pictures that I have looked up. I've, of course, I've saved all these places to my Google, you know, places to visit in Italy. And so talking about the
so talking about the ferries, we looked it up and there's a lot of ferries that go between these cities that we've mentioned as well as some others. And all of those can be caught in Sorrento from the Marina and Pakola port. And so, you know, we're saying we recommend to you that you might want to look at Sorrento and staying there. And you can catch these ferries from that port. You can buy all of your tickets ahead of time and the schedules are determined by the time of year.
Yeah. So I definitely would recommend that you check on that, right? Because in the more popular seasons, they're probably going to run more often and in the low seasons, not necessarily as much and maybe not every day. So definitely like plan your trip accordingly. And then tickets are usually cheaper ahead of time. So that's why we would recommend
that. So let's recap. Our recommendations are stay in Sorrento, stay in some of the other towns if you have time to as well, book a boat trip, and that's exactly what we're going to be doing next time.
Sounds good. So the other part of the trip is we took a day trip down to
of the trip is we took a day trip down to Pompeii. And so let's talk a little bit about Pompeii. We had taken a train down from Naples to Pompeii. And I remember it being really sunny and really hot that day. Yeah. And so this was more of like a local
so this was more of like a local train, right? So if you were coming from Rome, then you would be going to another station to then take this train. So this is the train then that went kind of by Pompeii. You could get off. It was the train that actually goes down to Sorrento. So kind of like a local service. It was very hot that day. I do remember that by the time we got to the train station, it was like that the train that we needed had actually just left. And so I do remember getting, we were going to have, you know, a little bit of a wait. And so go into the little stand that was in the train station and getting an espresso. And so go into the little stand that was in the train station and getting an espresso. And I don't you, remember this let's being, just say the cleanest train station ever. But I just also that was a good espresso. remember, man, And I think it was like one I think. euro, Right. And it's just one of those things. And you know why they drink that right in the afternoons. It's just a great little pick me up. So I just remember that's a memory that I have that's very clear.
Well, there's a couple of different ways that you can visit Pompeii. We're going to make two suggestions to you. First is booking a trip through Viator and, you know, either having an excursion where someone gives you a guided tour. It can even leave from Sorrento. They'll pick you up at your hotel. They'll take you down there for the day, guide you through the site, tell you about all of the historical importances and show you some of the most popular sites. Or the second thing you could do is we downloaded Rick Steve's travel guide. So you download this to your phone and you put in your headphones and he walks you through a lot of the same sites. Now, there's some pros and cons to each of those. I will say that for the Rick Steves one, it was well done. But because we didn't know the layout of the site, sometimes the things were hard to find. Yeah. And I think what that guide
And I think what that guide does is it tries to give you an example, like one example of each kind of different thing, right? Where somebody would live, where like the, let's say, like the bar would be, where, you know, like a bathhouse type thing would be, where they would prepare food, right? It was like an example of like all these different kinds of, you know, where the different things would function. And a good example of that, and it would go through that. But you're right, it would be like, okay, it's kind of hard to find, right? And compared to having somebody where you're just following along. And then the second piece I would add to that is that your interaction, right? You can't ask questions or anything like that. And you may also want to check, like they may have, you know, like tours at specific times from Pompeii as well. So.
Yeah. I just remember that when we walked up, it was like a guy in the shack right there by the entrance is just a, you know, a little building or whatever with the window. And we paid our entrance fee and he let us into the site. Yeah. Like there was a visitor center or anything like that. Yeah. I
I don't, yeah, I don't remember. I don't remember going into anything either like that. Now I will say we did go later in the afternoon and for that time of the year, I think that was like a godsend because like you said, it had been so hot. And then also like people were like leaving, right. It was going to still be open for quite a while, but lots of people were leaving and it really felt like we had it to ourselves. Wouldn't you say? Like to take pictures, like there were, I mean, there were people, you know, a few little places, but. Of tour
to take
few little places, but. Of tour groups. Every once in a while, you would try to get into somewhere and you would be trying to listen to the guide and they would come in
to the guide
would come in and they're really loud and, you know, would kind of push right up in front of you and stuff like that because they're about boom, boom, boom, seeing everything, getting the heck out of there.
Oh, that's true. I didn't. I had forgotten about that. But just, you know, from the viewpoint of like taking pictures and things like that, there weren't really a lot of people. And then the heat wasn't nearly as bad. So that was a great, you know, so I would say probably depending on the time of year you're there and what the temperature is going to be like early, you know, or late. But typically, you know, late as long as you have time to see everything, because even if you go early, then it's going to start to get crowded. So that was that was a positive for us. And I
remember we were there during the evening golden hours and we just got some terrific photos, you know, by being there later in the
day. Yeah. And so anytime you are somewhere where things are stone, right, it just has such a beautiful light, you know, as the sun is starting to set and just great for, you know, pictures and stuff like that as well. And so then I, the other thing that I wanted to share is if you're taking that train, I remember, you know, a lot of times we would, you look at the train schedules and stuff like that on your phone now using Apple Maps or Google Maps or whatever. And so it was like, take this particular train, you know, back at this particular time. And this one came and it was like early. And so we were like, oh, is this the train? Should we get on that kind of thing? And we didn't get on. We were like, oh, no, that's not ours. We'll just wait for the next one. And then we were like, oh, well, that was dumb because like there's only one line. And so all the trains would have had to be go going in that direction would have been going, you know, if not all the way to Naples, then back to Naples. And I think we had to wait like another 30 minutes. So I don't, you know, just in case you end up in that situation, but it was very easy to do on your own, you know, even that trek from like, you could do that train from Naples to Sorrento if you were staying. And then also what we then realized that once we were there at Pompeii, we were like, oh, well, dang, if we had been staying in Sorrento, like that would have been a much closer right to go the rest of the way to Sorrento, drop our stuff, come back to Pompeii and then take that excursion from Sorrento. But that's why we're telling you.
Yeah. And I remember it didn't seem like there were a lot of facilities there. And I remember it didn't seem like there were Yeah. a lot of facilities there. So not a lot of places to get water and things like that. So make sure you take a good water bottle with you. I just remember sitting on that track and after we had missed that one, I felt like I was going to dehydrate right there and just shrivel up because it was really hot. Yeah. And
Yeah. And I think because it was later, like maybe they would have had concessions or something like that earlier, but everything was kind of closed. Yeah. One other tip that we received was do not go in August. I think August tends to be like their most crowded, just that whole area crowded and definitely hot. Crowded because that's when a lot of Europeans take vacation.
So let's talk a little bit about a packing list. One of the things we do at the end of our destination episodes is we ask Melissa, what are some things that we need to pack?
So keep in mind that I mentioned that we visited in late June. And so just thinking about like what the temperatures and what the weather is going to be like when you are there. So you might want to consider an umbrella to provide some relief from the sun while at Pompeii. I mean, so here's the thing. There's no trees. Like, I think there were some like toward the entrance, but like once you get into the archeological site, like, I mean, you could go into, you know, as you go in some of the buildings and stuff like that, but then go in from place to place, like it is, it is hot. So a hat or an umbrella or something like that to, to just give you some shade. And like Scott mentioned, you know, and having a refillable water bottles and stuff like that. So, and of course dressing in layers. So if like sun protection too is important to you, you could do that. So I would say definitely lightweight layers, comfortable shoes for sure. So again, like a lot of places that you're going to visit when you are in Italy, like stone. And so just, you know, being able to navigate that with comfortable shoes that are sturdy, I guess I would say on your feet. Yeah. And talking
And talking about the layers, I would say anytime you're on a coast, that's a good idea, right? Because you get the breeze off the coast and, you know, it could it could really change the temperature by 10 or more degrees. And then as you move inward and you no longer get that breeze coming off the coast, it gets a lot harder. So layers is always a good idea.
Yeah. And then, of course, sunscreen, bathing suit, like I mentioned, hat, sunglasses. like I And then for the day that we did to like go to a Mophie Coast, mentioned, hat, sunglasses. or if you're doing a boat trip or something like that, have some kind of bag that you can take with you. So I usually have some kind of packable foldable bag then that can be, you know, you can put some, you know, towels in it, extra clothes, that kind of thing. If you're doing a trip like that, which would be great for the boat, which is great for the, you know, for like beach days and things. You
know, one thing that I think I would add to this is anywhere in Europe, anywhere in Europe that you go to, take a little shopping bag, something soft that you can just kind of fold up or wad up and, you know, stuff it in a purse or whatever, because it is not normal for them to give you a bag.
And if you do like, then you would, you would pay for it as well. But yeah, that's just handy. Like then that way, if you wanted to grab some stuff to, you know, have at the hotel to eat or grab some stuff to take with you, you know, for the day for snacks or just, yeah, souvenirs or anything like that. But yeah, that is a good point.
snacks or just, yeah,
I'm sure by now you've seen pictures from someone who recently visited the Amalfi Coast. Maybe that is why you are planning this trip now. That's how it often works for us. If you've been there recently, what other advice would you give someone who is planning a trip? Send me an email, scott at sunshinetravelers.com, and let me know what else we should include in any blog post or social media as advice.
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