We had an excellent 10 days in Rome and Sorre...
Italy
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Oct 23 - Nov 1, 2024
We had an excellent 10 days in Rome and Sorrento. Everything worked well with great transfers, good hotels and excursions. The excursions we went on were all good but in hindsight private tours in Rome would have been better for us. Rome is extremely busy and in groups of 12 plus it’s often hard to hear the guide. The accommodation was as described, clean and of a good standard. Sorrento was an excellent base to explore the Amalfi coast and Pompeii.
Hotel Reviews
The hotel is in a great location on the Spanish Steps. Drinks in the courtyard at sunset was fantastic. However it is hard to access with luggage via a tiny elevator. The rooms whilst very nice were all quite different eg: our room had an extremely small bathroom but a big bedroom. The hotel only has eight rooms and is one floor is a residential building.
Great location close to the old town and the beach/port area. Rooms were spacious, clean, and staff were very helpful. Very quiet of a night to sleeping was easy.
An excellent B&B in the Barberini area. Modern, clean comfortable rooms. Staff were very caring and helpful.
Activity Reviews
The tour was too big and it was hard to hear the guide. Going to the Coliseum at 11 was too late on the day as the coliseum gets very crowded. We visited the Forum and Palatine Hill before and this could have been done first
The guide was knowledgeable and spoke well. We only passed by the art in the Vatican Museum with little time to appreciate it. We did not see the Raphael room or the Caravaggio’s. It felt like the Vatican Museum was the conveyor belt to the Sistine Chapel. The crush in the Sistine Chapel was awful. The tour of St Peters was good. Having been to Rome previously and seen the Museum etc, I know how good the experience can be. Too many people in small spaces.
Great guide and transport. The guide wasvery knowledgeable and funny. we arrived as the gates opened, so we beat the crowds. Pompeii was an amazing experience and 1/2 say was plenty of time to see the key things.
What a wonderful way to see the Amalfi coast and the towns of Positano and Amalfi. The boat was excellent for 10-12 people. The time we had in both Amalfi and Positano was enough to get a taste of both places. We every had a couple of beers/wines on the trip and this was much appreciated. However a hotel pickup would have been appreciated as we had a 20 minute walk to from the pick up point.
At best it’s a fast ferry not a hydrofoil. The trip to Capri was fine but timing of the return trip changed without notice. At one stage we were wondering how we would get home. In the end we got a later ferry. While Capri is nice, it’s very expensive to eat and drink. The Blue Grotto closed in the early afternoon allegedly due to high tide but we suspect it closed due to lack of people.
We organised a cooking class and we had a wonderful day.