We spent a week at the beginning of May with the Dottor and Cristina. The house is private in its own grounds which extend far beyond the pictures on the site. The views in each directions are stunning, and from the top of the hill you can see over the entire Bay of Naples and the plain towards Vesuvius. They grow grapes, olives, all sorts of fruit trees, as well as a full vegetable garden. We ate breakfast outside on one of the terraces every morning. The bedroom is spacious and the bed is very comfortable. The kitchen in our apartment was tiny but well-organised with everything that we needed. It felt wrong to spend time indoors because it was so serene outside. We had expected traffic noise to be loud, because of the location, but it wasn’t. The birdsong contributed to the overall sense of peacefulness.
A car is essential, as the nearest bus service is at least 15 minutes walk downhill, and Satnav would be useful too, as the hills make 3/4G reception difficult for a smartphone. We parked our car at the Carrefour Parking opposite the Pompeii main entrance for 10 Euros a day and took the Circumvesuviana train from Pompei Scavi station (only 2 Eu per single trip) to get to Naples for a day trip, and to get to Sorrento for a ferry to Capri on another day. There was no problem parking at the Herculaneum excavation car park midweek, and our day trip drive to Solferata and Baia worked well. We also spent a great day going down to Agropoli (eat at Anna’s Pizzeria) and Paestum. British drivers will have to steel themselves when driving, as Neapolitan drivers, moped riders and pedestrians are all nuts. They don’t use indicators and everyone seems to own the road. You get used to it!
This was our second stay in the area, and was much better because of the location. Previously we had stayed on the peninsula beyond Sorrento, and it was always hard work to get anywhere. All Naples goes to Sorrento at the weekend, so you can’t plan on using a car then on the peninsula. We would happily return to stay with Cristina if we come to this region again, and can’t recommend it strongly enough. After many years of marriage, we’ve had lots of holidays, and this has been one of the top three ever!