Thanks, Lisa . There's not a great number of major attractions on the island itself. It's very charming and picturesque and quite unlike any other place I've visited. We chose that place to begin our Italian holiday for a number of reasons. We were able to get a great deal on some accomodation for a week. We figured it would be reasonably warm in early March (but in fact it was the coldest winter in 50 years according to the locals). It's quite close to other major attractions on the mainland, such as Pompei and the spectacular Amalfi coast.
The ferry to Sorrento takes about 45 minutes where there are regular trains to Pompei. A day's excursion to Pompei was no problem. There are also local buses that travel down the Amalfi coast, through Positano to Amalfi. You can get off at any point, look around and catch the next bus onward. It's an inexpensive and hassle-free way of seeing the coast with its tortuous, narrow roads, steep cliffs and spectacular views. I'm not sure I'd like to drive a hire car along that road.
Understandably, we were not able to spend enough time in any of the places we visited. During the 4 weeks or so we were in Italy, in addition to the places mentioned above, we visited Assisi, Perugia, Siena, Rapallo, Lucca, Firenze, Rome and Venice. Didn't have time to see Pisa.
