Taxi vs private transportation

[suzan99]

We are thinking about taking a taxi from Naples to Herculaneum, then to Sorrento. The rates show a full day touring in a taxi also to Positano are 220 euros. Private companies want 300-400 euros.

 

Question, why pay more for a private company when your plans may change and then you still have to pay for the tour? Will there be many taxis available? We are not looking for a tour guide, mainly looking to get from point A to B, who would know scenic places, etc.

[euro cruiser]

There will be lots of taxis available.

 

The primary reasons that people pay more for a car service are (1) they are guaranteed an English speaking driver (absolutely don't count on more than rudimentary English from taxi drivers) and a running commentary from the driver; (2) they like having things pre-arranged and/or don't want to waste time upon arrival trying to find and negotiate with a taxi; (3) they want to use services/drivers that have been recommended by others.

 

The trade off, as you note, is flexibility.

[Keith1010]

euro cruiser is right. It is a trade off. For that distance I would want a private car but maybe that's me. With a taxi you will likely end up with someone who speaks very little to no english.

 

Keith

[waterbug123]

We are thinking about taking a taxi from Naples to Herculaneum, then to Sorrento. The rates show a full day touring in a taxi also to Positano are 220 euros. Private companies want 300-400 euros.

 

Question, why pay more for a private company when your plans may change and then you still have to pay for the tour? Will there be many taxis available? We are not looking for a tour guide, mainly looking to get from point A to B, who would know scenic places, etc.

 

Are you talking about taking different cabs to each place, and then finding another when you're ready to move on to the next stop? If so, good luck in Positano. You will not find cabs on the street just waiting to take you back to Naples, you'll need to arrange a driver ahead of time. Or do you mean you want to hire a cab for the day, who will wait for you at each stop? Just curious what site you are looking at that shows rates for that.

 

You say you don't want a tour guide, just a driver who "would know scenic places, etc." That is sort of a contradiction in terms, because it sounds to me like you DO need a guide. I mean, you appear to want a driver to whom you can say, "we don't know where to go, please take us and show us around," but a A) that's what a guide is for, and B) regular cab driver is not likely to be fluent in English and it may be hard to communicate.

[agabbymama]

For our port stop in Naples, I had planned to take the Hydrofoil to Sorrento, then the Circumvesuviana train back to Pompeii and on back to Naples.

 

We were on the Grand Princess (huge ship) and we docked at the farthest end of the pier. The Captain came on the intercom and apologized for that, but stated there would be a shuttle the next morning to the ferry dock at the other end of the pier.

 

The first hydrofoil was listed as 9:00 am, so we were off the ship at 8:00. The bus was sitting there, but when we tried to board it the driver was surly and rude, telling us the shuttle would start at 9:00 am. We knew we couldn't walk it in time as we both have mobility issues. We were totally devastated.

 

There were about 100 cabs lined up on the queue at the pier, but none of them wanted the short fare to the opposite end of the pier. One persistent Italian driver talked us into hiring him for the day at 200 EUR pp. He spoke broken English (but we had no problem communicating with him). He was strictly a taxi driver, but threw in a mini-tour of some of the important sites of Naples before returning us to the ship.

 

He was so upset that two older ladies were traveling alone in Italy, he treated us as his grandmother. He escorted us across busy streets, carried our packages, stopped when he heard us talking about the view, asked if we wanted to go to a Cameo shop, and dropped us at Pompeii but was very concerned we would find the same spot for pick-up (pointed it out 3 times), and was so pleased that we liked his music (Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin CDs). We all sang them and had a wonderful day.

 

After picking us up in Pompeii, we continued on to Sorrento. He walked us to a restaurant (but wouldn't join us for lunch). When we came out of one of the shops, there he was to escort us to the next. He stayed with us throughout the day.

 

It was our most expensive excursion, but we both agreed it was the best day of our 21 day trip. It was like watching the TV show "The Lives of the Rich and Famous" only we were living it.

 

If you are not willing to take a chance on the language, and the driver, a Taxi might not be for you, but for us it worked out well. Have a great trip, whatever you decide to do.

[euro cruiser]

Or do you mean you want to hire a cab for the day, who will wait for you at each stop? Just curious what site you are looking at that shows rates for that.

The City of Naples has a fixed fare taxi system which includes some out-of-town fares. A full day tour, for an unlimited amount of time, from Naples to the Amalfi Coast and back is €220 (for the cab, up to four people, not per person).

 

You can download the fare chart from the city's web site here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/1193 The third pdf under the cartoon of a taxi is in English. This chart will also be displayed in the rear section of every official taxi in Naples.

Edited June 11, 2015 by euro cruiser

[waterbug123]

The City of Naples has a fixed fare taxi system which includes some out-of-town fares. A full day tour, for an unlimited amount of time, from Naples to the Amalfi Coast and back is €220 (for the cab, up to four people, not per person).

 

You can download the fare chart from the city's web site here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/1193 The third pdf under the cartoon of a taxi is in English. This chart will also be displayed in the rear section of every official taxi in Naples.

 

Thank you. Good to know for future reference!

[Hlitner]

The very inexpensive Circumvesuviana Train Line goes to Herculaeum (the stop is Ercolano Scavi), Pompeii (Pompeii Scavi) and Sorrento all on the same line. Those trains are no reservations commuter type trains that run every 30 minutes. As to taxi rates, although the published rates might say 220€ (as posted by Euro) this does not mean that every taxi will be willing to do this full day trip at that price. Knowing the posted fare you can try to negotiate using that as a starting point, but some drivers might quote something like 300€ and just shrug when you suggest the proper price :). Bottom line is that the drivers do what the drivers want to do :) It is Italy! We have had some terrific taxi drivers in Italy and we have had some drivers that made us want to jump out of the moving taxi.

 

Hank

Edited June 11, 2015 by Hlitner