By Sean Dodson,
* The Guardian * Saturday October 21 2006

Sorrento

In seek of a room with a view ... the bay at Sorrento, Italy. Photograph: Alamy

Pat Sinclair wants to take a trip to Herculaneum in the shadow of mount Vesuvius, Italy. He writes: "I'm looking for a small not too expensive hotel overlooking the bay in Sorrento. I'm an independent traveller and want to use public transport from Naples ... I'm in my 60s and fit but won't enjoy too stiff a climb to the hotel."

Search results: A sea view in Sorrento is rarely cheap, but Active Hotels (tinyurl.co.uk/0fz9) is currently listing the luxurious Parco dei Principi (hotelparcoprincipi.com), overlooking the Bay of Naples, for just £67pn. Designed by the renowned architect Gio Ponti, the hotel (candid photo here: tinyurl.co.uk/h96h) is centrally located near the harbour, which means a slight climb but nothing too strenuous. Travelling by public transport in Italy is usually straightforward, but to book advance train tickets your best bet is raileurope.co.uk. It's always worth Googling to see if a fellow traveller has made a similar trip before you. For Herculaneum, I found a member of the Slow Travel community who recommends (tinyurl.co.uk/j00s) you take the Circumvesuviana Line (vesuviana.it/nebula) from the central Station in Napoli. This stops off in Sorrento and costs about £1.80 each way.