Four days out, and not one of them entirely by car

Four day trips, each from a different base. What sets them apart from other regions is that here the means of transport changes: in three cases out of four it is better to leave the camper where it is and take a train, a bus or a boat. That is not green advice, it is the shortest way.

1. Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius

Base: between Pompeii and Sorrento. The Circumvesuviana stops outside both sites, which solves the parking problem. Pompeii on its own wants half a full day and sixty-six hectares of walking; Herculaneum is smaller, better preserved and takes two hours. Vesuvius fits into the afternoon, with the shuttle that climbs to the car park.

2. Naples in a day

Base: anywhere, as long as it is near a station. You do not drive into the city, and those who try do it once. An honest day takes in the archaeological museum, where the mosaics and bronzes lifted from Pompeii and Herculaneum are kept, the old town with San Gregorio Armeno and Spaccanapoli, and the seafront from Castel dell'Ovo to Mergellina.

3. The Amalfi Coast

Base: the Sorrento peninsula or Salerno. The SS163 is one of the finest roads in Italy and one of the slowest: in summer you sit still on it. The two alternatives work better than the car: the bus, which leaves from Sorrento or Amalfi, and the ferry from Salerno, which reaches Amalfi and Positano and saves you every bend.

4. Paestum and the inland Cilento

Base: the Cilento or the Sele plain. The three Doric temples of Paestum are among the best preserved in the world and stand in an open field, with no town around them: you arrive, you park, you go in. In the afternoon you climb inland, where the charterhouse of Padula is one of the largest monasteries in Europe and the villages of the Alburni have nothing touristic about them.