UKC

We are thinking of taking a walking holiday on the island of Ischia in October. Have heard that there is some beautiful walking there. We will not have a car, but understand that the island is served by two bus companies going clockwise and anti clockwise around the island. Has anyone had experience of using these? We are told that it takes about one hour to circumnavigate the island, Looking for advice as to where would be a good place to base ourselves for daily outings taking advantage of the bus service, and ideally also have good walks within reach of base? Most of the package holidays are aimed at beach/town holiday makers which doesn't really interest us, but the hotels look reasonably priced, and offer half board which is generally a lot cheaper than eating out, so it would seem sensible to utilise one as our base. Our questions are, bearing in mind the forgoing, where would you suggest we look? Conversely, where should we avoid? Thanks in anticipation.

It looks a bit small....

Not so much the size of the place ( looks comparable to South Ronaldsay)  but the sheer amount of housing on it. It's a wonder it hasn't sunk into the Gulf of Naples. 1300 people per square kilometre.

Never been, wanted to go on a day trip years ago but there was an issue with the ferry so the Mrs and myself went to Capri for the day. Have been advised Ischia is worth a visit, don't know about a whole holiday..?

We had three nights there last year, plus 2 nights in Sorento and two in Naples.

Thoroughly enjoyed and the bus network worked very well for us. 

I think we used the Cicerone guide.

We also enjoyed the walking on the mainland, though found Sorrento a bit too touristy, but a good base for public transport.

Iirc the bus company has a good app.

In the Lakes at the moment,  but will try and get more information if you want on my return.

I do recall that in the shoulder season less ferries run, ie ishica to Sorrento, but ishica to naples is well served as people commute to work on those services.

Thanks all! We hadn't realised just how small the island actually is! Somehow in our minds we imagined a sort of Mediterranean Isle of Wight size wise! Now having second thoughts as to whether a week would be too long, originally were thinking of the mainland where there is more choice of walks, but put off by reports of it being crowded and very touristy.

Thanks again.

Take a look at the Stanley Tucci documentary on Campania in his series "Searching for Italy".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0bncnd5/stanley-tucci-searching-for-...

If that doesn't sell it to you, nothing will. Admittedly he is a total New York foodie which may not be your style, but being of Italian descent and an Oscar nominee he gets into all the best local places. Bastard.

I've visited the area and chocolate box tourism does nothing for me, but after watching that I feel I need to think again. Italy is so hard to get to grips with - their food is such a heady mixture of everything that is good for you, and utterly the opposite. And the people are the same

Thanks freeflyer - very tempting from a gastronomic point of view, but sadly doesn't make a small island any bigger!! I love watching Tucci's mouth watering programs though, 

Where we stayed, £99 for three nights, with a small but adequate kitchen, we could pick Oranges and Lemons from the trees in the Garden. One night I made this https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta/spaghetti-with-anchovies-dried-ch... using Lemons I had picked minutes before, which for a lad from Lancashire, is pretty special.

However for me 3 nights was enough.

I've not been to Ischia but if you're looking for a bigger venue I can recommend Naxos. We were there in March and used the buses to get around. Stayed in Naxos town (Chora) for ten nights, flight to Athens and ferry to Naxos. We had the Cicerone guide and some maps but found that the standard version maps on the OS app were as useful as anything. There were also quite detailed route maps at bus stops which I photographed on my phone and used as well.

The Amalfi/ Campania area is far better than Naxos for walking IMHO. The scenery is nicer, the walking more varied, less expensive and better public transport. I shall probably return to Campania but not to Naxos. I also suspect the weather on Naxos could be an issue, either blisteringly hot late spring, or in the shoulder season rain and wind potentially stopping play, though I did have some great walks and weather when I was there.

I was there at the end of April and the island was very quiet. The tourist season starts in May and it probably will be busy in October. 

Starting in Fontana you can get to the highest point in under an hour. Restaurant for coffee. Then a couple of hours downhill to Forio gives one of the islands best walks. There are a couple of shorter walks along the coast. It's not really a walking destination but if you can avoid the weekend and high season crowds it's a magical island to spend a couple of days in. It's also quite built up so much of the walking is close to houses or hotels. April is also very cheap for accommodation and restaurants are quiet.

I also did the high level walk from Salerno to Sorrento which goes up and down the hills along the Amalfi coast and you can mostly avoid, or walk quickly through, the busy areas. You can for example, set off from Maiori in the morning taking the lemon road,  stop for lunch in Atrani, quickly walk through Amalfi which is comically busy, and then hike uphill for an hour and stay in Pogerola, a small mountain village with hardly any tourists. The walk took a week at a leisurely pace.

https://www.amalfi-wanderweg.de/en/