Hotel Villa Margherita - Sant'Agnello, Italy 

Even in the last week of September Sorrento is a busy, noisy, touristy place and unless you pay top dollar or stay on the outskirts of town, you can't avoid all-night traffic noise. The Villa Margherita is not in Sorrento proper, but in Sant'Agnello (25 minute walk to Sorrento), so get off at the Sant'Agnello train station (10 minute walk to the hotel). We found the rooms lovely with wonderful high ceilings(although the bathrooms were small), the breakfast very good (yogourt, cereal, croissants, fresh juic), and the staff wonderfully helpful (held a bag for us for a week when we went further down the Amalfi; helped us deal with a three hour runaround from Lufthansa by surfing the net for us). Like almost every hotel in Sorrento in this price range, there is traffic noise. Nothing earplugs won't manage. For dinners we took the train in to Sorrento at night, which was very easy if you have a schedule. The Hotel is 5 minutes from the ocean and we found a lovely dock to swim off by following a ramp underneath the beachside bar. If you don't like to walk however, this hotel is not an ideal choice. Otherwise, expect a clean, friendly experience away from some of the tourist kitch in the rest of Sorrento.

My husband and I stayed at Hotel Margherita for 3 nights in May. Our room was on the third floor overlooking the town of Sant Agnello. We enjoyed a beautiful view from the balcony. Although there was no airconditioning, we had windows on 3 sides, which gave us great cross venelation, we actually used the blanket. Yes, there is constant traffic noise, but no worse than any of the other little towns in Italy. The hotel is family owned and the staff was very friendly and helpful. They will tell you it is a 10 minute walk to Sorrento, which is an exageration since it took us a good half hour. It was a pleasant walk even though the pedestrian path can get a little close to the highway. We also felt very safe walking back to the hotel late at night. You can always take the bus for a nominal fee. Just down the hill is a little bar and restaurant that overlooks the water and is a great place to have a drink and watch the sunset. Right next door there is a more reasonable restaurant that serves very authentic and reasonable Italian food. Brealfast at the hotel consisted of corn flakes, croissants, pound cake, a small assortment of fruit, fruit juices and coffee or tea. The waiter was friendly although he did not speak much English. The restaurant at the hotel was temporariily closed so we were not able to experience it. Although there was no internet access at the hotel, you could use a calling card from your room with no additional charge. We highly recommend the calling cards as the least expensive way to call the states. The hotel is a 15 minute walk from the railway station. There is a small bar located right outside of the station and they are happy to direct you to the Hotel Margherita. The walk could be difficult if you have a lot of luggage. Overall we give Villa Margherita a thumbs up and would stay there again.