dcd

We're thinking of spending 10 days exploring Positano and Capri at the end of next May. We would fly into either Rome or Naples depending on airfare and schedules, etc. (We'll have to fly round trip in order to take advantage of credit card miles.) If we go to Positano first and end the trip on Capri, I'm thinking we'd head back to Naples or Rome on our 9th day and spend the night there. We'd then head home on the 10th day, most likely in the morning based on the way the schedules look now.

Is there any danger the hydrofoil or ferries won't be running to and from Capri in mid to late May? I suppose the dreaded and all to common strike might disrupt things. I'm trying to figure out how much risk there is either in ending the trip on Capri and giving ourselves one day to get back to the mainland or making it to Capri on our first day in Italy.

Also, any thought on splitting up the time between those 2 destinations? I'm thinking 5 days in Positano and 4 on Capri.

Thanks for your help.

zeppole

If there's a strike, it will be announced well in advance, and you'll do something. Weather in May should be fine for getting off the island.

I wouldn't split the destinations. I'd just go to Capri myself, the further away from everybody else the better. If I got enormously curious about Positano, beyond seeing it from the boat on my way to Capri, I'd take a day trip.

If I were going to split my time, I'd either go to Ischia for the hot springs, or Pompeii and Paestum for the wow history, or Vietri Sul Mare for the ceramics, or Napoli for the ohmigod-overload -- in short, I'd go someplace really different from a place where pretty towns hang over the blue sea and fashion clothes are sold and I was surrounded by English speaking tourists. Positano and Capri are too similar to bother relocating, in my view. Pick one drop-dead beauty spot, and just enjoy uninterrupted paradise.

dcd

zeppole, I've been reading a lot of your posts and you're to be commended for adding a very valuable and informative voice here.

I appreciate your comments. Let me tell what my thinking has been.

I've been trying to figure out where to go for our 10th wedding anniversary. We're from the States. First, I had a trip to SW Ireland pretty much all planned.

Then I thought of heading your way, to the Liguria coast, and then to Lake Como. We could adequately cover those areas in 10 days, too. And they are very different, which is a plus. (We first went to Italy together in March of 2005 and visited Rome, including Pompeii, Florence/Tuscany and Venice. We fell in love with the country, the food and the people, and have been dreaming of going back.)

The AC has always been very high on our list, if not at the top, but I thought I'd save it for another trip when we only had a week. Then I got reading and re-reading various AC trip reports here and saw that folks who visited Capri for a day trip or an overnight usually wished they'd had more time there. So I thought combining the AC and Capri would be very doable over a 10 day period without feeling rushed. Plus, it seems that folks here generally can't get enough of that scenery so I figured the more the merrier.

So now I'm torn between all these wonderful places............. Not a bad problem to have, I suppose.

zeppole

Well, welcome to the dilemma of Italy! Now you understand why I moved here. Seriously! How else was I going to get to see all these places? It was too hard to choose between them.

I am originally from California, and since I live in Liguria, it is possible I get less out of the Amalfi than other people do. I can only imagine re-visiting the Amalfi with a stack of books and a novel to finish. It is hard to get in and out of, and I would want to treat it as a beautiful, luxurious hideaway, where I felt free to absolutely nothing. When I was in the Amafli, I split my time between Ravello and a villa on the coast, and of course I visited Positano and Amalfi (the town), and I found so little difference between the tourist enclaves, I promised myself if I ever returned to the Amalfi, I'd stay put and not sightsee.

Of course, now I live in Liguira, so my appetite for pretty sea views is taken care of.

I've never visited Ireland. (Those are my close relatives! No thanks! -- although I adored the Isle of Skye, and surely it's much of the same feel). It was during a trip between Lago di Como and Liguria that I found the place I wanted to live in Italy -- so I'm rather sentimental about such trips.

I don't want to influence too much because a vacation is a very subjective thing -- especially a romantic anniversary vacation. But I think I can say this:

The view in Bellagio is unique to Italy, and even much of Europe. Perhaps there are views as stunning on some Swiss and German lakes, but this one is amazing. It's awfully touristy in Bellagio, but at least half the tourists are Italians celebrating their anniversaries, and it seems sweet to me. I quite enjoyed staying Varenna at the Ermeo Gaudio, with a terrace. There is always a risk on Lago di Como that you will get rain and mist that obscures the view.

Of course I love Liguria, but I prefer areas other than Cinque Terre.

Have fun picking your destination with your wife! And if you see my Irish relatives, tell them I'll try to make it there someday.

SusanP

I think 4 days on Capri and 5 in Positano, or possibly Amalfi, would be great. I just returned from 3 nights Capri, 5 Sorrento and 7 Rome. I recommend going directly to Capri first. I might have chosen Positano over Sorrento, except I had free hotel in Sorrento. Hard to beat. Having been there, I might chose Amalfi. Convenient to getting to Positano and Ravello. I wouldn't stay in Ravello, as it's too hard to get in and out if you want to do daytrips.

If you want to see how easy it is to fly into Naples and get to Capri, read the first part of my trip report that I'm in the process of writing:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35146132

luvtotravel

Susan, I have been following your trip report and enjoying it.

I've been researching our spring trip on this board for a couple of months and have decided to spend our first night in Rome as there are four of us arriving (in the morning) on different airline carriers. This allows us to get beyond jetlag and add a cushion should one or both of the flights arrive late. Several times I've hit a snag in the connection and arrived a day later than planned (flying from California).

We will then head to Capri and stay three nights. Hopefully, in April, we'll be able to take a boat to Positano, and then a bus to Amalfi where we will stay four nights. I should mention that none of us have been south of Rome, and two have never been to Italy.

For reasons you talk about, dcd, we're starting in Capri and then going to Amalfi. It just seems to be the "safer" way to go and not worry about boats being able to run.

From Amalfi we will travel to rome via Salerno where we will stay three nights before heading home. Much too short a trip, but it's too hard to take more time from work.

Thank you all -- Susan and Zeppole especially -- for your wonderful stories and advice.

Diane

zeppole

I thought this trip was at the end of next May. Is it April?

Do you have any plans to visit Pompeii? Even if you don't now, if you get the urge while you are in Italy, remember that it is only a 20 minute train trip from Salerno, which is reachable by ferry from Capri and Amalfi, and by bus from Amalfi.