ashleigh

I just discovered this site and I am obsessed! This May my husband and I are going to Italy - his first time out of the USA. We are headed down to the Amalfi Coast and looking for hotel recommendations. This will be on the tail end of our 2 1/2 week trip and plan to spend 4 nights in this area. We are hoping to have a car to travel and visit the surrounding towns, but more likely just to relax by a pool side and enjoy the last few days of vacation before returning to work. A travel agent recommended Hotel Luna Convento. The pictures look beautiful but not much on it here (i spent hours! reviewing old messages on hotels in the Amalfi/Positano/Ravello area. We are looking to spend around $150 to $200 - more if we have to, this is our splurge. I have also read a little about Hotel Tritone, recognizing that it is farther outside of Amalfi, and the mixed reviews here on Santa Caterina. What do you think? Your help is much appreciated.

GAC

The Luna Convento is probably the no. 1 hotel in Amalfi proper, followed by the Cappuccini Convento up the hill.

ashleigh

Which do you think is better? Is there a benefit to being right in Amalfi at Luna Convento? Will it be noisy? Has anyone stayed there? I have read that a part of the hotel was recently renovated...

Vincenzo

Luna is better than Cappuccini but, in my opinion, Number 1 is Santa Caterina.<BR>All these three hotels, during this month, are working in progress to improve their services.<BR>Have a nice trip.

GAC

But the Santa Caterina, if I am not mistaken, is not in Amalfi proper, but a little out of town, whereas the Luna Convento and the Cappuccini are in the center of the town. E' vero, Vincenzo?

Vincenzo

Yes, GAC: &egrave; vero.<BR>Santa Caterina is a little out of Amalfi. Luna and Cappuccini are not in the center of Amalfi but closer than Santa Caterina. Anyway, in my opinion, Santa Caterina is the best.

GAC

Vincenzo, do you happen to know how far the Santa Caterina Hotel is from Piazza Flavio Gioia? I know that the Cappuccini and Luna are each about 500 meters distant, but don't know the distance for the Santa Caterina. Could a visitor safely WALK from the Santa Caterina to the center of Amalfi? Or would this involve walking along the dangerous Statale per Positano?

Vincenzo

GAC,<BR>the Santa Caterina Hotel is far from Piazza Flavio Gioia about 1.5km. <BR>Of course a visitor can safely walk from the Santa Caterina to the center of Amalfi. There are tow paths, one close to Statale da Positano and another, very pretty, very close to the beach and the sea. It's very charming to walk it before sunset. However, there is also a shuttle from hotel to the center of the town and viceversa.<BR>Now the hotel is closed. It opens in the first week of March.<BR>Ciao a tutti.<BR><BR>

GAC

Thank you, Vincenzo for the useful and practical information. I experience Amalfi every weekday, as I have a large print reproduction in my office of a British landscape painting from the early 19th Century depicting Amalfi as seen from the Pergolato of the Hotel Cappuccini! It even shows the bell tower of the Luna Convento in the distance! Salve.