christinem13

Hi,

I am a 30 year old trying to plan a vacation end of May 2016-early June 2016 for 12 days! I was thinking 6 days in Spain (3 in Barcelona/3 in Madrid) and 6 days on the Amalfi Coast (Capri, Positano, Amalfi). Is this possible? I will be flying out of Miami, Florida. Should I fly into Italy first and work my way back towards the US or the opposite? I plan on 3 days in Capri. What is a good home base to visit Positano, Amalfi and towns close by? Are the ferry and bus rides to get between towns and back to a major airport to fly out complicated and expensive?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!!!

Christine

nytraveler

How many days do you actually have on the ground? Is it 12 full days (13 nights) or is the total 12 days - so you actually have only 10.5 days.

You list a full 12 days by location - but don;t show when/how you will get from one place to another. You will have to fly from Spain to Italy - or the reverse - and take trains or ferries/buses between other cities - but you need to allow at least a half a day each time you move - giving you max 2.5 days in each place.

Once you are on the AC transit is limited. Yes, there are ferries but they don;t run that often. There is a bus along the AC coast road but it can be mobbed and it's slow. Getting from A or P to the Naples airport should best be done the night before for an early am flight - since the travel time from A or P to Naples will be at least 2 hours and you need to arrive at the airport 3 hour in advance for a flight to the US. This means you need to leave your hotel 5 hours before your flight time. You can do a cab (bid $) but it might save you 30 minutes or so at most.

As to which direction to do the trip in - it depends on flights to and from your departure city - which we don;t know.

ekc

Whether you fly into Naples or Barcelona/Madrid depends on the flight schedules. Look at the flight times to/from Miami and that will help you decide the route.

I visit Positano for a week each year and have never spent the night in Naples before my flight, but I make sure to book a flight that leaves around 11:00-12:00, so I can leave Positano around 8:00.

When I stay in Positano, I use ferries to travel between Positano, Capri, Amalfi/Ravello and Salerno/Vietri. You can see the schedules here: http://www.travelmar.it/en/ You can find information about Capri (including ferry times) at www.capri.net

NYT is spot on about losing time when you change locations - breakfast, pack, check out of hotel, travel to new location, check-in new hotel, drop bags, now it's nearly lunch time. So the more destinations you have, the more time you will lose.

PalenQ

I plan on 3 days in Capri. What is a good home base to visit Positano, Amalfi and towns close by?>

Sorrento would be a convenient base from which to visit all of those and nearby Pompeii too - Capri has boats to Sorrento and some I think to Positano and the Amalfi but not as many as from Sorrento - from Sorrento I took the bus to Positano and Amalfi and Ravello on two separate days but it is a longish slow bus ride - thrilling in that it goes along sheer drop-offs and sinuous twisting roads.

Sorrento has boats and frequent commuter trains to Naples - the latter just costing a few euros but taking about 70 minutes.

There are direct buses I believe from Naples Airport to Positano and Sorrento and other places.

kja

A very good place to start would be with a good guide book or two -- always a worthy investment, IME. You can consult them in a library to see which ones suit your needs best.

I, personally, wouldn't try to combine these two countries in the same 2-week trip -- there's simply too much else I would want to see in Spain and in Italy to justify the time lost to traveling between countries. But that doesn't matter -- you need to decide what YOU want to see and experience.

Blueeyedcod

You can easily do this but I would skip Madrid as it is 650km away from Barcelona and just too far. Vueling airlines fly Barcelona to Naples and then you can spend the remainder of your time on the Amalfi Coast.
So I would spend 4 days in Barcelona and the remainder of your time on the AC, just basing yourself in one place - probably Positano as it has good ferry links to both Capri and Amalfi and further south.
If you book early enough you can get a flight for as low as 60 euro with Vueling. The flight takes two hours so you can spend the morning in Barcelona and the evening in Naples or your AC destination.

janisj

>>. . . plan a vacation end of May 2016-early June 2016 for 12 days!<<

Is your entire trip 12 days -- home to home? Or is it 14 or 15 days? (To get 12 <i>full</i> days on the ground in Europe you will need 15 days total. That will net you 12 full days plus about half a day on arrival.)

If it is 12 days total - and after using most of a day traveling from Spain to the AC realistically you'll have about 8.5 days free to explore/see/do things. 3.5 in Barcelona and the rest on the AC is probably the best you can manage.

(if your trip is actually 15 days total - then you could squeeze in Madrid too)

sandralist

I see no reason to skip Madrid, as there many airlines that fly non-stop from Madrid to Napoli.

I would first look to see what might be the best transatlantic air routing from Miami to Europe and back again. Maybe you could fly cheaply to Madrid but return via Barcelona (with Italy sandwiched in between).

I find that fastest way to price various air routes is to start out by using Orbitz, but I also look at the aiport websites themselves to see what non-stop flights are coming in and out of their airports (including the airports most easy for you to use in Florida). If you are new to this, you might find it worthwhile to register and post on the Flyer Talk Forum, where a lot of frequent flyers exchange tips about easy and cheap ways to fly around the world that aren't obvious to most people.