lauren27

Any advice is appreciated! I have been to Rome a few times, but my husband has never been to Italy. Neither of us have been to the Amalfi Coast or Capri before.

Sat, May 21- arrive at FortySeven Hotel in Rome. Relax and walk around a bit.

Sun, May 22- Pantheon, Forum, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps

Mon, May 23-St Peters, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel. Possibly do Scavi Tour

Tue, May 24- Visit Catacombs (not sure which ones, any suggestions?), walk on the Appian Way

Wed, May 25- take early morning train to Naples, meet driver, stop off at Pompeii for 3-4 hours, arrive at Marincanto Hotel in Positano

Thu, May 2- explore Positano

Fri, May 27- take ferry and explore Amalfi and Ravello, visit villa Rufulo and Villa Cimbrone

Sat, May 28-- explore nearby towns- Praiano, Minori, Atrani (any suggestions?)

Sun, May 29- take ferry to Capri and La Minerva Hotel in the morning. Walk around Capri town, visit Augustus Gardens and Via Krupp

Mon, May 30- visit Anacapri, take chair lift, visit Villa San Michele

Tue, May 31- take a boat trip around the island, including Blue Grotto in the morning. Take a hike in the afternoon (maybe La Migliera or any suggestions?)

Wed, Jun 1- depart Capri on morning ferry, fly from Naples

Thanks for your advice!

Jim_Tardio

Look like a fine itinerary to me...nice and relaxed. I might perhaps take a quick visit to Ischia from Capri.

tuscanlifeedit

lauren27, I like your itinerary.

I would make changes according to my tastes, which might not be your tastes at all.

Instead of catacombs and the Appian Way, I would visit churches, museums or other neighborhoods in Rome. The Galleria Borghese, the Borghese Gardens, Trastevere, Santa Maria in Trastevere, St Cecelia in Trastevere, Piazza del Popolo, the Pincio, the Santa Maria del Popolo... just some things that spring to mind.

On Sat. May 28, I might relax instead of getting on another boat or bus on the Amalfi Coast. The towns you mention are, IMO, more places to relax than places to see.

Perhaps you could move this day back and stay in Naples or Sorrento for a night, if you don't want to just chill for a day in Positano. But chilling in Positano is a great experience.

Hiking on Capri is strenuous but rewarding. I'm glad I did it while I could.

Sounds like a wonderful trip.

bardo1

Excellent job - I can find NOTHING to critique with itinerary!

Some advice, however for your day exploring the catacombs and the Appian way (5/24):

1) Take the Archeobus - simple, helpful, and a good value. Get on at Piazza Venezia. It's big nd green, you can't miss it. Here's a picture: http://www.trambusopen.com/it/archeobus.cfm and the official site (which doesn't have a photo of the bus, though it should:
http://www.parcoappiaantica.it/en/default.asp

2) Pack a backpack with picnic supplies and drinks. The snack stands are rare, not that good, and a little overpriced. There are picnic tables at most of the catacombs, but the best place to spread out a spread is at the aqueduct.

krgystn

Yeah, this looks pretty good. Day one is pretty ambitious, but do-able.

lauren27

Thanks so much everyone.

My husband is pretty set on going to the Catacombs, so I don't think I can cut that out. That trambus sounds like a good idea! But I figure we could probably do that for a half day and spend the rest of the day exploring some of the churches and neighborhoods.

Maybe I will have to rethink hiking in Capri. I may not be in good enough shape for that!

bobthenavigator

Good plan !
What time is your flight? Do not tempt fate in Naples.

bwatchko

I'm making note of your itinerary. My son will be getting married in April and he and his bride-to-be want to honeymoon in Itlay and the Amalfi Coast-- and they will most likely wait until May to go due to weather concerns (on the advice of many of you on Fodor's, including bobthenavigator). Since my husband and I are paying for their honeymoon, I've been doing reasearch here and everywhere! No, I'm not planning on accompanying them, even though it's tempting! :~)

tuscanlifeedit

lauren, I'm not in that great a shape. There are plenty of more flat walks in Capri, but we chose some ambitious ones, because of things we wanted to see.

lauren27

Bob, the flight from Naples is at 12:35 pm. I figure if we take an early morning boat (like 7:30 or 8:30 am) from Capri that we would have plenty of time. Am I right?

smacknmo

Lauren, I would consider doing the grotto as early in your trip as you can. If it becomes too choppy they will not do the entry into the grotto. We did it around lunchtime when we were there. About an hour or so after we went through, they closed it because it the water was so rough.

I personally would have stayed in Naples the night before your flight. We have been to Capri twice. The first time we stayed until the day we had a flight home. The water was very rough that morning and the line we had a round trip ticket through, cancelled their runs until the water calmed. Fortunately, another line was able to take us. On our second trip there we ended up leaving the day before and stayed at a nice hotel in Naples. Much less pressure that way. Maybe staying in Sorrento for that last night may relieve that stress, although I don't know how much it would cost to get to the airport from Sorrento.

Overall, sounds like a wonderful trip. Such a wonderful destination! Last time we went to that area we rented a house in Praiano, which became our home base while exploring the Amalfi area. There is not a lot to do in Praiano, but is a lovely town and we had a couple of very good meals there.

Have a great trip!

bobthenavigator

OK---I may have taken that flight in May--is it Iberia?

Jim_Tardio

You should be able to make your flight. Make sure you purchase your return tickets the day you arrive in Capri.

There will be no shortage of Taxi's at the ferry terminal to take you to the airport.

By the way, at the Naple's ferry terminal the little snack bars sell these hockey-puck-shaped, fried croquet-type things. They contain, pasta, ham and other goodies...they are to die for, IMO.

swagman

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hamlet

I agree with other that you have a good plan. You can switch order of Positano and Capri if you don't want to deal with multiple types of transportation on your departure morning. (Pompeii on either end depending on where it fits best.) You may want to ride the bus or get a car to/from Amalfi so you can experience the coastal road.

mamcalice

I agree with Smacknmo - check each morning and afternoon while on Capri to be sure you are able to visit the Blue Grotto. We were there for 3 days in late September and the weather was beautiful each day but we were not able to visit the grotto because of the high seas. You will have to be flexible with your schedule.

dina4

tuscanlifeedit took the words right out of my mouth:

"Instead of catacombs and the Appian Way, I would visit churches, museums or other neighborhoods in Rome. The Galleria Borghese, the Borghese Gardens, Trastevere, Santa Maria in Trastevere, St Cecelia in Trastevere, Piazza del Popolo, the Pincio, the Santa Maria del Popolo... just some things that spring to mind.

On Sat. May 28, I might relax instead of getting on another boat or bus on the Amalfi Coast. The towns you mention are, IMO, more places to relax than places to see. "

isabel

May 27 and 28 you are exploring Amalfi and towns around it. Atrani is an easy walk from Amalfi. Minori is a little further. You could do Amalfi, Ravello, and Atrani all on one day but two days is better. So in that case I would suggest taking the boat from Positano one day and the bus the other day. The scenery from the bus is really quite spectacular, and while I love boats, the scenery from the boat is not as good. Of course, the scenery from Ravello (the villas) beats anything.

Here is a link to my report from our trip last summer (just skip the Croatia part in the middle). I describe several hikes we did on Capri and around Amalfi. We organized things so as to do the hikes downhill only. Even downhill they were tiring but worth it, I would not have wanted to do them uphill.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rful-weeks.cfm

JillDavis

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