A lazy vacation: 7 nights in Positano, or 5 nights Positano and 2 nights Capri?
 

DH and I are going back to Italy in June. It's our third trip, but this will be our first time south of Rome. On this trip we want to be lazy and experience la dolce vita! We are currently booked for 7 nights at Villa Rosa in Positano. The plan is to daytrip if and when we feel like it, with one of the days dedicated to Capri. I've been reading a lot lately that Capri is best experienced at night, so I'm considering spending a couple of nights on the island before we head back to Rome for a quick review of the city and our flight home. I don't want to overplan and I don't want much of a structured itinerary this time around, so I'm sure I'll mull this over for a few days before committing to a change. But if we do decide to stay on Capri, which hotels/B&Bs would you recommend? We'd like to stay fairly close to the ferry dock and keep the cost around 150E/night. A view would be nice. Grazie as always!

Do the 5 and 2, but do yourself a huge favor. Don't stay near the ferry dock. You want to be up at the top -- you take a funicular from the tacky little port area up to the town of Capri.

We spent 2 weeks on the Amalfi Coast this summer- 3 days on Capri, 4 days in Positano, 3 in Ravello, and 4 days Sorrento. If I had to do it again I would have spent more time in Positano. Fabulous restaurants in town and in Montepertuso (La Tagliata and Il Ritrovo will send cars; Donna Rosa won't but easily reached by local bus). We stayed in Room 32 at the Villa Rosa- large simple room with fantastic views of Positano. Hopefully you will be on the 3rd or 4th floors where the views are unobstructed. The staff is warm and friendly. We especially enjoyed sitting on our terrace each morning eating our breakfast and sipping hot chocolate. They will even bring you 2 OJ ea. if you ask. We didn't want to leave.

Stayed at the La Minerva Hotel on Capri- best hotel on our trip but 300 Euros per night may be more than you can afford. Capri is beautiful but preferred Positano more. You can take day trips by bus or ferry to Sorrento, Capri, and Amalfi from Positano. You might even take a trip up to Ravello via Amalfi but that would be a long day. Ravello is gorgeous. Stop by Cumpa Cosimo for a delicious lunch hosted by Mama Netta.

I still miss my 2 weeks in paradise. The people and food were truly delightful. Again, my favorite town was lovely Positano.

Jocyln,
I agree with Patrick, if you're going to stay on Capri, stay up as high as you can to make the most of the magnificent views( unless bad knees or heart prevent this).The Hydrfoil is an easy trip to any of the islnds. I like the hotel la Mamela on Capri, there is a beautiful pool and lovely grounds. The service is the best! The rooms are large with sitting areas and comfy beds.Be sure to request a room with a terrace it's worth it. You heard right Capri is magic at night, as is the entire Amalfi Cost.For more info. on Capri check out www.caprionlione.com or email me @ [email protected]
Best of luck
Fluffy

Yet another opinion: We had a lazy trip of our own in September: 3 nights in Bellagio and 5 nights is Positano. For me, 5 nights were enough.

The trip up to Montepertuso was nice enough, but I found the drives and daytrips, other than those done by boat, to be, frankly, sickening. I take motion sickness medication and precautions, always, but the roads in this area did me. I enjoyed excursions by water much more.

I think that if I had your options, I would go for the 5 and 2. I wish I could give you Capri recs, but Capri is for a future trip for us.

Just to let you know, I am the type to really go and see as much as possible, but this lazy trip was Heaven for us. We loved doing very little. Ate, read, slept, soaked up the views, ate some more, took a swim, walked about a bit. Very nice.

Thanks all. DH and I will have to think this over. Are any of you familiar with Hotel Canasta in the town of Capri? It looks great according to their website and caprionline, but I can't find any customer reviews.

Mobility isn't a problem for us, but we wouldn't want to be dragging our luggage all over the island, especially for a two-night stay; it looks like something in the town of Capri would work well.

Tuscanlifeedit, I know what you mean...with each trip we're doing less and less, and enjoying it more and more. I can't wait to go back to Tuscany and SIT instead of racing to the next town.

Jocelyn, perhaps your hotel can meet you at the dock in Capri and take you and your luggage to the hotel. This is what we had. Have you checked into this?

The first time we were on AC we stayed in Positano. I had booked for 2 nights at the Covo dei Saraceni directly on the beach and our plan was to decide where else to stay after spending a bit of time there. My husband took one look around Positano and the view from the hotel and immediately booked the entire 6 days there. We weren't sorry. We still like Positano best. We went to Capri as a day trip on that first trip and weren't very impressed so we took to heart the advice given so often on this site to book at least a night there. Next time we went we spent two nights on Capri and 4 or 5 in Positano. That was perfect. We liked Capri much better when we were able to explore at leisure. We stayed at the Best Western Syrene, about a block or so from the Quisianna (sp?) which is the super-dupe place on the island. We liked Syrene just fine and it afforded similar views to the more expensive hotel. Spacious rooms, good location. We ate one dinner at the Villa Brunella and loved it. Ask for a table at the end of the restaurant, looking out. Beautiful views of twinkling lights and the sea far below. Fabulous service (our waiter kept looking directly into your eyes and saying, I am here....for you) nicely presented food with fabulous views. Pretty magical.

Hi tuscanlifeedit,

My Lady Wife had the same problem.

She sends her sympathy.

((I))

Oh, on the baggage thing in Capri. I think all/most of the hotels have services. Ours did. My daughter stayed in a less expensive hotel and hers did too. As you disembark, the porters from the hotels (I think there are cooperatives that service several hotels) come up to ask which hotels you're going to and take your bags for the hotels they service. I think I recall them handing us a claim slip. Your bags then go one way and you find a taxi to drive you to your hotel where your bags will be waiting for you.

We did a trip from Capri town where we stayed to Anacapri. I'd looked at several hotels there and was interested to see if we'd missed anything by selecting Capri town rather than Anacapri. My conclusion was that we hadn't. It's higher up the mountain but more touristy IMO and not as classy as Capri town.

OK, I talked to DH and I got the "whatever you think is best" response, so I think we will do two nights in Capri. I'm going to check availability for Hotel Canasta, so I'd still love insight if anyone knows anything about it. Here's their website:

http://www.hotel-canasta.com/salsa/en/welcome.html

Their website doesn't say anything about a pick up service, but it looks easy to get to so I'm sure we'll manage just fine--we pack light. ;)

Jocyln,
It is very easy to get luggage to your hotel.There is a porter station when you get off the hydrfoil. Go there and tell them which hotel you want your luggage taken to.It will be there within an hour.Everyone is very trust worthy you don't have to worry your luggage won't arrive. Then take they funicular to the main pizza. You can have someone from your hotel meet you there or better yet walk.Capri is very small and not complicated.
Best of luck
Fluffy

Ira

Your poor LW. I've seldom been so sick, and I get a lot of motion sickness. The Costeria Amafitana ranks in my top 3:

1966: tour boat to Pearl Harbor. No meds.
1978: tour of San Francisco in the far back seat of my uncle's station wagon. No meds.
2004: gagging my way along the Amalfi Coast. Plenty of meds; still sick.

Oh no! I just heard back from Hotel Canasta and they require a 4 night minimum stay. It seemed so perfect...am I going to have trouble finding a place for only 2 nights? The hotels you all have mentioned look beautiful, but they're all more than we'd like to spend. We're hoping to shell out around 150E/night and stay in the town of Capri.

Jocelyn -- we did the same thing last year. 4 nights Positano and 2 nights in Capri. I liked Capri, but I wish I would have stayed in Ravello instead. Capri is beautiful but SOOO crowded. Positano is also very busy, so our daytrip to Ravello was heavenly -- gorgeous views, gardens & much smaller crowds.

Hmmmm...Ravello...that could definitely be an option. Any comments on the following Ravello hotels?

Parsifal
Villa San Michele
Toro
Bonadies

Well, here's a comment on the Parsifal. This past June, we loved this funky old hotel where we had a room with a giant covered terrace and arches on three sides to amazing views.
But this weekend I got an email from them. They are closing as they are not able to renew their lease with the "sisters" who own the property and are apparently turning it into a sort of rest home for themselves.

So you can cross The Parsifal off your list!

LOL Patrick, I guess we're supposed to just stay at the Villa Rosa! Worse things could happen, right?

Jocelyn, I am going to Positano and Capri in June for 5 & 2 also. I was able to book La Minerva for 2 days (sat and sun) at 195 euro/night. The manager told me that if I was able to change my days to weekdays he would lower the rates, but we couldn't. I think you should be able to find something for 2 nights in your $ range. This will be my third trip to Positano and it is my favorite but thought I would try something different, as many have mentioned, Capri is supposed to be much more enjoyable when you stay overnight. Buona fortuna!

We spent 3 nights at the La MInerva Hotel this summer and the hotel was terrific. Otherwise, to be honest, we were not that imprtessed with Capri, even at night when the day-trippers left. Sure it was less crowded but we were not into window shopping or could afford any of the pricey shops.

We enjoyed lovely dinners at Villa Brunella, Hotel Belsito and a nice restaurant down by Il Faraglioni. The days were hot and muggy in July so we had a haze obscuring most of the views, especially from Mt. Solaro. We loved the view from the Ceasar Augustus gardens however.

Having said that, in retrospect, only one night or maybe even a daytrip to Capri would have been fine for us. We wished we spent more time in Positano, especially at the Villa Rosa and the many fine restaurants in Montepertuso.

JenV -- you're going back!! I'm jealous! La Minerva looks great! We almost stayed there last year. It doesn't have a pool, but our pool at Caesar Augustus wasn't heated -- it took some getting used to even in the heat of August! I don't think a pool is a necessity.

Jocelyn, Ravello is an easy daytrip from Positano and if you LOVE it, you can go back a second day. BUT, Capri is so crowded during the day, that it is probably better to stay there for a couple of nights to really enjoy it.

I just emailed La Minerva to see what they have available. I'm still not sure what I want to do...Villa Rosa looks so spectacular I can't imagine getting tired of it, but I don't want to miss something I might like even better. How to choose, how to choose?!

<b>JenV:</b>
We're spending 2 nights at La Minerva on the 9th and 10th of June, then on to Positano for a week and finally 3 nights in Naples. When will you be going?

I can't tell you how much Ms. Go and I have been looking forward to this trip!

mr_go,

We had talked about meeting up for lunch in Naples on the 20th, but it looks like we will be zipping through town quickly on our way to Positano, so we'll miss you this time around. We've hired a private driver and he's offered to meet us as we get off the train, which makes too much sense to pass up.

Yes, JenV, when will you be in Positano and Capri? We met up with fodorite Lesli on our last Italian trip and had a great time.

Jocelyn -- we had drinks and dinner with JenV last year in Positano!

Jocelyn and Mr. Go, I will be in Positano from June 27th to July 1st and then in Capri the 2nd and 3rd of July then on to Florence &amp; Rome. Will we cross paths at all? It was so much fun to meet up with Amy and her husband last year in Positano. Jocelyn I am at the Villa Rosa too, I love this hotel (stayed there in 02).

Amy, I just can't get enough of Positano and see myself going back there again &amp; again. I would love to see the Tuscan countryside too but I think it is more of a couply destination (ha ha, I guess the Amalfi coast would be considered by most to be very romantic). I am going with a girlfriend whose husband left her after 15 years of marriage and I thought that going to Italy would cheer her up.

I read that La Minerva lets you use the pool at the hotel next door for 10 euro but I doubt that we will do it. I got a little bored last year lounging too many days in Positano and am hoping to do alot of hiking on Capri in addition to taking my friend to the Blue Grotto, which I did last year and thought was so beautiful even though it was quite a headache getting to it. Maybe some day I will get that trip report done.
JenV

Jen, we'll just miss you. We'll be in Positano June 20-25 and Capri (maybe) from 25-27, then back to Rome for a couple of days.

Since you liked Amy, we probably would have had a good time too: Amy and I discovered a bizarre family connection and we've been emailing for awhile now. We have so much in common it's freaking both of us out!

Hi Jocelyn, well if you decide to do the last 2 days in Positano instead of Capri let me know. I am actually supposed to be at Villa Rosa starting from the 26th but was thinking of giving up my first 2 nights because my friend doesn't arrive til the 28th and it is alot of $$ for just me. I am a little afraid to change my reservation at this point due to the popularity of VR. Too funny about Amy and you, do you live in NY as well? Based on my experience meeting them I would always try to meet up with fodorites in my travels.
JenV

Jen,
No, I don't live in NYC. I recently moved from San Diego to Tulsa, but Amy and I seem to be living parallel lives. We haven't met, although some of our family members grew up together.

We'll be leaving Capri or Positano on the morning of the 27th. Let's keep each other updated on this thread--if we're in the same place on the evening of the 26th we'll plan on a mini-GTG. :)

Hey Jocelyn,
We'll be at the Villa Rosa from June 20th through the 25th! Say hi if you see two middle aged couples from Minnesota! Gen

<b>Jocelyn &amp; Jen:</b>
Looks like we'll be missing you both, as we are there a week or two earlier. Too bad.

We'll be sure to post &quot;from the road&quot; and let you know how everything is. Ciao!

Jen -- you are too kind! With only 2 days in Capri, you won't miss a pool. We used ours mainly to lounge, read and enjoy the view. But we really could have done that anywhere. I think it would be fun to check out one of the beach clubs, or take one of the boat tours and swim from the boat.

Phooey, La Minerva's booked.

rbnwdln, we'll definitely look for you! We're a thirtysomething couple. We'll be the ones with huge smiles on our faces! Maybe we can meet up for a drink.

Jocelyn -- Hotel Bonadies in Ravello gets high marks on trip advisor. Are you still considering Ravello or only Capri?