Hi:

Just got back from Greece, and am planning next year's trip to the Amalfi Coast in mid-September 2006. Will I want to rent a car? Is parking possible/impossible to find? We will want to visit Pompeii, Herculeneum, and all of the other beautiful towns in the area. Thoughts on doing this with/without a car?
Thanx

We've recently returned from a week's stay (mid-Sept) on the Amalfi Coast - with a car.

Yes, you should want to rent a car. Parking was NOT impossible to find. This would be the best way IMO to see the beautiful towns you describe and the Massa Lubrense area as well (Pta Campanella, etc).

No question about it...

Hi Jo,

We were on the AC in Sept 2003. Driving the coast road was difficult because of the traffic jams created by tour busses. Parking was not easy to find.

You can easily get to Pompeii and Herculaneum and the other towns of the AC by bus or ferry.

You might find the AC part of my trip report helpful:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

We stayed in Sorrento for 10 days this September. We did not have a car and were surprised we could easily do without since we're always a bit lost without a car. Not this time! We did most of our excursions by (fast) boat (Metro del Mare) which proved to be a very good means of transport. Better than the Sita bus anyway. To Pompei we went by Circumvesuviana train. Crowded but very convenient, and unbelievably cheap (1.80 euro one-way Sorrento-Pompei if I recall well).

I've been there in September both with and without a car. In my opinion, it depemds very much on where you base yourself. If there is parking at your hotel, then a car would be a good way to get around the Sorrentine Penninsula (meaning Massalubrense, Nerano, Termini, Sant'Agata, etc.

The best way to see Pompeii and Herculaneum is to take the Circumsuviana train from Sorrento or Sant'agnello, and I think a car is completely unnecessary for these sites.

To travel along the Amalfi Drive, yes, there can be heavy traffic, depending on the time of day of course, so the bus is maybe better for the AC, and they are frequent. Parking is not impossible on the Amalfi Coast, but it takes up quite a bit of time if you hit a town and don't see a space right away. I drove a Micro-sized Smart Car, and think many of the parking spots available to me wouldn't be available to a slightly larger car.
Parking in Positano public lots costs 3 to 3 1/2 Euros per hour. Gas is more than twice the price in US, There is also a public lot in Ravello.

There are plenty of buses connecting all the towns along the Amalfi Coast, generally wuite convenient.

In general, i think a car on the AC is really more of a distraction than is necessary.