Hi all,

My wife and I are meeting my in-laws in Rome at the start of September. We have 7 nights together, 3 of which will be spent in Rome, with the other 4 nights in Sorrento. Our plan is to use Sorrento as our base and visit Pompeii, Naples, Capri and some of the small towns along the Amalfi coast (all as day trips).

However, after the 4 nights in Sorrento, my wife and I have an additional 4 nights alone. So far I've come up with a couple options, such as:

(a) spend 4 nights in Positano; (b) spend 2 nights in Capri; 2 in Positano; (c) split them up even further amongst other towns on the coast.

Does anyone have any suggestions? My only concern is that we will have visited Capri and some of the small towns like Positano during day trips - although obviously the experience of staying there overnight could be completely different.

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

Chris.

We stayed on Capri for 3 nights and really loved it. In fact, we preferred it to Positano. It is lovely at night and early in the day before the day crowds arrive. If you are active, there is a lot to do on Capri. If you just want to relax, it is the perfect place. We hiked, visited Anacapri, went to the top of Mt. Solaro, took a boat trip and just spent some lazy time at the pool. We were there in September and the weather was perfect.

I would choose one place rather than splitting it up - you get much more done and don't have to change hotels.

It depends on your budget. Capri and Positano are much more expensive than Amalfi which could be a good basis to move. Boats leave twice a day to Capri as local travel agencies arrange half day or full-day Pompeii trip. Please visit our web site before booking www.aurora-hotel.it
daniela

We spent eight nights in Sorrento doing day trips to all the places you mention and we were very happy to have choosen that rather than spending half the nights in another town - which seems to be what most people on this forum prefer. For one thing we really liked the town of Sorrento - especially early morning and evenings. There may be a lot of people who day trip TO Sorrento (and from cruises, etc) but we were gone during the middle of the day most days so did not find crowds to be an issue. We liked being able to enjoy the 'getting there' part of visiting Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, Capri - without having to schlep our luggage. We took several day trips, some on the bus, some on the boat and thought going both ways had their advantages. So if you like the hotel you are staying at the first four days in Sorrento why not just stay there the next four and do more day trips.

Here's my trip report - http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rful-weeks.cfm

I really liked splitting our time in the area between Amalfi and Sorrento. (We did it in that order.) However, I don't think I'd want to change hotels more than twice in a week - IMO counterproductive to the intention of relaxation on the Amalfi Coast!

Sorrento was terrific as a hub to visit (in our case) Naples, Pompeii-scavi and Herculaneum. We stayed in town, where we could walk to the train station to catch the Circumvesuviana or a Sita bus depending on where we were headed that day. The town is bustling, both with visitors like ourselves and the frequent dockings from cruise ships.

By contrast, Amalfi was great for relaxing and taking in a local feel: the vacationers there seemed to be mostly other Italians rather than the Americans and Brits in Sorrento. We happened to stay at Hotel Miramalfi a short walk from the town center. The breakfast on a terrace overlooking the sea was lovely and the staff very helpful. However, part of the walk into town was on the super-busy main road without much of a sidewalk to speak of!

I agree on expense in Positano, but you get what you pay for. EWe loved our three days in Positano. Quiet places, great food, nice beach, friendly people, you cannot go wrong. We stayed at the Hotel Conca Dora Very nice and reasonable. Check it out.