Amalfi Coast Itinerary Help Please
 

Hello fellow fodorites!

My husband and I will be in Italy for 2 weeks this May. We are spending four nights in Amalfi, using Sorrento as our base. I'm looking for itinerary suggestions for our time in Amalfi. I would definitely like to do a day trip to Capri, and Positano. Are there any specific tours or tour guides anyone would recommend? Any other must-see places? We enjoy site seeing, but also really like doing fun activities like snorkeling or swimming through caves...TIA!

Sorrento is actually on the Bay of Naples, but fine, IMO, as a base for sight seeing on the AC. You don't need a guide for Positano, Amalfi or Capri. You can take a boat to any of them.

Four nts (three days)
One day to Capri
One day down the coast to Positano and Amalfi.
One day to Pompeii by train from Sorrento - easy 45 minute ride.

You can also take a bus to Positano or Amalfi. You might go one way by bus and one way by boat. Views of Positano from the water are astonishingly beautiful, so nice to arrive that way. It is easy from Sorrento.

If you are really interested in Greek ruins, there is also Paestum, but it is a bit of a trek. You won't have time unless you could see Pompeii either on your way to Sorrento on your arrival day or on your departure day. There is a place to store luggage at Pompeii, so that is a possibility. Depends on how much you want to see or do and how relaxed/rushed a pace.

Train to Pompeii is cheap and easy. You can hire a guide right at the entrance if you want one.

Ravello - highly recommended by many, but I've not been.

Advice on swimming in caves and snorkeling I leave to others.

I agree that you do not need to have a guide to visit any of the places you mentioned, but we were just in Amalfi (based in Sorrento) over Easter and we did use a guide. There were 6 of us (since I'm the travel planner of the group sometimes its just easier to have someone tell us what to do for certain parts of the trip!!).

We used Sorrento First Choice for our Amalfi Coast drive. Gerry was great and drove us from Sorrento to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. We had stops in each place.

We did a daytrip to Capri and we went with Blue Grotto Tours and absolutely loved our guide!! That was probably one of the best days of our trip.

Thank you both very much! We have rented a car and will be driving from Tuscany. Do you think it is too dangerous to drive to positano/amalfi on our own?

Just asked my hubby that question since he loves to drive and has driven often in Europe in the countryside, but also in Rome, Prague and Munich and driven the rode to the Lakes which most people say not to drive. He said he would definitely NOT drive on the Amalfi Coast to Positano/Amalfi/Ravello.

My husband loved the drive. But the problem, IMO, is not the drive but the parking. You might get lucky, but you might not. A lesser problem is that the driver can't enjoy the view very much.

We had already been to the area on a previous trip, so for us it was all about the drive. We did stop once or twice but only where we easily found parking and not with any particular destination in mind.

Very personal. I will never take the bus or car there again. I didn't even do the AC, only the Coast from Naples to Sorrento years ago and absolutely hated it. Love the boats and ferries.

OTOH, if you enjoy interesting driving (and many people do) then go for it. Just make sure your hotel has parking.

You might also drive to Sorrento and drop the car there, if that worked for you.

There's a 2-hour tour that's been highly recommended on this site for Positano. It's run by a young couple and includes a wine tasting. I've never taken the tour, but hope to do so this June. I will try to dig up the information.

Ravello's setting above Amalfi with two beautful gardens open to the public for a fee is stunning. The bus from Amalfi runs every half hour or so and takes about 25 minutes to reach there. There is a very pleasant walk downhill to Amalfi, too.

http://www.villarufolo.it/

http://www.villacimbrone.com/

The duomo is worth a visit, too. It has a sculpture of Jonah and the whale decorated with mosaics and a little museum on the lower level. Just off the Piazza Duomo is an excellent cafe, Caffe Calce.

Put me down as another who recommends against driving the AC below Sorrento, for all the reasons stated above. I wouldn't call it dangerous, but it's just not enjoyable for the driver, and parking is a hassle.

I though Sassafrass laid out a good itinerary and recommendations. Ravello is nice and probably worth a half day. Try the Cumpa Cosimo restaurant there. It's a quirky place run by a quirky owner (Mama), but the food is good and reasonably priced.

Include Paestum in your plans if possible. This won't be nearly as touristed as either Pompeii and Herculaneum, but beautiful in its own rite. Definitely worth the trek to get there. There's a very good museum on site, and a restaurant for a refreshing break.

Agreed that Sorrento would be a great place to base yourself for your day trip travels but would not recommend driving the AC coast due to the many hair pin turns and very narrow roads, not to mention the lack of parking.

Ravello is stunningly beautiful, and although it can be crowded, there are spots where it feels like you're the only person there! ENJOY!

The Positano tour is with www.discoverpositano.com. A great way to spend a couple of hours while in Pos.

Thanks, ekc! Anything else to recommend for a repeat trip to the area?

ekc,

I am having a hard time pulling up the tour on www.discoverpositano.com. Any ideas? Thanks!

Hi Orlyd22, I am exactly planning the same thing now. I do plan to come in from Florence -> Naples -> Sorrento so plan to relax on Day 1. Day 2 will be Capri.

My original post here: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ings-to-do.cfm

OT: Where do you plan to stay. My worry is I might book too far away from the bus / train stations and have to walk every time which might not be ideal! :)