I would appreciate any tips about good restaurants in that area. <BR>Is it worthy to rent a car or just hire local drives for day trips?<BR>Any additional tips would be greatly appreciated. <BR>Thanks

Meir-do text search on "Rules for Drivng the Amalfi Coast" for tips/humor on this topic.

Hi Meir,<BR><BR>I would recommend NOT renting a car unless you don't mind snaking through town in intense traffic, and having trouble parking anywhere other than at your hotel. Of course, all this depends on what season you will be going . There are plenty of SITA buses which connect the towns along the coast, and yes, it is possible to hire excellent local drivers for daytrips. There have been several posts on this forum with names, and I have posted quite often myself about two drivers we used when we visited last July. If you'd like their names, just e-mail.<BR>Restaurant suggestions: On the beach in Positano, Chez Black offers moderately priced seafood, excellent wines, and has a lovely nautical atmosphere. We also enjoyed Buca di Bacco, where we had the most amazing fruits I'd ever eaten in my life ( figs, peaches) as well as excellent pizza. Two restaurants we particularly loved were: Donna Rosa, which is in a mountain town ( sorry, I've forgotten the name, but it starts with an "M") directly above Positano, as well as the restaurant half a block down from Donna Rosa, which overlooks the mountain, over the roofs of the white washed houses, down to the sea. One restaurant to avoid in particular is Da Adolpho, which is a huge rip off. They pick you up their "big red boat" on the docks at Positano, and whisk you off for a lovely ten minute boat ride ( it really was!) to a horribly overcrowded cove and restaurant/shack. What they don't tell you, is that if you don't want to wait for them to take you back, you'll have to hire your own water taxi, and those are a bit pricey. All in all not a great afternoon.<BR>Have a wonderful time!

Message: Meir-- For restaurants, Cumpa' Cosimo in Ravello is everything good you may have heard about it. In Praiano, La Brace is a great find--informal, extensive menu, good<BR>food--although it doesn't look like much from the outside. It's right on the main<BR>road, up a flight of stairs.<BR>

We just returned from the Amalfi Coast area. We picked up our rental car in Rome and drove straight to Positano. I highly suggest driving out there on your own. It's probably not any fun for the driver who's constantly turning but as a passenger, it was an unbelieveable experience. You will never in your life get better scenery along any other drive in your life. There's places along the road that you can pull over and look out a the coast. We did Positano, Ravello and Almalfi and liked them all. Each was unique in it's own way. Amalfi was the most touristy by far. Ravello seemed the least touristy. We stayed in Positano all four days that we were in the area, which I would highly suggest. When you book your hotel, I suggest asking them about parking. It's a really tough city to park in, but most hotels in the area had parking arrangements for their guests (at an extra charge of course). Once you park, it's easy to walk around within the city or take the bus. I agree with the person above about Chez Black. They had great food and a great location. I don't know if you've looked into the Cinque Terre at all, but I think it's even better than the Amalfi Coast (and it's hard to top that).

tt

We stayed at the Villa Franca last year and ate at their restaurant. It was fantastic! We did eat at other restaurants too, but the Villa Franca was the best. We loved it so much that we ate there again the last night we stayed in Positano. I even ordered the same appetizer again!<BR>I heard the owner is also a chef, which would explain the great food!