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Amalfi honeymoon advice needed

Besides the now very obvious piece of advice to book hotels on the Amalfi Coast much further in advance than I am trying to do right now for a honeymoon in August, what other bits of wisdom can you Italy veterans give to a rookie traveler. I needed to find this site about 5 months ago, not yesterday. Here is my dilemma in a nutshell. The Bellevue Syrene in Sorrento has a room available while the mysterious Hotel Pasitea - Best Western - in Positano. has a suite with a jacuzzi. The prices are comparable more or less, and I need to decide soon! People have given the Bellevue S good marks, while the other seems to be a question mark. There is also the eternal Sorrento/Positano debate; and the car/no car. Help. Please. Anyone...

We were just in Sorrento a week ago and took a day trip to Positano. Sorrento is much bigger and we picked it because we wanted to take day trips to Pompeii, Capri and Positano. It's the perfect place to stay if you plan on exploring the area because it has great transportation connections. Positano seemed more like a honeymoon destination to me. It's small and there's not a lot to do but it's a cool place to wander around. I thought it would be a great place to spend a few days if you had a room with a view (and balcony) and access to a pool. It would be nice to just hang out and relax there. I don't think you really need a car there unless you want the freedom to cruise around and stop where and when you want. If you're going to particular destinations, you can take boats, buses or trains. I wasn't particularly impressed with the beaches in Positano or Sorrento, so that's why I recommend the pool.

Amalfi Coast bits and pieces Jeff--Have you considered Hotel Tritone in Praiano (b/w Positano and Amalfi)? If you are seeking peace, quiet and privacy, w. the best hotel views on the Coast, this is the place. Will copy/paste below some earlier posts on this topic for you. If you want to see the pix of the hotel, just do a Google search on "Hotel Tritone Praiano Italy", or go directly to "www.charmingitaly.com/tritone". For personal attention, contact Giusseppe Gagliano, the manager's nephew, and tell him Zander referred you. You can reach him at: [email protected] Will post the info as soon as I can relocate it. Congratulations, and enjoy! az

Info for Jeff Author: az ([email protected]) Date: 6/09/2001, 1:57 am ET Message: If you like touristy, crowded places, w. lots of "action", then stay in Positano. But if you want quiet quarters w. spectacular views, the Hotel Tritone near Praiano is the place to stay. We have been there twice; cancelled our trip to Sicily to return for a few more days just last week. EVERY room has a view to the west all the way to the Faraglioni (the 3 "rocks" for which Capri is famous), and on a clear day you can actually see the arch in the middle one from your room balcony. To the east is a magnificent vista of the village of Praiano, w. its twin-steepled church in the center of your view and the ancient church on the horizon about half way up the mountain. Straight down about 1000 feet is the sea. You can watch the ship traffic in and out of Salerno from your balcony as well. The beach facilites are superb (although the beach itself is rocky, like all of them along the Amalfi Coast), and you walk through a long tunnel carved out of the rock to get there after a long elevator ride. There is a bar and a second swimming pool down at the beach as well. The breakfasts (which are included in the room rate) are sumptuous, including different pastries/cookies of the region every morning (including almond cookies and cannola), and you can get delicious omelets w. ham/cheese and apricot juice along w. the standard breakfast fare most hotels provide. They are served on an outdoor terrace w. to-die-for views. The hotel is literally carved into the side of the cliff below the road, so it is very quiet and very private, if that is what you want. You may even hear the "cock of Praiano" crowing in the sunrise if you leave the doors to your balcony open, and you can easily hear the church bells toll the quarter hours. It is the loveliest place I have ever stayed in decades of travel. The downside, if there is one, is that you really need a car to see the other sites along the Coast and inland if you stay there. The hotel does have adequate parking, however. The service is superb. Author: az ([email protected]) Date: 6/13/2001, 10:21 am ET Message: Amy-- You have chosen one of the best hotels on the Amalfi Coast in terms of "deal for $" in Hotel Tritone. See "Rome/Amalfi Coast/South driving, hotels, sites" (posted 6/12/01 on this forum, 3rd response) for my recent experiences at Tritone. For restaurants, Cumpa' Cosimo in Ravello is everything good you have heard about it. In Praiano, La Brace is a great find--informal, extensive menu, good food--although it doesn't look like much from the outside. It's right on the main road, up a flight of stairs. I assume you have visited H. Tritone's web site and seen the pix of it's incredible perch built into the cliff. This is one of the few instances where the actual experience is even more appealing than the "best views" that most hotels post on their web pages. Be sure to give my regards to Giusseppe Gagliano, the manager's nephew, who works at the reception desk at H. Tritone. He just sent me an e-mail last night thanking me for our recent stays there. Just tell him the guy from Louisiana says "Hello". You will enjoy!!

More info for Jeff Author: az ([email protected]) Date: 6/18/2001, 6:24 pm ET Our decision to stay at Hotel Tritone was pure serendipity. We had planned to stay in Sorrento and do Capri, Pompeii and Amalfi Coast from there. However we were unable to obtain Sorrento hotel reservations for the locations/dates we wanted, so I started searching the Web for other options. When I stumbled across the site showing the pix of H. Triton perched on/in the cliff near Praiano, I immediately knew we had to try it. What a stroke of luck! It is the perfect location for doing the Coast and only an hour or so from Pompeii and Sorrento. It is THE place to stay if you are seeking quiet, relaxed accomodations w. awesome views. Fodor's guide to Naples and the Amalfi Coast sums it up very accurately: "No other hotel on the coast has such a dizzying perch over the sea." However it is not the place to stay if you want night life and lots of tourist shops, restaurants, etc. It also requires a car to easily do the other sites mentioned. We drove to Sorrento and took the ferry to Capri. We got terribly lost in Sorrento, due to an inadequate map and few street signs just when we needed them! However, we used our usual rule of thumb: when lost, just follow most of the traffic, and you will wind up somewhere! We finally found the small, winding, stone street that leads to the ferries; like many "main"streets in Italy, it did not appear to be a main street to any place important. I was surprised by how much the traffic/noise/number of tourists had increased in Sorrento since my last visit there in the mid-80's. For this reason, I will have second thoughts about trying to get a hotel there the next time we go to Italy.

Paige and az - Thanks for the advice...it has been very helpful as has much that I have read on this site. I am definitely going to come back here regularly. I just emailed the Tritone, but I doubt that they'll have anything at this late date. It is looking like: Rome - Hotel Navona Positano - Hotel BW Pasitea Anacapri - Hotel Il Girasole I will keep looking, but plan to jump on those spots tonight. Any feedback?

Well, when I actually wanted to post the server bombed and now it posted without my wanting it to. Let's try this again. What I was going to say Jeff is that Paige started a great post on her Sorrento trip just a little while ago called "Sorrento Trip Notes"; do a search on Sorrento and your bound to find it. Also,look up Karenbrown.com as she lists a number of hotels in the Amalfi Coast (including Sorrento) area. This is how I decided on our choice in Sorrento for this September. You also better think about if you want to rent a car or not. What I often came across on the hotel web sites was the strong recommendation that a car was necessary if staying at their location. So that usually discouraged me from pursing them (as I did not want to hassle with renting a car). Hope you have a great honeymoon.

I stayed at the Bellevue 20 years ago. It's been renovated since then. It looks beautiful. I was in Sorrento for the day a couple of years ago and "visited" the lobby. The staff was very nice. If however, money is no object, try the San Pietro in Positano. One of the great resort hotels in the world. Faces the sea. Private beach. Too much to describe here. Congrats.

Stayed in a little hotel half block from the middle of town. Hotel di Sorrento (good name). I'd stay there again.

Does anyone have an internet address for the Bellevue Syrene in Sorrento? Thanks.

DJ: Bellevue Syrene: www.bellevue.it info@bellevu e.it Joanne

I would highly recommend hotel santa caterina in amalfi if you're on your honeymoon. I have traveled quite a bit and it is the most romantic hotel, gorgeous setting on cliff among lemon groves, very private, beautiful views of the coast, elevator down to the pool and into the sea (water is spectacular!). Service is first rate, good breakfasts, walking distance to town (hotel offers free shuttle - less than 10 mins). A little pricey, but definitely worth it, after all, it's your honeymoon. Enjoy!

I wanted to second what Justback wrote in the email about Santa Caterina. We had a wonderful time at this resort in June and thought that Amalfi was a great central location. Have a good trip.