blej

Thank you to all who provided invaluable advice - either directly or in previous posts.

We landing in Naples, renting a car and are spending five nights on the Amalfi Coast and five in Puglia. Our flight at the end of March is booked, our car is rented and I have almost all accomodations set. I just have a few more questions.

We decided to stay in Amalfi, in large part because we found out that friends of ours will be there at the same time. We booked five nights at the Luna Convento. We picked it over the Santa Caterina, which are friends will be in, because the LC has parking, which I would imagine is like gold if you have a car, and someone pointed out that it will still be dark after dinner and the walk back from town to the LC is a bit shorter.

In Puglia we are planning to spend two nights in Trani and two at the the Masseria il Frantoio outside of Ostuni. We also made reservations for lunch with them one day. The email re: the lunch reads, "on the basis of 8 wild, organic, medieval courses and 2 great Apulian wines." Very intriguing. The meal is expensive at 55 euro each, but they are supposed to be fantastic and I hear the wine doesn't stop.

Here are the questions:
>with a little luck we will be in our car and heading to Amafi by noon. Is there enough time to stop at Pompei or Herculaneum and still make it to Amalfi before 6:00 (1800)?

>Vademecum kindly informed me that the part of the AC coast road is blocked. Does anyone know how I could get up-to-date info on that before we leave?

>Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Regia in Trani? We are leaning towards booking it as it is rated #1 in Trani by Tripadvisor.

>We are considering booking our last night near the airport in Naples. Has anyone stayed at Hotel Futura Centro Congressi? We have a 6:40 AM flight the next morning.

For an itinerary we'll follow many of the great recommendations from ekscrunchy and flame123's trip reports and play-it-by-ear. Its Italy! How can we go wrong?

Thanks to Ekscrunchy and others recent posting we saved $50 by calling AutoEurope and having them book a car for us on Kemwell. I also asked about getting a discount on a GPS, which wasn't listed on either site for a small car, and got one.

ekscrunchy

This sounds like a dream trip!

I think you should have time to visit either Pompeii or Ercolano. Ercolano is smaller and more manageable, especially for a quick visit.

The Hotel Luna should be able to give you up to date information on the road closing.

I don't know that Naples hotel. But if you stay in the city, you can still reach the airport in about a half hour or so. Last time our taxi drove from our hotel close to the center, in Chiaia, through the Vomero district en route to the airport.

For that reason, I am looking at hotels in that area (Vomero) for my own last night in Naples on a trip later this year.


Unless someone corrects me on this, I believe that Vomero is close to the entrance to the airport highway and therefore might allow you to stay in a more interesting area than the airport environs on your last night without worrying about the next morning's journey.

blej

eks...do I remember a posting re: "Air One" that you only have to be at the airport 1 hour early?

ekscrunchy

I was on the Iberia partner--is that AirOne?

If you are flying within Europe you certainly do not need to arrive 2 hours in advance. I think we arrived about 90 minutes ahead and had plenty of time. Too much time.

blej

Yes. We tried to fly Iberia but their inexpensive flights are on specific days and didn't match our timetable.

Thanks for the Vomero tip - it is a possibility. As we will have a car and be about three and half hours from Naples in the morning, we can also just meander back through the central area of Puglia, have dinner about an hour or so from the airport and go to a hotel near the airport to sleep. I'll bring the info on a few possibilities with me(including Naples) and decide during the trip.

We're also leaning towards one night in Trani and a night in Matera.

ekscrunchy

An hour in advance of the flight should be fine then...this sounds like a fantastic trip!

There is an appealing B&B in Vomero, in case you decide on that option.

blej

I would be happy to take the name of the B&B with us, if you have it.

blej

ekscrunchy - If you see this and have the name of the Vomero B&B we would greatly appreciate it. We leave tomorrow.

We booked a night in Matera and bought a GPS with both North America and Europe maps loaded in. We'll see how it works.

Flame123

Have a great trip and enjoy!!!

ekscrunchy

Here is the Vomero B&B info:

http://www.weekendanapoli.com/en/

Your trip sounds absolutely perfect!

ekscrunchy

..and here is another well-rated option that appears to be on the hill as well; less expensive than the one I posted above..



http://www.labouganville.com/en/chi_siamo.php

panecott

Have a great trip, blej.

I'm leaving for Puglia on April 16th and look forward to hearing about your trip.

Some friends of mine are on a week long culinary tour of Puglia right now. I'm wondering if they will visit the restaurant you mentioned.

Buon viaggio e buon appetito!