Cinque Terre, Rome, Amalfi, and Naples: Trip Report on our 15 days in Italy this August
 

Hi all,

I always love reading everyone's trip reports - whether long or short. I try to write up reports on where we go and what we did, but honestly usually I don't get around to it, so here is my attempt for this trip. I just can't write as beatifully as some here, so this will be a bit on more of an overview than a play by play.

About us: DH and I are in our early thirties and this was our 8th trip to Europe and 5th trip to Italy.

Flights: We flew Lufthansa from JFK connecting through Frankfurt on the way to Milan and then on the way home from Naples connecting through Munich and landing at JFK. All flights were completely uneventful. We thought the food, service, and seats were more comfortable than average. This trip we were flying on United miles so we didn't have a lot of choices, but we would definitely choose to fly on Lufthansa again.

Cinque Terre:

I was a bit nervous about this leg of the trip because the CT gets so many comments on this board. We hadn't been before and it had long been on the list and we thought it might fit in well this year. I figured that even if there were 100K tourists all in one place, we'd be okay, at least I hoped so.

Anyway, we stayed for 4 nights in Manarola. The first day was arrival day and as usual by the time we arrived in Manarola the day was basically over. So really we only had 3 real days.

We stayed at a little place called Arpaiu. It is at http://www.arpaiu.com/english.html. To call it a dream would be an understatement. I think it might be one of my most favorite places we've ever stayed. It is a very new place with 4 rooms. The hosts aren't there so in that respect it is like an apartment. The rooms are clean and simply decorated and each room has a huge window overlooking the water. There isn't any air conditioning but for us this was no issue. Our host told us to keep the shutters closed during the day and then at night it got cool - I imagine down in the 60s so it was never sweaty or anything. The price was 99 euro a night which I think was a bargain for how nice the place was. There was even a huge terrace for all the guest to use which had lovely lounge chairs on it (the teak kind) and an honor bottle of wine bar.

As mentioned previously, I am not such a good report writer - I suspect part of this is because I don't take any notes during my trip. So I don't know the names of restaurants, etc. unless something really memorable happended there.

Needless to say, we ate wonderfully. We spent our days hiking the trails between the towns, swimming in the water, and laying on the beach.

We particularly liked Vernazza - which I was surprised because I thought it would be awful. Maybe it was a slow August or maybe becuase other places have seemed more crowded to me - but it really didn't seem to have as many tourists as I imagined. And although I searched for the "Rick Steves" books that I thought would be in everyone's hands, I only saw a handful.

to be continued....

As we leave in 2 weeks for the CT, we are keen to hear anything !

Looking forward to your impressions of Naples. We spent a week there in June & loved it, but not many seem to fancy it.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Caroline - we loved Naples! Another surprise of the trip! But I will write more about that later...

Cinque Terre continued:

We found the CT a perfect place to spend some time relaxing and getting over jet lag. We had planned to rent a boat, maybe go horseback riding, perhaps wine tasting, and even check out neighboring towns (Portovenere, SML, etc.). I had done a lot of research on this board on all the various options - thank you to everyone who has posted! However, our plans were quickly tossed to the wind.

It was the most relaxing leg of our journey. The trails were fantastic. We only did the four main hikes between the towns (as we just didn't have enough time for more than that). The hike between Manarola and Riomaggiore is really just a stroll - the whole thing is paved and pretty level - you could probably do it in heels. I did it more than once in flip flops. The hike from Manarola to Cornelia is a bit harder but not the most visually rewarding.

Definetly the two best hikes are from Monterosso to Vernazza and then from Vernazza to Cornelia. Gorgeous views! But these two hikes are about 1.5 hours a piece if you are a steady walker and in pretty good shape (we did see runners - how brave). And it was so worth it. If you are going to do these (which I would if you are fit enough to), I would wear some type of sneaker because it really hiking. We saw some people on the hikes but for the most part we were alone. We loved it.

We ate lots of great meals in the CT, but the higlight had to be Gambero Rosso in Vernazza. We had two of the best meals of our trip there. Really fantastic food (although admittedly we never had a bad meal anywhere). We also enjoyed Marina Piccola in Manarola overlooking the harbor, the smoothie place in Manarola, Ristorante la Lampara in Riomaggiore, and Bar Centrale in Riomaggiore.

Sadly we did have one strange bill issue - I am only commenting because you really do always have to check your bill everywhere (including home). At Trattoria Il Porticciolo in Manarola, there was a 36 euro antipasto charge added to our bill. Being that we had no antipasto, and this made up almost 50% of the bill, we questioned it. Before even looking at it they exclaimed "errata" and then took the amount down to 6 euro. We still didn't know what that could be for but we were tired of arguing and so we paid it and decided that we wouldn't return. It may have been an honest mistake, but it seemed all a bit too staged - perhaps that is just the cynical NYer in me though.

We didn't see too many Americans in CT at all. It was mostly Italians and then some mix of others. We also found CT to be far less touristy than lots of places and incredibly relaxing. We would return in a heart beat.

We could have spent an entire week in CT, but sadly we couldn't. So after 4 days (really 3), we packed up and headed out to Rome...

to be continued....

Rome:

We spent three days in Rome. We stayed at the Daphne Inn - Veneto. http://www.daphne-rome.com/ The price as about 99 euro per night. It was again just wonderful - thank you to all who posted about it! The rooms were fresh and modern. The staff was really really helpful. This is the third hotel we've stayed at in Rome and it is our first choice in the future! (The prior ones being Boscolo Excedra - I can't afford it again and Banchi Vecchi - very good, but we thought Daphne was better). It just was really great overall. The location is near the US Embassy. There are atms and a taxi stand less than a block away. And it is about a 10 minute walk to the Trevi Fountain.

Because we had been to Rome before, we decided to focus on only a few things in our short time period (still I think we have done too much, but as it was all planned we went ahead).

We did two tours with Context Rome.

One was the walk of Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseo. I can't remember our guides name, but he was a man from the Netherlands and he was really great. We'd been to these sites on both our previous trips and he really brought to life the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill which previously had been more of a bunch of rubble for me.

The other Context Rome tour we did was Underground Rome. We thought that this tour was even better than the other tour. Our docent was a Canadian woman whose focus is on architecture. We explored the ideas of layering and took a look at one underground example (the other was unexpectedly closed). She spent a lot of time explaining the concept of layering and pointing out examples. It was really trully interesting and I recommend the tour wholeheartedly.

We also did the Scavi tour at the Vatican. Again really really great. I didn't even know this existed until about a year ago even though I watch Fodors all the time. Anyway thank you to all who had mentioned it!

Finally we also went to the Borghese Gallery which is our favorite museum in Rome. We find it so relaxing to go there and look the great sculpture. It's small so it's not a huge committment time wise - plus you know that you can only be there for 2 hours. This time we rented the audioguide - which I think is really good.

Anyway, the rest of our time in Rome was spent wandering and enjoying the city. We've decided that it is our favorite city in Europe.

We had only excellent food again, and one restaurant in particular was stand out, but I lost the card so alas it will just have to remain in my memory.

to be continued...

next up: the Amalfi Coast...

Your hotel in Rome sounds like a real find !

SRS:
Thanks for your report--we have been back and forth about whether to go to CT--what is your opinion of staying in Vernazza (I realize that you liked your accomm. in Manarola).

By the way, how did you transport from Malpensa to CT?
Thanks.

Caroline,

Daphne Inn is really a good one. We were fortunate and were there for low season, plus they give you about a 10% discount for payment in cash. But we were really really pleased.

bat,

Vernazza was our favorite of the five villages. I think this is because we really liked the little beach area and the main square with the cute little restaurants surrounding it. After that my second place would be shared by Manarola and Riomaggiore. Both are great, but not quite as good as Vernazza. Monterosso is more like a real town (but it does have the biggest (and probably best) beach). And Cornelia is way up high (no beach area).

I think though that if you decide to visit the CT it doesn't so much matter which town you stay in as all are quickly and easily accessible by train. I would probably pick on where you find a place you like.

We stayed away from Vernazza owing to the comments that I read about the tourist hordes. Like I said before they didn't seem too bad to us, but we live in NYC and often go to the larger tourist centers in Italy so the CT seemed not to have so many tourists in comparasion (at least in mid August).

There are tons of threads on here on how to get from Malpensa to the CT. We took the bus from the airport (5-6 euros a person) to the Centrale Station. And then we took the train from there. We had to switch trains once. I can't remember the town, but it was easy.

Actually our entire first day was full of close calls. Our flight into Frankurt from JFK arrived nearly an hour late forcing us to sprint through Frankfurt. We made it with just enough time for an ATM stop. Then our flight from Frankfurt got stuck on the tarmack and we got in late to Milan. We caught a bus and arrived at Centrale Station with 5 minutes to buy a ticket and get on a train (I think the next train would have been an hour and a half or two hours later). We did it by the skin of our teeth. Then when we got to our transfer on the train we were late (maybe it was Levanto), but the train heading to the CT hadn't departed yet. We raced and got on it. We arrived in Manarola and hit the only ATM in town, which didn't have any of the symbols of my ATM card and it prompted rejected me.

So we only had 400 euro total. Not enough to pay our landlady who was expecting full payment which was about 403 euro.

Luckily when she saw us (sweating and looking really really gross), she told us to leave the money on nightstand and she would pick it up in the morning. When we went back to the ATM with our other card, it was out of service. So we ended up leaving her a down payment and a note in broken italian stating that we would go to the another town and pay her the rest of the money later. I think we left her 300 just in case we couldn't find an ATM so we could eat and stuff. Luckily we found ATMs in all the other towns accepting both our cards.

An exciting first day!

Sally

Great trip report! I've never been to Cinque Terre - you make me want to add it to my laundry list of places to visit...

Sally,

Enjoying our report--perhaps Arpaiu is your new Venice?

Ellen, you just made me giggle! Thanks! Venice will always be my favorite place on earth, but I did think that Arpaiu was pretty special :) And I thought the CT was great! But Venice is Venice!

Hi there!
I'm enjoying your trip report. I heartedly agree with you about the Borghese - I love it, too!

Sally, thanks for the follow-up info.

Amalfi Coast:

We left Rome and headed to Naples via train to meet up with our driver Francesco Marrapese who would take us to Amalfi via the Naples Airport where we were meeting my BIL and SIL. http://www.francescomarrapese.com/

We hired Francesco as our driver for four transfers. He was absolutely professional in every way. He was friendly, personable, and on time, drove well, and had an impeckably clean van. For a couple of the transfers, he ended up needing to have colleagues drive us and they were just as great as him. Thank you to everyone who posted positive reports on him!

Our hotel in Amalfi was the Residenza del Duca. It is a small B&B with five rooms and is family run. The website is: http://www.residencedelduca.it. It is located in the old square and so not on the water, but we could see a sliver of the water from the two rooms that we had. Perhaps the only downside to the hotel is that it is on the fourth floor and so it is about 70 steps to the front door. This didn't bother us, but it could bother some.

My inlaws had the room with a large terrace that was particularly nice. It was next to the breakfast terrace and had a table with two chairs and two teak lounge chairs. We paid 140 and 150 euro for each of the rooms, which we thought was a very fair price. The rooms were nicely decorated and the a/c worked well although we really didn't need it.

The owners were very helpful. Our inlaws had some luggage issues (most of it NEVER arrived and still hasn't) and the B&B really helped them out a lot with communications, etc. When we left after four days it almost felt like we were leaving family as we hugged and kissed our hosts. That's a first for DH and I ;).

highlights of our stay in Amalfi to be continued...

Further hilights from your trip?

Amalfi Cont.

Okay, so basically I ran out of steam on writing my report. I will also undoubtedly be brief. If you have questions, please let me know.

Perhaps the highlight of our trip on Amalfi Coast was the boat ride with Salvatore & Gennaro mentioned on this site tons of times. We had Salvatore as our caption and there were only three couples on the boat. It was a truly splendid day which included a stop for an incredible lunch. I think the price was about 75 Euro per person. This was totally worth it, especially considering the incredible lunch we had - which easy would have cost 40 per person in a restaurant, if not more.

The other highlight for us was wandering around Amalfi itself. It is a really lovely little town and has quite a few establishments not just catering to tourists. And at night, just like in all towns, the day trippers leave and you get the chance to relax in the square and on the steps of the cathedral and watch people.

We found Positano to be really picturesque, but it was packed with people. Of course we were only there during the day (when all the other day trippers were there) so I would think that we may have missed out on the most charming time of day.

All in all, I have to admit that I didn't find the Amalfi Coast to be my favorite part of Italy. This surprised me because I really thought it was a sure thing and I thought it would be ten times better than the CT. We really enjoyed our time there, but it seemed like the scent of diesel was overwhelming and the crush of tourism too strong. Basically I felt for most of the time like I was in the crush of St. Mark's Square at noon but the difference being that in Venice, you can escape it. It seemed harder in Amalfi, but perhaps it was just us.

Another item I found interesting was that we went to the Cinque Terre on this trip because we want to have children soon and I thought the CT would be a place where we probably would struggle with a baby. Meanwhile I didn't think the Amalfi Coast would be too tough with a baby. Luckily we took this trip now, because I think I may have had it backwards. I would totally bring a baby to the CT, mainly because of the ease of public transportation between the towns and the cute little seaside areas. I probably wouldn't bring a baby to Amalfi because traveling with a very small child there I think would be more of a challenge - I suppose I think this because it seemed like there were more boats, buses, and steps in the Amalfi Coast. Of course, we don't have a baby yet, so maybe I am wrong, but that is my thinking.

After four beautiful days in Amalfi, our driver picked us up and took us to Caserta where we visited relatives.

Then we were off to what turned out to be fantastic - Naples!

to be continued....

Sally, this is a very informative report. Please do tell about Naples when you catch your breath!

Hi Sally - enjoying your report! We just got back from a week in Croatia ( I am working on a trip report too, slow going, LOL, when I get caught up in these interesting posts!)and Italy. We just saw a tiny bit of Naples when we went to the museum. Looking forward to hearing your impressions of that town.

BTW - I am mighty impressed with the early 30s and 8th trip to Europe comment - wow!

Naples:

How do I describe this city? I would say it is alive! We wanted to go there so badly because everything we read told us that it would be fascinating. At the same time, we were rather nervous because the guidebooks basically tell you to be highly cautious. And the reviews on this board were all over the place.

So we decided on a couple of things.

First we only stayed three days - mainly because it would give us a taste, but then if we didn't love it, we wouldn't have to stay for a long stay.

Second we picked a hotel in the historic area but that seemed really safe. We chose the Constantiopoli 104. http://www.costantinopoli104.com/ It turned out to be in a perfect location and we would definitely stay there again. (Looks just like on the website adn feels very safe.) Although DH and I didn't use the pool, my SIL and BIL did and they really enjoyed. I highly recommend this one.

Third, we hired a guide - as a just in case measure. We hired Pina Esposito - who is listed in Rick Steves Italy 2006 guide. Her contact info is [email protected]. We hired her for two tours: (a) a walking tour of the main historic area including several churhes and the Spaccanapoli and (b) a day long tour of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the archaeological museum.

more to come....

Glad you seem to have enjoyed Naples, Sally. We spent a week there in June, loved it & would go back. In fact we found so much to see there, we *still* haven't been to Pompei or Herculaneum ! We didn't hire a guide, just used a guidebook, mainly walking, a few buses, no taxis. We never felt unsafe.