Comments on Italian itinerary please
 

Hi Italy experts,

I'd welcome your comments on the planned itinerary and hotel choices below, for September this year. If there seems like a disproportionate number of days in Positano, it is because we plan to spend at least a couple of days near the end of the holiday just relaxing and not travelling anywhere.
Thank you very much.

John.

Fly to Pisa, transfer to Florence
2 nights in Florence - Hotel Gallery Art,
Collect hire car
3 nights in Tuscany - Casolare Di Libbiano, San Gimignano
Drive to Naples and return car.
2 nights in Naples - Hotel Santa Lucia
(Staying in Naples, but planning to spend day in Capri - hotels there don't seem to take short bookings)
Transfer to Positano
6 nights in Positano - Il San Pietro
Transfer to Naples airport for flight home

I have only been through Naples on the train, but it did not appeal from what I could see from a train window. Looked like a big ugle town, of course Rome does too from a train window. Maybe your appeal is the access to Pompeii. Personally, I would spend some time in Rome vs. Naples.

I have heard glowing comments about San Pietro in Positano. I think you'll like all the time there. I stayed for a few days In Ravello, and really ejoyed it. Very much like the Villa Cimbrone.

We weren't particularly wanting to see Naples - we really wanted to go to Capri for a day or two, but found it hard to find a hotel that would let us book for just a couple of nights. The compromise we were thinking of was to stay in Naples since that seems to be an easy place to get a ferry to Capri from for a day trip.
However, you have set me wondering whether it might be just as easy to go straight to Positano and go to Capri from there instead - I think you can get a ferry from Sorrento, but I don't know about Positano.

Naples is one of those cities that I can't claim to know well - - but there is a contingency of people who have been there and say it is wonderful and maligned without good reason.

Best wishes,

Rex

John - Yes, you can ferry to Capri from Positano.

You will find timetables on this link when the service re-starts in the spring:

http://www.capri.net/salsa/lang/en/page/transport.html

Hope this helps ...

Steve

P.S. The same link also shows timetables from Sorrento and Naples.

Thank you galvin, Rex and Steve.

I might look at missing out Naples then and driving straight down from San Gimignano to Positano. I don't think it's that much further to drive and it means one less change of hotel.
Incidentally Rome is missed out because that's going to be a separate trip earlier in the year.
Thanks again,

John.

Hi John,

We greatly enjoyed 3 days in Naples.

See the Naples/AC portion of my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451044

((I))

The San Pietro is great but, with a vision of not travelling from there, six days is a long time. We've stayed there twice, three days at a shot, and found it plenty.

Your itinerary is very good.

My only thought would be to take one or two days away from Positano and add those days to Tuscany.

John,

I,too, had a hard time finding a hotel willing to book a 1 night stay. At least this far out for September. Finally, the Hotel Bellavista in Anacapri worked out.

Buon viaggio!

In case anybody looks at the responses to my question with a view to doing something similar, I thought it would be helpful to comment myself, now that I have completed the trip.

Overall we had a great time and I would say that all of the hotels turned out to be good choices that I would recommend in their respective locations. In terms of the itinerary, I would not bother to stay in Naples. We used the day to see Pompeii and Herculaneum, but we could have done the same from Sorrento just as well and Sorrento would have been a much nicer place to stay than Naples. Also, I found driving in Naples horrific and I'd happily avoid that too.
The relatively long stay in Positano was fine for us because we spent days out in Sorrento, Amalfi, Ravello and Capri and also left a couple of days to just relax at the hotel and in Positano.

I was just about to ask you why your itinerary included a stay in Naples. Yeah I wasn't feeling Naples.