I'm traveling to Naples and the Amalfi Coast in early December for 8 nights for the first time. I'm overwhelmed with the options as far as towns to visit and places to stay. My boyfriend and I are in our 20s, looking for a decent cheap place to stay for maybe 4 nights in Naples, under $100USD. I've done exhaustive internet research and come up with a few possibilities: the Gardenrose, the Soggiorno Sansevero, Grand Hotel Europa, Pinto Storey, Cesare Augusto, and the Villa Medici. I'm just not sure about location for these. <BR>Also, which cities/islands warrant an overnight stay? Capri and Ischia seem gorgeous, but in December? <BR>Thanks so much for any info you can provide, this is my first trip to Europe and I'm desperate for human information. <BR>Meg <BR>Brooklyn, NY

why naples? of all the places in italy, naples would be last on my list so unless you have specific/personal reasons for naples, chug it and go to sorrento. capri is pretty but full of touristy shops. sorrento/amalfi coast line is awesome (we camped just outside sorrento and that was fun, so can't help you with hotels, but there's posts from others on the board recommending area hotels). you should check out pompeii, if you're into that archeological sort of thing.

You could try Fontane al Mare or the Bed and Breakfast Parteno in Naples, right near the water. The latter has a website. I hope you are aware that many of the hotels on the Amalfi Coast and the Islands close for the season in November.

Thanks for all the advice, I'm also wondering if it's worth staying in Naples as opposed to Sorrento. We'll be seeing a lot in Naples, including going to the Opera, so I thought it would be convenient. But Sorrento sounds great. I'm a New Yorker, so dirty, loud, potentially dangerous cities are fine with me. <BR>Meg

Meg, please don't let the naysayers change your mind. Naples is a wonderful, vibrant city. Yes, it can be dirty, crowded, and noisy. But the sheer zest for living you will experience overcomes all of that. <BR> <BR>Personally, I wouldn't stay on Capri or Ischia in December. The smell of flowers and the beautiful warm breezes wafting from the Mediterranean are part of the experience, and tha will be missing. Besides, it's too cold to sit in the piazza over a lemoncello. Not that the islands aren't worth a visit, because they are, but most of the experience would not be there--and that's what you are paying for when you pay extra to stay in the hotels. <BR> <BR>Naples can be a wonderful experience. I hope you have a great time. I can't help you with hotels, as I lived there and didn't have to worry about hotel rooms, but if you want more information, please feel free to e-mail me. I'll try to help.

http://www.ondaverde.it/napolii.htm <BR> <BR>Meg this is quite a good site for Naples and the area. <BR> <BR>You will be there for the feast of Santa Lucia and the build up to Christmas - look up as much as you can about the Neapolitan Crib before you go, they are sooooooooooo beautiful. <BR> <BR>I have written a short article on Sorrento in the October issue of my ezine - you may like to read it.

Meg--I'm a New Yorker too and absolutely fell in love with Naples. It's a fabulous vibrant town with a kind of NYC energy and incredibly delicious food. It also has an easy-to-learn bus system which everyone uses. You'll have to decide whether you want to stay in Spaccanapoli or by the water. I'm a lot older than you and loved staying by the bay in a 4* villa-hotel. If you read any tourist guides, you'll see that all the 5* hotels are along the bay, because it's so beautiful down there. Spaccanapoli, which is where the Sansevero is, is much more quaint, colorful, dirty and funky--it's where the poor folk live . They're very different areas and either would be a good part of Naples to stay in. I would steer clear of hotels in the business district or Vomero. Hotels in the former are really commercial and lacking in charm, the latter is just too far away from the action. You will love San Carlo, it's a beautiful intimate opera house--I saw Figaro there (which is a very Neapolitan opera when you think about it). Sorrento's like Great Neck, except for its old town--don't stay there.

Meg--why don't you do Rome and Naples instead of the Amalfi Coast, which, as others have pointed out, will be really dead in December?

Meg, <BR>A good friend of mine visited Amalfi in late December last year and loved it. It was quiet, but he had the town to himself and most of the few <BR>tourists were Italians who were delighted to have an American tourist in town off-season. He said the weather was cold, but clear..no rain. <BR> <BR>M.