I am in the very early stages of planning a trip to Italy.

Here is what we are thinking of doing:

Rome (3 nights)-train or fly-Florence( 2 nights)-train or fly- Venice (1 night)-- Amalfi (3 nights), via either Solerno, Sorrento, or Naples--Rome (1 night)

So here are my questions:

I would like to know whether it would be best to fly from:

Venice to Sorrento, Solerno, or Naples

We would like to rent a car then and drive along the Amalfi coast.

So, which of the above options would be best?

How far are each from Amalfi? Aprox. how long would it take from each?

What airline would you recommend?
Alphi Eagles, EuropeByAir, other

Should we buy tickets in Italy?

thanks, Karen

You could try to find a cheap flight from Rome to Naples and then rent a car from Naples airport. Driving from Venice to Naples would be a hassle.

my opinion, Stay 2 nights in Venice , One night is never a good idea. You will be too rushed.

Hi gk,

The train from Venice to Salerno is about 8 hrs. You might want to fly to Naples.

I would not suggest renting a car on the Amalfi coast. It is not easy to find parking and the Coast ride can be very congested. Take the bus and enjoy the scenery.

Amalfi is closer to Salerno. See www.multimap.com.

You will want to take the train from Rome to Florence and from Florence to Venice. Since you are only going to spend one night in Venice, you might wish to consider doing it as a day trip from Florence and saving the shlepping.
Also it is easier to get to the Amalfi Coast from Florence by train.

Definitely buy train tickets in Italy unless a railpass will be better. See www.railsaver.com.

If you don't mind an opinion on your itinerary, you'd have less backtracking if you bought an openjaw ticket and flew into Naples ( most likely from London) and out of Venice.

Naples is roughly an hour and ten minutes from Sorrento depending on traffic ( which in season can be horrendous!) and a little over two hours from Amalfi. Unless you are very comfortable driving hairpin turns with no guardrail, and don't mind spending considerable time looking for parking along the coastal towns, I would not recommend getting a car. It is easy enough to get between towns by bus and boat, and a lot less stressful!

If you need to stick to your original itinerary, I believe there's an Alpi Eagles flight from Venice to Naples.

Good luck with your planning!

Thanks everyone,

Are there any flights from Venice to Salerno or Sorrento? Can we get a car from there? Should we purchase our tickets from the US or wait until we get to Italy?

By the way, my husband really wants to rent a car. He's driven in Europe and is very comfortable driving those roads. He actually thinks it is fun! But thanks for the warning anyway
Although out of curiosity, if I talk him out of it how would we get from Naples to Amalfi and visit other places like Capri?

Thanks,
Karen

There's a train from Naples to Sorrento, then from there, you could take take a SITA bus to Amalfi. Or, you could hire a driver, which would run you probably about $200 for the trip from Naples to Amalfi.

There's hydrofoil and regular ferry service from Naples and Sorrento to Capri. The hydrofoil takes 45 minutes from Naples, and 20 minutes from Sorrento.


Good luck with your planning!

Karen - There are car rental agencies in Sorrento, Salerno ... and Naples airport.

From Venice you can only fly to Naples (Capodichino) as there are no direct flights to Salerno.

Steve

Thanks for all the great advice!!

Here is an itinerary we are now considering: Please give opinions and/or suggestions

Day 1-3: Fly into Venice (2 days)

Day 3-5: Train from Venice to Florence (3days)

Day 6-8: Train Florence to Rome (3 days)

Day9-12: Train to Naples where we can pick up a car and go to Amalfi coast.***

Day 13: Drop car off in Sorrento and take train to Naples (1 night)

Day 14: Fly home from Naples

***Wouldn't it be easiest to pick up the car in Naples and then drop it off in Sorrento or Solerno, then get a train back to Naples rather than doing the whole drive again???

Otherwise, another option maybe to fly home from Rome which would mean that we would have to take a train from Sorrento or Solerno to Rome. How long does it take from Sorrento to Rome by train? How can I find this out?

Because we will have a car are we only limited to go to either Capri or Ischia as day trips?

Thanks in again, I am sure I will have more questions...

Karen

If you're flying out of Naples, why wouldn't you drop the car there on the way back rather than in Sorrento?

If you're flying out of Rome, why don't you drive to Rome and drop the car there at the end of your stay?

About your daytrips: Don't quote me, but I think there's an overnight parking lot in or near the port in Sorrento. From there, you can take either the hydrofoil ( 20 min) or regular ferry to Capri.

To get back to Rome by train, you'd have to leave from Naples. It's about a two hour trip from Naples to Rome.

You can find all (or the great majority of) the trains in Europe on the Deutsche Bahn website. It is at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e I plan all my European trips with this wonderful website.

In May 2002 we spent 8 days on the Amalfi coast. We flew from Minneapolis to Naples, rented a car, drove to Sorrento and never used the car again till we drove back to Naples for our return trip. It was a mistake to rent the car @ over $500 by the time we took the extra insurance, etc. On the Amalfi coast it is not at all necessary as the SITA bus schedule is wonderful and easy. My husband usually enjoys driving in Europe and we have done so elsewhere in Italy and in Germany. HOWEVER, the Amalfi coast is a different story altogether. Sheer dropoffs with no guardrails, extremely narrow road (sometimes only one lane requiring one vehicle to back down to provide space), lots of SITA buses that provide another challenge for other drivers, gorgeous to view but horrendous to drive the hairpin turns. I think it's suicidal! Its very easy to use the transportation systems - lots of boats to Capri also. Regarding Naples, I would spend as little time there as possible - we got ripped off by a cab driver, it's polluted, really crowded, not tourist-friendly and in my opinion not a wonderful place to be. This should be a great vacation.

There are guard rails all along the Amalfi coast road. In places the rails are like an iron fence and in other places it is a stone wall, both are enough to keep a slow moving car with a careful driver on the road.

Hi gk,

If you must have a car on the AC, driving it back to Naples is faster than leaving it in Sorrento and taking the train to Naples. About a 2 hr drive.

Ooooops. About 1 - 1/2 hr drive if you don't hit traffic.

You could also hire a private driver from Naples to Sorrento for about 90E.