Help with Itinerary: 2 weeks Rome/Amalfi/Sardinia
 

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip next June to southern Italy and hoping for some feedback on our basic itinerary. We are a family of 4 with 2 teens who enjoy exploring cities but also nature/hiking/mountains/beaches, so we are hoping for a good mix of both. We have about 2 weeks and only plan on renting a car on the last leg of the trip.

3-4 Nights Rome- See the highlights and maybe take a food tour

3 Nights Amalfi Coast-Base in either Sorrento or Positano AirbnB-See Pompeii (either on the way or as a day trip) ferry to an island (Capri or Procida) and maybe a day exploring a town or two by ferry or boat tour.

7-8 nights Sardinia- After a busy first week relax and explore beaches. We are looking at focusing on the North/East side and will rent a car. While staying in 1 spot might be nice, we will likely split between two so we can explore two ares with too much driving. We are thinking:
-- 3-4 nights Cala Gonone- Definitely want to explore the Golfo Del Orsei -this looks like a good base? Lots of affordable AirbnBs. While were we want to rent a boat or take a boat tour to explore the many beaches only accessible by boat or hike. Maybe a day to kayak and spend time at a beach and /or hike. I can't get a feel for if this is a lively or sleepy town?
--3/4 nights Maddalena Island. This looks like a charming town with a lively piazza/ marina area? I like the idea of staying in a lively city center where we can walk to restaurants and shops but also have easy access to beaches. Also found many reasonable apartments here. Here we would spend our time driving around exploring beaches, maybe hiking to a beach and taking another boat tour to the islands. I realize being a ferry away from everything might make exploring difficult, but given this would be the end of our trip, relaxing on the island and staying in one area sounds pretty nice :)

Any thoughts? We also surprisingly found affordable apartments in Puerto Cuervo and could take a day trip to Maddalena, but I think the surrounding restaurants and such would be out of our budget, and it looks a little less authentic?

Also...given we are planning a lot of coastal/beach time, I'm a little concerned about water temps in early/mid June?

Open to any suggestions or feedback :)

I don't think you've given yourselves enough time for the Amalfi Coast portion of the trip. Three nights is two full days. You can visit Pompeii on the way from Rome, but if Pompeii is of particular interest, you should also visit the archeology museum in Naples which is where the excavated artifacts are displayed. The excavation site is fascinating in itself, but the artifacts tell more of the human part of the story. If you took day trips by ferry to Capri and to Procida (easiest from Naples and not realistic from Positano), there would be no time left to explore anything else in the area.

If your family hasn't been to Rome before, 3-4 nights is a short visit depending on what you consider the "highlights." Will there by jetlag?

Your plan to focus on only part of Sardinia is good, but distances can be deceiving. Even a day trip from Porto Cervo to La Maddalena could be 2 hours each way. Much of Sardinia lives off tourism, so I wouldn't get hung up on what is more/less "authentic." FWIW, I could easily spend an entire week exploring the Maddalena islands, but I admit I'm a "slow" traveler and (generally) dislike switching hotels every few days.

You'll have to spend most of the last day traveling from Sardinia to the FCO area. Check the logistics for this. It might make sense to fly into Naples at the beginning and spend your time in Rome at the end.

Thank you for the feedback Jean. My husband and I have been to both Rome and Amalfi but it will be the kids first time, and Sardinia will be a first for all of us. I have been going back and forth about how much time to spend in each area. I decided on 3 days in the Amalfi coast because while I remember it being very beautiful, I also remember it being very crowded and expensive. We would do either Capri or Procida, but not both. We loved Capri the first time, but it was very crowded, so Proicda looks like another maybe low-key option that would be new to us. So that would be a day to see Pompeii, a day trip to pne of the islands and a day to explore the coast, maybe by boat. But we could certainly add a day on the Amalfi coast. If we spend some nights in the Maddalena islands, we are probably fine just staying in the islands after a week of busy sight seeing, but we do want to see the Golfo del Orsei, hence the split stay in Sardinia.

The AC is still crowded in high season. Ditto Capri and Sardinia. I haven't been to Procida in more than 10 years, but it was more low-key then, although it's probably much more popular now. (Every time we re-visit any place in Europe, it's more crowded than it was before.) I think most people go to Procida primarily for the beaches. Otherwise, I don't recall a lot of things to do/see for a day-tripper. If you're staying in Positano, I'd skip Procida just because of the time needed to get there and back.