Help with October Travel Plans
 

My husband and I are planning our first (and long awaited )trip to Italy. We are planning to fly into Rome and find ourselves in Positano. Could use some suggestions for great hotels preferably on the water, I know Rome is not. We love great food, restaurants with great views, shopping and sightseeing in general. Thought we would spend 3 nights in Rome,<BR>2 nights in Naples and several nights in Positano vegging. Hotel prices are not an issue, want wonderful views and excellent service. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I never stay in Naples, but if you are looking for good views and great service in the other two cities, try the Hassler in Rome and Le Sirenuse just outside Positano. They have it all. Good luck.

Hi Diane,<BR><BR> There have been many posts on this subject. Do a text search &quot;Positano hotel&quot; to find them.<BR><BR> Are you sure you want to stay in Positano? It is verrrry vertical.<BR><BR> Zivina is advertising a property.

If you want a hotel right on the water in Positano, try Covo dei Saraceni (telephone: 089-875400; fax: 089875878).<BR>The views are magnificent, and its restaurant is highly recommended. The hotel does have a pool, but I'm not sure if it's warm enough to use in October. We went in November and it wasn't.

Hi Diane,<BR> Have you looked at the Fodor's miniguides for Naples?<BR> We will be staying at the Albergo Sansevero in Sept. 95E w/bkfst.<BR>www.albergosansevero.it/indexe.html

Zivina will just not give up. Fodors, where are you, can we all advertise our travel businesses, tour guides, hotels etc here as well?

For Rome hotels, if money is not an issue, my favourite hotel is the Hotel del Russie. It is near the Spanish Steps, about a 5 minute walk. Great hotel, great location. Their interior courtyard is rare in Rome and great for breakfast and lunch, also rooms facing the courtyard are very quiet � a real consideration with the street traffic in Rome. You can walk to everything (we even walked to St Peters). The staff is wonderful. Their website is hotelderussie.it. The Hassler, mentioned above, is in a great location at the top of the Spanish steps, but IMO is a bit old and has not had a redo in some years. The Eden is another grand old hotel, it gets mixed reviews on this site. I choose the Russsie over the Eden based on the Fodors reviews of both. The Fodor's reviews of the Russie were spot on.<BR><BR>For tours in Rome, Scale Reale runs excellent small walking tours with extremely well-educated guides. They are very popular on this site. Their website is scalareale.org.<BR>On the Amalfi coast, I hope you are going in the beginning of October, as things start to shut down in mid to the end of October as the temperatures drop, especially on Capri. My favourite hotel is the Santa Caterina. . Such a breathtaking location hugging the cliffs over the Med and full of bougainvillea and orange groves. I personally like being outside of the villages, and it is any easy walk downhill to Amalfi (the hotel also has a shuttle to the village). Their website is hotelsantacaterina.it, or go through Leading Hotels of the World website at lhw.com. It seems to be politically incorrect to say this on this site, but I would not stay in Positano. Besides being very vertical (steep) with no parking, I think Positano is beautiful to look at from the sea, but the views out across the water as not as interesting to me as they are from other places, like the Santa Caterina. The hotel is very private and quiet, which I am not sure is the case of any of the hotels in Positano. The Palazzo Sasso in Ravello would be a close second. I like to be near the water, which is not possible in Ravello, although the views are really stunning. Run a search on this site, as the Amalfi coast is extremely popular here -- which you will see for yourself when you get there, as 90% of the tourists are Americans. Can't really tell you about hotels in Capri, except that it might not be worth moving around between Positano/Amalfi for two nights.<BR>