help with the amalfi coast
 

can anyone tell us his favorite hotels, spas and swimming beaches on the amalfi coast, capri and ischia? we are going in mid july for 10-14 days.
thanks,
skla55

ttt

I can start with Sorrento. We will be visiting the Amalfi Coast this July, and have chose Sorrento for this trip as our home base.

We stayed in Sorrento for four days in 2000 and loved the location and the people who live and work there. There is excellent public transportation and a host of professional drivers, if you need one.

I haven't stayed at the La Minerva hotel yet (again, July, 2006), but if you do a search for the hotel on this board, you will find a lot of positive reviews. Also go to www.tripadvisor.com, and you will also read glowing reviews.

I neglected to write that the La Minerva hotel is located in Capri.

Ignoring that "his"...

What is your budget for hotels ? Depending on that I may be able to recommend hotels in Capri, Amalfi, Positano and Ravello (even though I don't think it's worth staying in Ravello).

Still resarching Ischia myself for our trip in June !

In case you are not aware, Capri & the Amalfi coast, by nature of their terrain, don't have big sandy beaches - just smallish stony beaches at the foot of cliffs. Also, in the main towns like Positano & Amalfi, there are big boats & hydrofoils coming in & out so I never fancy the water there much. But there are smaller coves which are nicer to swim from. Some hotels also have a manmade sunbathing/swimming platform to which you may descend by lift.

We liked very much Hotel Luna Convento right in Amalfi. It has a pool an a private access to the sea which is rocky here and therefore good for swimming and snorkeling. If you prefer a sandy beach you can just walk 200 yards to Amalfi's main beach.
It is a lovely four-star-hotel in an medieval convent. Website: www.lunahotel.it

We've been all over the Amalfi Coast and found Sorrento to be the best base for us. The town is larger than many and as such, there's plenty to do at night after you're done day tripping. Plenty of shops and restaurants. We stayed at the Bellevue Serene with a room overlooking the Bay of Naples. It was wonderful to wake up each morning and open the balcony doors to the beautiful view over the bay and the coastline.

The Luna Convento gets very mixed reviews on Tripadvisor.

We stayed at Antiche Mura in Sorrento for 4 nights last year and absolutely loved it. It's right off of the main piazza (not on the harbor side). Convenient parking garage. Very nice rooms (we paid in the mid-200's per night in October, which was a steal for how nice it was).

I have visited this area several times and just love it! As others have said there are not really any sandy beaches that I am aware of - we looked for hotels with swimming pools. In Sorrento we stayed at Grand Hotel Riviera - it is on the cliff a few minutes walk from the center of Sorrento - great views from the $$ rooms and public areas. Sorrento makes a great base for sightseeing to Pompei and also down the coast and over to Capri. But since you have a fair amount of time you might want to stay in several places. We have stayed on Capri at Hotel Mamela which also has a nice pool. There are also several bathing clubs on Capri where you can pay to go, get a beach chair and then go swimming in the sea. Both the hotels I mention are about 220E per nite (but these are for the rooms without a view!) Have a great trip!

We spent two nights in Positano (La Tartana) and two nights on Capri (La Minerva) last September. We loved them both (see our trip report: fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?screen_name=knoxvillecouple&f id=2)

As others have noted, beaches are not comparable to those in the US (other than Ischia, about which I've read on some posts here are or can be good). But the vistas, the towns, the people, the food, the lemoncello, and the grappa are all well worth experiencing.

KC