Hi-
My husband and I are taking our honeymoon to Italy in just a few weeks and need a little help.
Our itinerary is:
Day 1- arrive in Pisa, get rental car, drive to Siena
Day 1-4 stay in or outside of Siena and explore Tuscany.
We want to stay somewhere where there are options to eat dinner where we can walk or taxi back to our hotel, since we will likely be drinking wine! Any suggestions, in or near Siena? Any restaurant suggestions in Siena or other nearby places? Right now we have Hotel Catarina booked, which I've read is nice but they only have front rooms available. Is that ok or should we look for another hotel?
Day 4- drive to Spello, night there. We are thinking of staying at Hotel Palazzo Bocci there.
Day 5-drive slowly to Rome, enjoying sights along the way, any town we should stop in?
Night 5-Day 8--Rome, drop off car when we get there. We still don't have hotel in Rome, have never been there and don't know what area to stay in or any good hotels?
Day 8-travel by train/bus to Positano. Any advice on getting there? We have booked Villa Rosa in Positano there-opinions?
Day 8-Day 13 Stay in Positano, day trips around Amalfi coast, Capri, Ravello, Pompeii...any others? Any restaurant musts in that area?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated...we leave in less than 3 weeks!! Our price range for hotels is up to $200 (USD).
We are so excited to see beautiful sights, eat great food, and drink great wine!
THANK YOU!!

For Ravello I suggest Da Salvatore if you head up there for lunch.

If you stay inside any small town in Tuscany, including Siena, you will have no trouble finding a restaurant where you can walk back to your hotel without driving.

In the vicinity of Spello, there are many wonderful small towns with fascinating art and historic architecture. You could easily spend all your time in Umbria visiting Assisi, Bevagna, Montefalco and Spoleto and Orvieto before driving directly to Rome. In fact, you could make Orvieto your last stop and take a train from there to Rome, avoiding the hassle of dropping of your car in Rome. In April, you should not have to book ahead for these towns.

If you can get a room at Albergo del Senato in Rome, it has a fantastic location and excellent service. Your budget for hotel rooms is low for Rome and high for elsewhere, so I would try to economize in Umbria and spend more in Rome.

hope that helps. Others will have different opinions!

Hi JH,

>travel by train/bus to Positano. Any advice on getting there?

Train from Rome TE to Naples Centrale.

A. Limo to Positano (about 100E)

B. Circumvesuviana commuter train from downstairs of the Naples station to Sorrento.

SITA bus (stop is across the street from the station) to Positano. The SITA bus stops at the top of town and you can walk down to your hotel.

The Orange bus takes you to the foot of town.

Happy honeymoon.

Hi Js,

Your plan sounds wonderful! We have to assume you will return to Italy and spend more time in Rome.

Spello is lovely and tiny. The Palazzo Bocci is very, very nice, but I do think you will need reservations even if it is April. Since this is a 1 night stop and you don't want to spend a lot of time looking for lodging, I would try for a reservation. You may be too late.

Were you planning on seeing Assisi, which is very close to Spello? If so, there are zillions of lodging options there if needed.

Congrats and buon viaggio!

Just got back from Italy yesterday. We stayed two nights at Villa Rosa in Positano (beautiful place, loved it). They arranged to have a driver pick us up at the train station in Naples for a cost of 107 euro. The driver, Leo, was wonderful. I highly recommend contacting Villa Rosa to hire Leo. We also hired him for a day to explore the other towns on the coast and Paestum (30 euro an hour). Enjoy your honeymoon.

Can't help with the Tuscany portion of your trip . . . leaving for Tuscany on Friday!

Re: Rome to Positano. This was my honeymoon in May 2004. We took the train from Rome to Naples and then took the hydrofoil from Naples to Capri. You could do this same thing going from Naples to Sorrento then the SITA bus from Sorrento to Positano. Wonderful, hair-raising ride. Beautiful scenery.

We too stayed at the Villa Rosa in Positano and it was my favorite place to stay during all of our honeymoon. Fabulous views. We found ourselves going to La Zagara (you'll find this place easily as you head down the stairs from Villa Rosa as if you were heading to the Duomo or the beach) and another restaurant/bar on the beach --Bucca.. . . have to confirm the name. Be sure to look for the smooth tile fragments on the beach in Positano!

We also really loved Ravello. Breathtaking views.

I won't recommend our accommodations for Rome. But if I had to do over, I would have stayed near the Spanish Steps or the Piazza Navona.

Have a wonderful honeymoon! I'll go back to my travel journal to find the names of some of the other restaurants we enjoyed.

If you go to Capri, please don't forget to go to Anacapri and take the "chairlift" up Mount Solara (I'm sure I'm butchering spellings) -- so amazing!!

Congrats!

-Kellie