Next August We plan to spend about a week on the Amalfi Coast before traveling to Tuscany. We're thinking about flying into Naples taking a cab to the harbor and a hydrofoil to Capri for two or three days. Then we would take the ferry to?? And stay in Ravello for 2 or 3 days. After our stay on the Amalfi Coast we need to get to our villa in Tuscany?? How? Will need a rental car in Tuscany where should we obtain it? I would rather avoid driving along the Amalfi coast.
Would love suggestions on logistics. How to divide our time,and great things to do.
Thinking about doing Herculeum and or Paestum. (I saw Pompei years ago.) Would love to spend some time on a boat seeing the area by water. Also would love to do some light hiking.

From Capri, you can take the ferry to Positano, which is a centrally located spot on the AC. Or go to Sorrento, but that will put you a little above the actual AC. There's nothing wrong with Sorrento, but it's just not centrally located for the AC.

On the beach at Positano, you can rent a boat with a guide to show you around the area and take you to some of the hidden grottos. Suggest you look into renting a house in Positano. You'll get lots of "hiking" opportunities there, as it's totally up and down. From there, you can get buses to places like Ravello and Amalfi.

As for car rental: When you leave the AC for Tuscany, suggest you hire a driver to take you from Positano to Sorrento, and rent a car there. The drive north out of Sorrento isn't difficult (it's north of the twisting roads of the AC), and it's not a long drive to the Autostrada north.

It sounds like you already have an itinerary, and nothing really wrong with it. If you want to stay in Ravello you would obviously have to take the ferry from Capri to Amalfi and then a bus to Ravello. In fact, staying in Ravello you'll need to take a bus to Amalfi before going to any of the other places. Which is why most people choose Amalfi (or Positano) over Ravello as a place to stay. Ravello have unbeatable views and of course you can do lots of hikes from there. We hiked down from Ravello to Amalfi - took not much more than an hour and had gorgeous views - but my legs were like jelly when I got to Amalfi. There are many other hikes you can do above Amalfi and Positano. Ferries run up and down the coast from Sorrento to Positano to Amalfi and from Amalfi to Salerno (where you would then take a train to Paestum). Amalfi is the central point where you change buses and boats depending on the direction you are going in.

You realize it will be very crowded in all those places in August. We were there in July (and going again this coming July) and were really not bothered by crowds except in Capri. I can't imagine what that's like in August. I'm still glad we went but also glad we just did a day trip and spent most of our time in Anacapri, hiking down to the harbor, etc and very little time in Capri town which was mobbed.

We base in Sorrento but most on this forum seem to prefer Positano. You certainly can base in Ravello, it's just logistically more difficult to get to other places.

Thanks so much for your suggestions. Vincenzo I like the idea of renting the car in Sorrento. And we are planning to stay in Anacapri instead of Capri.
I've never traveled to Italy in August or September before always in October. Would it Make a difference to go to Tuscany first (which would be the last week in August ) and then go to the Amalfi coast the first week of September?

I think you are best off going to the AC after Tuscany, to avoid the worst of the holiday crowds on the coast.

You may be better off traveling to Salerno to rent the car; it is closer to the highway than Sorrento, I believe. You can reach Salerno from Ravello with a taxi, or by bus to Amalfi and then either bus or ferry to Salerno.

Anacapri vs Capri town:


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-opinions.cfm


Hikes and walks, with maps:

http://www.giovis.com/Egiovis.htm


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-naples.cfm

Hi Pawleys - I don't know where your villa is located in Tuscany but this is what we did.
From Positano (loved it) we took the ferry back to Naples. From Naples we took a train to Chiusi where we picked up our rental. We were staying in Montepulciano.

I stayed in Ravello and loved it. Worth every minute it took to wait for the bus and every elbow I felt when trying to get onto said bus!

From Capri, take the ferry to Amalfi and then the bus to Ravello.

Paestum is superb. Consider spending a bit of time in vastly underrated (IMO) Salerno on the way there or back.

We rented a villa in Tuscany in the town of Panzano. After our stay, we drove to Florence and took the train to Naples. We were picked up and driven to Ravello. We loved Ravello! It's true it's not in the thick of things, but for us, this was a good thing. We went in August as well and it was teaming with people in Positano, Amalfi, Sorrento, and Capri and hot, hot, hot! We spent time in each town for lunch, shopping, or just walking around. We loved coming back to Ravello and hanging out in the quaint, magical square eating and people watching with other tourists and the locals. Whatever you decide, enjoy!

If you do go to Pompeii, be prepared for a very hot day. Make sure you have hats, sunscreen, water and although it may look a bit geeky, take a little fold up umbrella for extra shade protection. We were there in June. And it was as hot as Hades then.

Your trip sounds lovely.

Thank you for so much wonderful advice. I'm going to explore the option of going a week or two later with my Fellow travelers. Here on the coast there are not as many visitors in late August because of school starting, is that not the case in Italy?

In any case, the weather would probably be more pleasant a couple of weeks later. I've had difficulty finding a villa with air conditioning.

Lolazahra, I love the Panzano area. Do you recommend your villa there? Did you find air conditioning necessary in August?

Micheline, I'll explore the train to Chiusi option. We've not chosen Our villa yet. I'm also considering a train to Orvieto.

Kja, I'm really looking forward to Ravello. And thanks for your recommendation for Paestum. What did you like about Salerno? I'm guessing the Ravello-Salerno-Paestum trip would've a pretty full day, right?
Since it will probably be five of us, we may hire a driver.

Ekscrunchy, thanks for your suggestions. I've followed many of your posts over the years.

Salerno has a lovely lungomare, a cathedral with some very special treasures, a Diocesan museum with an extraordinary set of carved ivories, and an interesting medieval core. I didn't actually visit it from Ravello - I moved on to Salerno and visited Paestum from there. I would guess that visiting Salerno and Paestum as a day trip from Ravello would make for a bit of a long day, at least in part because of the very long siesta observed by major sites in Salerno.

I vote for Positano. We took the train from Rome to Naples, then hired a limo driver to take us from Naples to Positano because of the road. With Positano as our home base, we took day trips via ferry to Capri and Amalfi. We took a bus to Ravello and a tour to Pompeii. It was more than a five years ago, but we loved Positano! We stayed at Hotel Villa Rosa with a spectacular room view. It's also across the road from a magical restaurant at Le Sirenuse.