Is Ravello a good base from which to explore the Amalfi coast or would I need to be in Amalfi for ease of public transport etc.

It's about the least practical, with just a wonky, overfilled bus connecting you to civilization. If the view is hazy, you've just about lost any reason at all to be there.

Sorrento is by far the most practical base, with boat, bus, train transpo. Boat availability is a huge plus which Positano, Amalfi, and Capri are blessed with.

Amalfi has a hidden advantage of not-too-hard access from the Salerno train station, so you can bypass certain Napoli messes in getting there. But Amalfi has a certain lack of sparkle that the rest have.

Positano has sparkle, but is impractical to walk. Not just the effort; it can give you huge armpit stains just walking around trying to find where you buy a bus ticket. Capri has sparkle, but you're limited by daytime boat schedules.

Sorrento has surprisingly good ambiance for such a practical town. If you avoid the trap of not staying in town center, it is a great compromise. Beware the many hotels that claim "5 min to town" but are in fact painfully remote.

Hi cross,

We liked our stay in Praiano, abt 6km east of Positano.

Mine is a dissenting voice. While I agree that Ravello is too far out of the way, I would prefer either Amalfi or Positano to Sorrento, which is so completely and totally tourist-oriented that it lacks all charm. Positano is completely tourist-oriented as well, but it is charming and lively; so is Amalfi, but it is charming and quiet.

Ravello is just a regular 20/25 minute €1 bus ride up the hillside from Amalfi,so it is hardly remote but if the object of your visit is to tour the area then Amalfi is the best location with easy access to Positano, Praiano,Ravello,Conca da Marini Sorrento,Salerno,Naples.Minori,Maiori,Erchie,Cetar a,Vietri sul Mare

Local buses from Amalfi to Ravello run every 30-60 minutes from 6:30 (7:00 on Sunday) to midnight. Return buses from Ravello run from 6:05 to 23:25. (Summer schedule)

Winter bus schedule has LAST bus at 21:30 from Amalfi and 20:35 from Ravello.

It's too steep to walk.

A bus schedule means little if you can't reliably get on it. I always avoid peak season, but still found the little ravello bus filling up before everyone can get on. When you do finally get on an hour or so later a seat may be beyond hope, with your face smushed up against someones armpit, or else bouncing off bus parts as it careens around curves... and then the bus stops to pick up grannies loaded with packages to somehow smoosh on only by a mass exhaling of breath!

Maybe I met with a holiday crowd period, because the Amalfi end was the opposite of "quiet". Seemed to be every square inch of town and beach was filled with a not very high class of daytrippers (from Salerno?). These experiences don't prove it is the norm (spare me the counterexamples), but they do prove it can happen.

By comparison, Sorrento can cope with the crowds, and if you stay put near the cliffside (the park and hotels) it is serene, majestic scenery, and convenient. Maybe I'm just seduced by its very frequent connections to Capri, where I'd rather be anyway. I don't get the appeal of steep Positano which only has one panoramic view, where Capri has endless panoramic views (except Anacapri which has NO view, being in a bowl). In peak ferry season, Capri is almost practical as a base, especially if you walk down the hill (not hard, saves connection delays) to catch the dawn ferry out.

Hi crossdoddy:

My husband and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Tuscany, Umbria, the Amalfi coast and Rome. I didn't want to come home!

We stayed on Capri for 1 night to get the feel of the island without the hordes of tour groups and it was wonderful.

We stayed in Positano 3 nights at the wonderful Hotel Poseidon. The views and the service were fabulous.

We also stayed 1 night in Sorrento for easier access the next day to the Naples train station.

We visited Ravello and truly enjoyed it. At some places you were higher than some clouds! Ravello is wonderful to visit but too difficult to use as a base. If you want to stay in Ravello for a couple of days it would be difficult with luggage but once settled in, you'd enjoy it.

Positano was spectacular. The view from the hotel terrace at night was memorable. From Positano we were able to take the boat to Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, etc. The hills were very doable and I'm 60 years old (young). Don't let that discourage you.

Also, we didn't have a car and were thrilled. We returned our car in Sorrento before going over to Capri-good decision.

Amalfi appeared nice but not as spectacular as Positano.

We stayed at the Imperial Hotel Tramontano in Sorrento and had such a beautiful view of the bay that we decided to pick up pizza, salad and a bottle of wine and enjoy the sunset on our terrace- great experience.

I hope this helps.

We visited the Amalfi Coast in June and found Sorrento to be a fantastic base. Easy train acccess to Pompeii/Ercolano and Naples, short ferry ride to Capri and bus or ferry options to Positano/Amalfi/Ravello. Didn't find it any more touristy than the other AC towns, especially if you do a bit of exploring. Ravello was a great place to visit or stay put, but couldn't imagine using it as a base for exploring.

I thought Sorrento was tacky. In June we enjoyed a day-trip with a chauffeur driving our family in a minivan along the amalfi coast, so we got to stop at Praiano, Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. Our hotel was in Sorrento.

Ravello is beautiful, tranquil, and remote...gorgeous views from the 2 villas. We were there on a clear sunny day, I should add.
Positano is very charming and lovely, a vertical town with shops on steep walkways and steps leading down to the sea. In good weather it's fun to walk, and this is an out-of-shape person speaking here...I'm in my 40's and the walk in Positano is pleasant.

Agree with Ira that Praiano is also a great choice. Praiano is more laid-back than the other choices...it's a fishing village with a good restaurant on the tiny beach with fresh, reasonably priced seafood. My teens loved our lunch in Praiano and said they would love to stay a couple nights there. (But our hotel was in sorrento.)

Amalfi is beautiful from a distance but when you stop in town it seems a little touristy. However, I would choose Amalfi over Sorrento for sure. But I would choose Positano or Praiano over Amalfi. I would choose Ravello if I was going in the sunny season and I was on a romantic trip with my husband. But we were on a family trip.

Buon viaggio!

I forget which town is Praiano but when considering a tiny town as a base, I'd want to know if it has the necessities of Italian life - a casual gelato stand and maybe a place to buy other snacks or doodads during your downtime there. Not acceptable to have to enter a sit-down-and-wait-wait-wait restaurant for that.

I think it does have some (not a lot) of boat service, but I would want to know if it is pedestrian-friendly. Many small stops of the main road have no footpath and force you to play chicken with heavy, fast traffic. You may be able to trust the local drivers not to run over your toes, but not certain nutcase tourists who self-drive under jetlag.

If you don't have a car, Ravella is a difficult base, because of the transport issue.

A big plus for Ravello in the summer is that it does not have as many tourists as the "lower" towns, and it feels at least 10 degrees cooler on a hot day. Which makes it WONDERFUL in the heat of summer...