reteechur

My wife and I will be spending a few days on the Amalfi Coast before heading to Capri for 4 days. Should we be staying in Sorrento or should we head to smaller centres along the coast? We have heard about a small town called Cava di Terrini. We don't really need to be in big cities as we would rather explore the area and experience the culture. We will be there in mid May. Any suggestions would be appreciated as were the previous suggestions given by Fodors' readers.

yorkshire

If you want to do many day trips with ease (such as Pompeii), then Sorrento is convenient.
If you want to get away from it all, then there are many small towns from which to choose. I stayed somewhat close to Cava di Terrini, but along the coast in Cetara. Transportation was an issue, and this was in late May. However, I far preferred it to Amalfi, which was a bit too crowded for me.
Will you be using a rental car or public transportation? What have you identified that you wish to do so far?

ekc

Sorrento is near, but not on, the Amalfi Coast. None of the towns on the AC are big cities, but some of the villages are larger than others.

I prefer to stay in Positano, as it is the most picturesque of the villages IMO. It also has good ferry connections to other towns, such as Capri, Amalfi/Ravello and Salerno.

One of the issues with staying in a smaller town is that you are completely reliant on the local bus service to get around and even in May the buses can be jam-packed most of the time.

reteechur

We were planning on using public transit. Will be arriving from Rome by train. I read that there may be problems with connections. Our plan is to take a ferry from Capri to Naples after our short stay here. From there, we fly home. ekc, where did you stay in Positano? What about train connections from Rome to Positano? As you can see, we are quite flexible in where we spend our time.

ekc

I usually rent an apartment because I stay for a week at a time. Depending on your budget, you could look at Hotel Poseidon (near where I stay) or Bucca di Bacco (which is right on the beach). www.venere.com is great for searching for hotels based on location/price, etc. Just be sure to stay as close to the beach as you can afford.

If you are coming from Rome, you can take the direct train to SALERNO and then catch the ferry from Salerno to Positano - a fantastic way to see the AC!

nytraveler

There is not train along the Amalfi coast. The real train goes as far as Naple sin the north or Salerno in the south. There is a small local train from Naples to Sorrento. After that public transit is bus (very slow and often mobbed), ferry (limited schedules to certain places), and taxi or rental car.

We have been twice and stayed in Sorrento - a larger town (but not what I would consider a city - the towns along the coast are smallish towns or villages) which was ideal for touring to other places - by car or ferry.

WWK

We've stayed at Hotel Poseidon many times. It's halfway up the hill from town, and has stunning views from many of its rooms and restaurant terrace. We like it because it's AWAY from some of the craziness of town and beach in the summer months. But you do have to be in decent shape to deal with the climb back and forth to town/beach.

Other hotels to check in Positano: The Miramare and Marincanto, both of which are really nice.

Like ekc above, I much prefer Positano to Sorrento.

Lastly, a FYI: There's a fast train between Naples and Rome that takes a little over an hour. You can arrange or a private tranfer from Naples to Positano. Trip time is about 1.5 hours. Cost is about 120-130 E.

bvlenci

If you'll be in the area for only two days (or is that two nights?) you really won't have time to "experience the culture".

If you don't want to do any sightseeing, then maybe a small town would be your best option. I think you maybe meant Cava dei Tirreni, though, because the town you mention doesn't seem to exist. Cava dei Tirreni is not exactly a little town, though, because it has a population of over 50,000, which means there will be commercial neighborhoods and industrial areas, and probably multiple residential neighborhoods, some in the historic center and some modern. Your experience would be very variable, depending on the neighborhood you choose.

There are some small towns on the Amalfi coast that are not as well-known as towns like Amalfi and Positano. Vietri sul Mare is very near Cava dei Tirreni, right on the sea. Vietri sul Mare is a popular tourist destination, but it's a much smaller town than Cava dei Tirenni. An even smaller town, Cefara, is right next to Vietri, and is less well known on the tourist circuit. I haven't been to any of these towns, but if you want to be off the tourist track, and not do any sightseeing for the time you're there, these may be better choices.

However, I repeat, in two days, (one full day if you really mean two nights) you won't have much chance to experience the culture of a place. That's something you do by spending two weeks in a place with little or no sightseeing. If you hope to do some sightseeing before heading to Capri, maybe a town like Sorrento would be better, depending on what you want to see or do.