Hello, going to Italy in mid-September 2020. We are traveling from Washington DC. Currently, we are thinking of flying into Rome and staying two days before taking a train to Naples (or Sorrento) and taking a car to Positano. Is there enough to see in Naples that we need to spend two nights there, or is it a day trip from Positano? It looks like we can also take a train to Sorrento from Rome, and then a car to Positano. In short, how many days does one need in Naples? We plan on returning to Rome, for maybe an additional two days, via train before we fly home. Thanks!

The amount of time you'd need in Naples depends entirely on what you'd want to see/do there, whether you'd like to see Pompeii and/or Herculaneum while you're there, etc. Two nights is one full day which not be enough for me, esp. if Pompeii/Herculaneum was on the sightseeing list. But this is your trip, not mine, so you need to do a little research on Naples and decide for yourself.

You can take trains (not one train) from Rome to Sorrento. The second train (Naples to Sorrento) is a commuter-type light rail train. From Sorrento, you have multiple options for reaching Positano. Bus, ferry, taxi or private driver. You could also hire a driver to take you from your Naples hotel to your Positano hotel. Then you need to work out how you're going to get back to either Sorrento or Naples.

If it was my trip, I wouldn't stay in Rome twice. After landing at FCO, I would continue onward (about 2 hours) to Naples.

Thank you, Jean. Yes, definitely want to see Pompeii and Herculaneum, Vesuvius was a maybe...but we'll see. I didn't think about going onward to Naples once arriving in Rome. Many thanks for helping me think!

Ditto what Jean said!

Also -- consider flying into Naples and out of Rome (or vice versa). Once you consider the cost of backtracking (in time and money), it's often more efficient to fly "open jaw" (identified on most flight search engines as "multi-city").

And if you don't already have one, a good guidebook (Fodor's, the Rough Guide, the Michelin Green Guide) should prove extremely useful.

Both Jean and kja give good advice. Flying into Naples is good, but if for some reason you need to fly round trip to Rome, continue on to Naples and put all of your Rome days at the end to eliminate a hotel change. You don't say how many nights total you have, but Naples is definitely worth more than a day trip or even two nights. If you do a little reading, you'll see that there is a lot to see there. I spent five nights there and could have spent more, although I admit that I move around more slowly than most.

I did that last September: flew into Naples where I joined a small tour group for 10 days on Amalfi coast. Then I took the train to Rome, spent 4 nights and flew home from there. Our group hire drivers and there were a lot of tight squeezes and speeding scooter drivers which made me decide I would never try to drive in that area. We were staying in the mountains so there were also a lot of hair pin turns. I am not a well experienced European traveler. Our group got a long lecture from a local about safety when we visited Naples and the tour leader's husband kept an eye out (one lady was being careless). OTOH I spoke with a couple on my flight who were returning to spend their entire vacation in Naples because they had enjoyed a brief visit. On our day trip to Naples we had a wonderful lunch at a seaside restaurant, visited some churches and I did not have a problem during our free time shopping on one narrow street. In Rome except for one cab ride to make sure I got to an appointment on time, I was very happy to use the bus.