I have posted previously but now have a few plans in place but still struggling with some if it.

Traveling with husband, sister brother in law. We secured our flights ( flying in from different areas Arrival in Rome within an hour of each other arriving noonish.

We are starting in Rome because sister/ binlaw have never been. We are active 70 ish. Love local culture. Food, history walking.

May 13 arrival in Rome
Planning on air bnb 3 nights / booking a tour the second day

May 15 - taking early fast train to Naples then hop on Ferry to Ischia. Booked great air bnb with beautiful terrace. We are looking forward to a few days in Ischia.

May 18. Take ferry back to Naples

Heres where I keep getting stuck . Found another beautiful airbnb with a garden and another huge terrace.. Its technically in Benincasa.
The problem is there is no place walkable. Although private driver or taxi could be done. But would feel better if there was restaurants walkable, I know we will be out most of day but thought the sunsets and sunrises would be beautiful from this place. I realize we may have to sacrifice beautiful views for travel convenience.

The areas we are interested in are Ravello, Miniori, Maiori, to mention a few.

So am questioning if it might make more sense to stay in Atrani, Miniori or Maori.

Our flights return are May 23. So our plan after Ischia was to find a stay from May 18-22. Then after checkout in May 22 , train back to Rome with overnight near airport.

Again thank you all for so much great input and advise.

IMO, yes, Or Amalfi.

I would be tempted for you all to meet at a cafe near Roma Termini and travel to Ischia on arrival, clustering your time in Rome to the end. Even if you don’t do this, unless your flight is super early I would enjoy a final night in Rome instead of at the airport.

Amalfi is a central point for buses south and north. I would pick a town with ferry access so you can choose how to travel. Land and sea journeys yield very different views but both beautiful.

I think there is a bus service from Naples port to Amalfi coast. Check it out if interested.

Benincasa is up above Vietri sul Mare, so you’d have to pay for a driver every time you wanted to go somewhere, or take a bus (something great for someone in their 20s, but I’m closer to your age than my 20s, so I’d nix it).

You can't arrive in Rome on the13th, stay 3 nights, and leave on the 15th! This means that something in your itinerary is "off."
I agree that it's better to group all your Rome dates at the end, which elimimates a hotel change. On the other hand, it's a long day to continue on to Ischia, even if you flew into Naples.

Good catch!

I would recommend staying in Amalfi. It was one of my favorite village we visited. We flew into Naples and took the
Curreri Viaggi bus http://www.curreriviaggi.it/ bus to Sorrento where we stayed for a few days. Then took a ferry to Capri and later another ferry to Positano then bus to Almafi. It was a Sita bus that we took to go to Amalfi. You can catch a bus from Almafi to Ravello for a day trip. There are quite a few buses along the port.

We stayed 5 nights in Atrani, said to be the smallest commune in Italy. Calm and quiet, unlike the more popular towns, it is less than 10 minutes walk from the main transport hub of Amalfi. Surprisingly for such a small town Atrani has several good restaurants and we ate exceedingly well.

We took the bus to Ravello one day, spent another in Positano. Ferry to Minori and walked the Path of Lemons, even spent half a day on the beach in Amalfi. Since it was end April the water was freezing, but it made for a relaxing morning before we headed out to Naples the next day. All in all a quiet low key four days.

Why not going to Capri? We did Naples-Ischia-Capri-Amalfi and it was the ultimate Italian experience ; ) Mostly because the connections with the ferries where very helpful, and we avoided the super busy coastal roads of the summer. Unless you prefer choosing based on the apartments you find rather than the place you'll be, which is also fair. In any case, I think it might help you taking a look for yourself here to find other alternatives with the boat, if not maybe try to decide whether you'll rent a car or take buses etc.