abcdc

Hi Fodorites -

After relying heavily on the South Africa boards to plan our dream honeymoon this year (with stellar results!), I'm back again - largely because I can't face work without knowing we have our next adventure planned! We are looking at an April-May '08 (fairly flex on exact dates) 1st anniversary trip through Italy. I have been 5 or 6 times, although not in the last 10 years or so. DH has never been. After scouring the boards and tripadvisor (our budget is not what it was for our honeymoon, and the exchange rate is killing us, alas), here's what I'm working with:

Day 1-3: Venice (arr AM of Day 1 after a redeye)
Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo (or if we decide to splurge, Luna Hotel Baglioni)

Day 4: Depart Venice for Rome – 6:55 am Alitalia flight – arr Rome 8 am

Day 5 & 6: Rome
Either Belle Suites Rome or Hotel Majestic Roma if we splurge

(We will definitely only splurge on the hotel in Venice OR Rome, so any thoughts on the preferable locale?)

Day 7: Rome to AC – Train to Naples; driver picks us up and goes to Pompeii, then hotel

Here's the big question - Sorrento or Positano? I am between either the Grand Hotel Excelsior and Vittoria in Sorrento or Le Sireneuse in Positano. After being insanely spoiled by our S. African honeymoon hotels, I definitely want to end our trip on a luxurious note, but want to be very conveniently based as well.

Day 8 - 10: AC

* Visit Capri
* Visit towns not staying in ... Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi/Ravello, probably primarily via boat
* Visit Herculanum/Paestum

Sun May 11: Fly home from Naples


So have at it ... any and all thoughts are welcome and appreciated!

carla1183

I would suggest taking the train from Venice to Rome instead of the flight. To make the 6:55 flight you're going to have to take the 5:10 or 5:40 bus from the main part of Venice to the airport, so you'll be spending almost the 4 hours it would have taken on the train to deal with the flight.
The train would be cheaper and simpler.

abcdc

Wow, that was fast - thx Carla! The reason we looked at the flights is b/c the trenitalia website kept telling me the only Venice-Rome trains were in the evening, either arriving late (midniteish) or the next day. That didn't sound right to me (and I was not having the greatest luck getting it to fxn anyway), but I would be delighted to be wrong. (?)

bobthenavigator

There are trains all day from Venice to Rome---you are just too far in advance for their system. It takes about 4.5 hours and will be better than flying.

carla1183

Hmm, we only went the other direction (Rome to Venice) so I'd hate to tell you it's possible and be wrong. There was a train from Rome to Venice every 20 minutes or so, so I'd be very surprised if there were no morning trains available the other direction. Hopefully someone else can answer you better than I can!

kja

Hi, abcdc -
Your plan for the Amalfi Coast sounds a bit ambitious to me. In particular, its hard for me to imagine trying to see Paestum and Ercolano in the same day, although it might be possible - but maybe you meant you are deciding between them. (If so, Paestum will provide the greater contrast to Pompeii.) Even so, with one day in Capri and one day in Paestum or Ercolano, you won't have much time to see Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. Of course, it depends on what you want to see and your preferred pace of travel. Hope that helps!

abcdc

Duly noted on the trains - thanks! And yes, kja, I was thinking either Paestum OR Herculanum - apologies for not being more clear (& thanks for the tip)! I don't know if it's because we are city people and used to a quick pace, but we really tend to zip around on vacations more than lounge, so even though it might be tight, one day of village-hopping will be plenty for us.