We are planning a trip to Italy, Amalfi Coast, Rome and Tuscany. We'll have 14 days not counting the traveling days. We've been to Rome a couple of times so we're planning 3 nights there. We will land in Naples and then make our way to Sorrento, I'm guessing the first day is somewhat of a wash since we'll be tired from our US flight.

I would like to know how many nights should we plan to stay in Sorrento to see the sights, we want to go to Capri, Pompeii, the ruins, Positano and whatever else there is to see. How many nights in Tuscany to go visit the different little towns?

We're thinking that maybe we should be adding a fourth area to visit if that's too long of a stay on the Amalfi coast and Tuscany but not sure where to go, Venice is pretty far out of the way. Thank you in advance for your help.

You don't say when this trip is...

I wouldn't add another destination, but you might want to split your time in the south to a few nights in Sorrento and a few nights somewhere actually on the Amalfi Coast, like Positano or Amalfi, or perhaps Capri.

You won't need a car for the south portion, but I assume you'll have a car for Tuscany. Depending on where you want to explore in Tuscany, you might again consider splitting your time between two towns so as to cut down on driving times.

Have you been to Florence?

Pompeii can be a full 8 hr day unless you skim through in 4 hours, Naples at least a full day-the fantastic museum sucking up a lot of time, Capri a full day but more if you spend most of it going to the blue grotto. If you go to any more ruins like Herculaneum-that's a half day each. Are you going to Paestum too- getting there from Sorrento and seeing it would be a full day unless you are in Salerno or close by in Amalfi which would be a half day. To enjoy the Coast from Sorrento you would need to split Positano and Amalfi& Ravello into 2-3 days depending on how you want to enjoy them. If you had plan to do all three in one day by bus , by the time you got to Ravello, the gardens would be closed and the last bus would be leaving in an hour, so you would end up missing much of Ravello.

We will have a car in Tuscany but we won't have a car in Sorrento. I chose to stay in Sorrento because we are able to take the bus from the airport to the center of town. If Ravello is that far by bus then we'll just skip it. No, we were not planning on going to Paestum. We want to visit the sights that are an easy bus ride. Naples, not sure if we want to go there.

Naples gets a bad rap, but it has a rich history and lots of interesting things to see. Beautiful churches, great museums, the best pizza in the world (IMO). Most of the best artifacts from Pompeii are housed at the archeology museum in Naples, and you could easily spend a few hours there and the rest of a day exploring a few of the city's treasures.

Ravello is two buses from Sorrento but certainly doable as a day trip.

Sorrento is a good base for much of the area, but with the luxury of several days you have the opportunity to stay a couple of nights in a smaller/quieter spot, enjoying a place after most of the tourists have left.

I'm still wondering when you're going. It might make a difference with some of the advice. For example, although I like Naples, I probably wouldn't enjoy it in the heat of July, August or early September.

Well, I'm planning this way in advance since I'm doing everything my self, we are planning on going the last week of April 2012. We're using frequent flyer miles so the plane reservations have to be made almost 1 year in advance. That's why I need to know where we'll fly in and where we'll fly out of.

Looks like we should fly into Naples and out of Rome. Now, you've got me thinking, maybe we should stay in Naples the first night we arrive and then we can visit Naples for 1 day.

Also, if we want to go to Ravello we're thinking of we could rent a car for 1 day out of Sorrento.

You also say in Tuscany splitting our time between 2 towns, so, would that be some nights around Montepulciano area and the remaining nights around the Chianti area?

I'm glad you're re-thinking some time in Naples. But I don't like one-night hotel stays, so I'd continue on to Sorrento and go back to Naples for a day by Circumvesuviana train and/or ferry. I like to train to Naples, explore my way through the city and end up at the ferry dock for the trip back to Sorrento. (Make sure you know the times of the evening ferries, or you can taxi back to the train station.) The train station in Naples is within walking distance of the archeology museum.

Price that one-day car rental out of Sorrento. That could be a very expensive, albeit enjoyable, way to go. Maybe compare the car rental to the cost of a one-day private guide to take you to the coastal towns and up to Ravello. I still recommend spending a couple of nights somewhere on the Amalfi Coast rather than all of your nights in Sorrento.

Splitting Tuscany lodging between north and south would mean less time driving TO and more time exploring IN the towns. The Montepulciano/Pienza/San Quirico/Montalcino area would be great, but I'd probably pick Florence over Chianti because of the easy day trips without a car to Lucca, Pisa, Fiesole, and, if not already visited by then, Siena and San Gimignano. But I admit I'm a city girl, and Florence is my favorite place in Italy. If you can't get enough of the Tuscan countryside, Chianti would be a great choice.

You don't have to rent a car to save time. The bus system is really good. Amalfi from Sorrento is 1.5 hrs by bus, Ravello from Amalfi 20 min. What I was hinting at was that doing the Amalfi Coast -Positano-Amalfi-Ravello can be done in a day but you wouldn't be able to see all the attractions in each place. It is better to enjoy it in 2 days. One day in Positano and the second day leaving early in the morning to Amalfi and then taking the 25min bus up to Ravello later in the afternoon. If you decide to do all three in one day then allocate your time with what you want to visit in each place. Maybe only one hour in Amalfi or Positano and more in another. I wouldn't cut out Ravello though especially if you are already visiting Amalfi. The bus from Sorrento to Positano has beautiful views in the drive over (45min drive) and the ferry from Positano to Amalfi is breathtaking when looking back as you depart.