Positano questions
 

My boyfriend and I will be in Positano from the 4th or August to the 7th. We are looking for any hotel or B & B suggestions under 250ish euros a night.

Some that I like are : La Villa Tartana, 170 euros, http://www.villalatartana.it/
Hotel Savioa, 170-210 euros, http://www.savoiapositano.it/
La Rosa dei Venti, 150 euros, Ostra or Maestrale room,
http://www.larosadeiventi.net/
Hotel Royal Prisco, 170-190 euros, http://www.royalprisco.com/
Palazzo Marzoli Resort, 200 euros, http://www.palazzomarzoli.it/

While we are here we want to take a day to visit Pompeii, what is the cheapest/fastest way to do this? Hydrofoil to Salerno, then train to Pompeii? Is it too crowded on the roads to hire a car? or for a bus to Sorrento? Boat to Sorrento, then Circumvesuviana to Pompeii?

We will then need to get back to Rome on the 7th. How should we do this?

Grazie!

Oh, and I forgot to ask about getting up and down the town. If a hotel or restaurant is at the top of the hill and we are coming from the beach or something else, is it to much to walk that far uphill. If so what do we do about this?

Most of Italy and Europe for that matter is on vacation during the August month. It's high season and the roads will indeed be very busy. I'd say your best bet is to take a bus or boat to Sorrento and then train to Pompeii. I'd say hire a driver, but that wouldn't be the cheapest way.

Gosh, I just cannot remember everything... and because we can't change our plane tickets we will be coming from Venice, I am not sure I want to take an overnight train. Are there better ways to do this?

You can fly relatively cheap from Venice to Naples - tickets range from $33 per person (w/o luggage) on easy jet to $111 on Alitalia. http://www.sidestep.com/r/P7HEgf

The slow train (8hrs) is 72E first class or 52E 2nd class. The fast train which is 5 1/2 hours is 149E 1st class or 107E 2nd class. That is only to Naples, so you still need to add getting to Positano.

The train back up to Rome is easy and not that costly.

Which would you recommend if we flew? Alitalia or EasyJet?

We were in Sorrento for a day on a cruise. We took the Circumvesuvia train to Pompeii, and it was pretty easy, with the stop being pretty close to the ruins. I'm not sure if it runs from Positano or not, but I would guess so!

It doesn't :[

Any hotel suggestions?

I'd start searching on www.venere.com for hotels in the area. Alot are going to be booked up already for those dates.

I'm staying at Hotel Marincanto during my visit to Positano, but it's a bit more than the hotels you asked about in your OP.

There are plenty of hotels with availability. I really don't understand why people assume that posters asking for hotel suggestions haven't searched for them. I have been on a computer for weeks. Venere, hotels.com , booking, tripadvisor... When I post this I am asking for YOUR opinion. Half the people that leave reviews on tripadvisor etc, are either the owner of the place, or have never been to Europe and don't understand that hotels are completely different,than ones in the States So I ask seasoned travelers on a travel site...

I can't comment on the hotels.. it will be my first trip to Positano.

I have stayed at Villa La Tartana and highly recommend it.

I would suggest first checking the sister property, Villa Rosa, which is a very similar hotel but higher up, and in Positano, higher generally means better views. Villa Rosa was booked when I went, but I would have preferred it if it had been available.

"If a hotel or restaurant is at the top of the hill and we are coming from the beach or something else, is it to much to walk that far uphill. If so what do we do about this?"

Not much. If you can't walk up and down stairs, you probably should not stay in Positano. It's all stairs, everywhere. Villa La Tartana does not have an elevator and we stayed on the top floor for the best view, and it was 4 flights up and down each time.

But having said that, I am far from an athlete and I managed the steps just fine, and they aren't that steep. But there are few elderly people walking around in Positano because it just doesn't cater to anyone whose mobility is impaired. There is no way to get around the stairs.

PS - I did not mean to imply that all elderly people are unable to manage the stairs. There were some who were taking the steps a lot faster than me. But there were noticeably fewer elderly tour groups in Positano, as compared to say Sorrento.

Read my reply under my sign-in name in the recent thread. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-vs-praino.cfm

Thanks. We arent mobility impared, just have a lot of luggage. If we decide to take a boat to Positano from Sorrento or Naples, we will be carting a lot of luggage up many stairs. I thought I read somewhere that there was some scooter or something that would take up if needed.

@chazzarelli, I thought you were being preachy :] There are a lot of people on these threads that tell you to look on websites, assuming that you havent researched anything.

They have porters for the luggage.

I arrived in Positano via boat from Naples. (Highly recommended, btw - I loved arriving from the sea.) The porters were all there waiting at the dock. You tell them what hotel you're staying in, and they rush off with your bags, while you hurry to keep up. Of course you tip them, but it's well worth it, esp. if your hotel is high up. Villa La Tartana is not high at all, very close to the beach, but I was still happy to follow the porter because I'm not sure I would have found it very easily otherwise.

If you arrive via the road, from a driver or the bus, you will be near the top, and you may not need a porter. It depends on where you're staying and how many stairs, I guess.

PS -- More info on the porters in Positano:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ase-advise.cfm

If arriving by boat, you definitely should use their services, unless you stay at one of the places right on the beach like Buca di Bacco.

definitely use the porters. We stayed at Villa Sara which was 100 steps from the road and then 200 from it to the beach. I know becasue I'm a stair phobic but I did it. There is also a little bus that zooms a round the main streets.
We also had a driver to from Rome to Postano and back but with 5 persons it was a better deal.

Thanks!

Bmeyer - np

You might want to go back and look at some of my posts and topics - I asked questions about 3 or 4 different hotels in Positano and I got a bunch of great responses from people reccommending hotels and commenting on my choices.

I've stayed at the Savoia and whilst it's not madly luxurious, it's perfectly fine and more importantly, it's bang in the right place for the walk up and down to the beach. Get them to give you a room overlooking the street as you get fantastic views of the town. It's not noisy at night, so no problems there.

The Circumvesuviana does go from Sorrento to Pompeii and does stop at the ruins. Book to Pompeii Scavi-Villa Misteri. the journey is just over half an hour. See the website for the train at www.circumvesuviana.it The SITA bus will take you into Sorrento.

The steps up and down in Positano are not like a staircase in a house. They are wide with a low rise and are not difficult to negotiate. Just take your time if you need to. There are so many shops, kiosks, coffee shops etc on the way that you hardly notice the walk. If you decide to arrive by sea, then the porters will be all over you like a rash at the landing stage.

Easyjet is a good airline for the Venice-Naples leg and you can then use the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento. The SITA bus or a taxi will then take you into Positano and the Savoia is 20 yards from the bus stop.

Did they speak English because we are having some serious communication issues!

We didn't have any problems with them. Not sure why you've had a problem?

When we arrived by boat in Positano we did not know about the porters. We stayed at Villa Rosa. Many steps. We were very happy to use the porters going back. We loved Villa Rosa.

Micheline did you stay in a standard room?

Just stayed last week for 3 nights in Positano at the Residence La Tavolozza. It has stunning views of water and church but very centrally located. The people that run it are wonderful. We had a two bedroom apt that is part of the B&B but had a kitchen and living room as well as the two bedrooms. They delivered breakfast to us every morning but it was great to have the extra space (there were 4 of us)and refrigerator. We paid 230 euros a night--a real bargain for the space and views. They also set up a free shuttle to Il Retrovo restaurant at the very top of the hill and we had a wonderful dinner there one night. It was getting very hot and humid on our last day and the place was full of tourists especially during the day when tour buses would pull up and let everyone out. It is on the same street as La Sirenuse and I think Villa Rosa.

@macdogmom- Is that the one where you can only contact through email? I haven't heard back yet...

Also how was the view? I want some town and a sea :)

We stayed in the family room. The standard rooms are lovely as well but if you stay there ask for the room with the large terrace. I just don't recall the number of that room right now but I'll search later - have to get supper on now.

Yes, we emailed with them. Loved the views and location--you get wonderful view of ocean and town especially mosaic dome of the church. Hope you hear back soon.

Room 33 (Villa Rosa) - Same view as La Siraneuse as it is right across from it and a little higher. Couldn't wait to wake up in the morning to breakfast on the terrace and the spectacular view over Positano and the sea.

http://www.palazzotalamo.it/english.html

We stayed last year (May 2009) at the Palazzo Talamo on via Pasitea. All the rooms had fantastic views, and we found their rates more reasonable than the hotels on the east side of the town. Its on the west side of the town, and incidentally, all the restaurants on this side of town were much more reasonable than the ones down on the beachfront. Our concierge, Giovanna, was helpful at recommending a few.

To get there, there were two walking paths up from the beachfront area- one steep pedestrian staircase path directly up (hard on the glutes!), and the other a sloping road that winds through the town. We preferred walking up and down on the sloped road most of the time so we could window shop.

For your day trip to Pompeii, it might be worth the splurge of a car service, since Pompeii is vast and requires a lot of energy and walking. We had rented a car to drive from Rome to Pompeii, then left it in Sorrento so we could take the ferry to Capri. (this was very adventurous of us) :) But I've also had friends take the bus from Positano to Sorrento, and then the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii, and they said it was totally doable for them AND their three year old son.

If you have time, we really enjoyed a quick day trip to Ravello by bus. I thought the ceramics there were much higher quality and more reasonable than the selection in Positano and the gardens at Villa Cimbrone were absolutely beautiful and very romantic.

My absolute favorite day on our vacation to the Amalfi coast was a private 3 hour boat tour of Capri. We were traveling with three other couples as well and the boat took us to the Blue Grotto, a private inlet for swimming, past the famous rock formations, etc.

Enjoy!

Like Cheryl, we stayed at and also highly enjoyed the Villa Tartana. Also liked the location, which was very close to the sea, and not many steps at all. We had two rooms -- one with a little balcony that looked down the street with views of the church (practically next door) you see in photos of Positano. The other had two rooms, beautifully tiled, with windows in the huge lounge area overlooking the sea. Yes, there is no lift, so getting upstairs with the luggage (reception is up a flight of steps) is challenging, but they do have a porter, who will go down to the entrance and collect your luggage and bring it up to your room.

There are also porters at the dock. So if you come, say by train to Salerno (as we did), then take the boat into Positano via Amalfi, there are porters at the Positano dock if you don't want to drag your stuff the very short distance to the hotel.

Then, you could walk up the gentle walk to the main street, and take a bus (when we were there, it was 1 euro, but could be more) that will take you all the way up to the top of Positano and back down. It's a great way to see the town, and kind of like Mr. Toad's wild ride at Disneyland! You could also take the bus up to Montepertuso, which is more of a hair-raising (in a fun way!) ride. That way, you can see the entire town of Positano, as well as a good chunk of the Amalfi coastline.