My husband and I fly in and out of Rome June 2-June 15. It's our first trip to Italy but it's also our first long trip away from our 2 young children and it's our 10th anniversary, so we want to relax.

We arrive Rome on Wed. June 3 in the morning. I'm thinking we'll stay there until Sunday(?) Then we'll take the train to Naples but head straight to Sorrento. Stay there 2 nights with our one full day being a day trip to Pompeii.

Tues-Thurs nights in Positano and Fri-Sat on Capri, then head back to Rome and stay near the airport Sunday night for a Monday morning flight back to California.

I know we want to see Pompeii. I know we want at least 2 nights on Capri. I just don't know how to arrange it all to make it as smooth as possible.

We love walking around, stopping for a drink, chatting with locals, long late dinners. Husband prefers ancient ruins to cathedrals.

Any input on our choice of towns, best means of transport, number of nights in each place would be enormously appreciated. Once we get that settled I'll be back for advice on restaurants and sights.

Thanks enormously in advance.

It's a bit too much moving around, but difficult to make work. Is there a reason you want to sepnd two nights in Sorrento?

No, I don't need to do Sorrento, it just seemed like it was easier to do Pompeii from there than from Capri or Positano. I'd be happy to leave that out and stay longer in the 2 other places if that would work. I just don't have a feel for the smoothest logistical transitions.

Also, I'm not totally sold on Positano, but the people who love it seem to outnumber the people who recommend against more than a day trip there.

Hi Murphy - With just a week in Campania I'd choose 2 bases, not 3. Much more relaxing ...

Some prefer Amalfi, but personally I'd split my time between Positano and Capri.

Pompeii is easy enough by public transport from Positano -
- bus to Meta (30 mins) then train to Pompeii Scavi (30 mins).

Steve

Hi MO,

>....we want to relax.

Since you are locked into RT Rome, I suggest

Immediately take the train to Naples - 2 nights.
....See the archeological museu and Pompeii

Take the train to Salerno and the ferry to Amalfi - 4 nights.

Ferry to Capri - 2 nights

Ferry to Naples, train to Rome.

Fly home from Rome.

You will be there during the season.

If you really want to relax, get off the ferry in Amalfi, take the SITA bus to Praiano, (Beautiful ride along the coast road.)

Stay at www.lesirene.com - 6 nights.

Skip Capri.

Have a limo take you to the Naples train station (about 100E) to go to Rome.

Either way, enjoy your visit.

You could even do Pompeii enroute to the Amalfi Coast. Take the train to Naples and switch inside the station to the Circumvesuviana local train to Pompeii Scavi. Leave your bags at the bag check, tour Pompeii, then continue on via Sorrento or Meta.

That would allow for a more relaxing time on the Amalfi Coast. But I need to say I liked Sorrento. It's perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Naples and is a relatively big town. I'd prefer it to posh Positano or tiny Ravello. Just maybe not for an anniversary celebration.

I would save all the time in Rome for the end. It eliminates an extra hotel change, and you get the furthest travel out of the way at the beginning. Upon arrival in Rome, continue on to Capri, stay there 3 nights. Then you can have 5 nights in Positano and 4 in Rome at the end. No need to stay by the airport your last night.

I agree with Susan. No need to stay in Sorrento; you can do the Pompeii trip from Positano, either on your own or with a tour.

OR, you can consider hiring a driver to take you from the Naples train station to Positano with a stop in Pompei. (Figure about 160 Euro--I did something similar last May and can get yout the exact price if you like)

Then continue onto Positano, spend your nights there, goto Capri, and then back to Rome where you will spend the remainder of your trip.

I like Amalfi better than Positano, by the way. Please state your price range if you want hotel recommendations.

When we arrived in Rome, we rented a car, drove to Naples, toured Herculaneum, drove on to Priano, and spent 3-4 nights. Priano was an excellent base from which to see Positano, Capri, Amalfi, etc. We stayed at a small family-owned hotel, Hotel Margarita, located on the upper road in Priano. Our room had a gorgeous view of the water (no direct access to a beach, unless we walked down and climbed back up tons of steps). The room was lovely, extremely clean, with lots of tile and a small balcony. The hotel was run by Margarita's daughter and son-in-law. Margarita operated the restaurant, and her mother babysat the daughter's two children.

We absolutely loved our stay. We spent one entire day doing nothing by lazing by the pool on the roof.

I would definitely stay at Hotel Margarita again. The prices were good, the food was good and reasonably priced, and the staff was very helpful!

Thanks for all the great input! I don't know why I didn't think about doing Rome all at the end. I guess I figured we'd be beat after flying in from California with a several hour lay-over in Atlanta, so staying in Rome seemed to make sense. But since we get in in the morning, just catching the train to Naples and then heading to Capri or somewhere then doing Rome all at the end seems to make much more sense.

I didn't put a budget on the hotels b/c the exchange rate keeps changing so much. We don't want budget no-frills, but we don't need the most luxurious. moderate to high-moderate is what we're looking for, but will go higher for a really exceptional experience.

Thanks again for all the input.

I know it is pricey, but I recommend having a driver pick you up at the Rome airport to take you to Naples, Positano or whichever town you are staying in. We used www.tourofitaly.com and I would definitely use them again. It is so nice to have someone waiting for you and not have to worry about lugging bags on trains after a long flight. Our driver told us lots of interesting stuff, we stopped for cappucino on the way to Positano, and also stopped for photos along the coast. We paid 300 Euro for the service and would do it again in a heartbeat.

I like the idea of going to Capri first, then Positano, then Rome. Going to Pompeii is easy on the SITA bus from Positano (transferring to train at Meta), as Steve mentioned. Staying on Capri first will give you time to relax without thinking about day trips here and there.

Hi there. We've done this area of Italy a few times from here in England, so know it quite well. It makes more sense to do Rome at the end, so choose your method of transfer to Naples, but chauffeur driven is expensive. Why not just hire a car and drive to Naples. I suggest that two nights there are enough.

Drive South and do Pompeii on the way and do not miss Herculaneum(Ercolano). It's better preserved than Pompeii, smaller and not to be missed. If you leave Naples after btreakfast, you'll be able to do both of these either side of lunch.

Then head for Positano as a base for the Amalfi coast. Sorrento sounds romantic but is just a seaside resort. You can do the whole of the Amalfi coast from there, but you'll need to be Ok with steps down to the beach to get to some of the restaurants etc.

I wouldn't bother staying on Capri. It's hugely disappointing, hugely expensive without providing value for money and you can take the jetfoil over to it from Sorrento in about half an hour, spend half a day and come back.

A leisurely drive back to Rome will take 3/4 with stops and you can then see all the sights before your flight.

Enjoy!

I vote with those favoring Amalfi Coast/Capri first and end with Rome. You'll be tired after the plane ride anyway, so get to Termini in Rome, catch the Naples train. You'll still get to Naples early enough to get to Positano that first night. We hired a driver from Naples train station to Positano and then hired him to also do day tour to include Pompeii (and Ravello as well as other parts of the coast). We stayed 2 nights at La Tartana - a mid-priced very nice hotel with great views (I'm not sure that there are any "bad" views in Positano). As I recall it was 150 € per night in 2005 (now I see on their website, now only in Italian, http://xrl.us/bed3np, it's a bit more at 170 &euro.

Then for us it was 2 nights on Capri. We stayed at La Minerva - not expensive by Capri standards, but very nice. http://www.laminervacapri.com/

We took the train back to Rome for 4 nights - lots of hotel options there. But agree that you don't need an airport hotel - even for an early flight a taxi is not bad, or train if you must.

Have a nice second honeymoon!

Sam

Murphy: You can still give ann idea of your price range--give the hotel budget in dollars and people here can figure it out and give recommendations..

For example, what does "moderate to high moderate" mean to you, in dollars?

ekscrunchy - i didn't mean to imply that people here can't figure out the exchange rate. I guess I was just vague b/c we don't have a firm budget. And since the x-change rate is likely to fluctuate a lot b/tw now and the trip, I'm focused less on the dollars and more on the accomodations. We don't need the top of the line accomodations, but are not looking for the cheapest basic lodgings.

We want something nice, with friendly staff, a decent view where applicable and a good location (but we're in prett good shape so a nice spot with a bit of a walk to places of interest is fine.) we don't need to be pampered but are willing to pay for the factors listed above.

I suppose we're fortunate in that if there is something absolutely fabulous that we know we really want, we can spend the money. But we don't *need* fabulous and are most happy with low-key, nice, clean, friendly and well-situated.

so that's why i left it open to a wide range of recommendations, b/c I'd just like to know where people stayed that they really liked from any range of the price spectrum.

i suppose that's not so helpful when soliciting recommendations, but I'm not sure how else to say it.

sam - both those places you recommended seem like the sort of thing we're looking for. are there any negatives we should know about them?

thanks.

murph

Villa Franca in Positano is very nice, not too expensive.