nidzy80

Hi All, Planning my 40th birthday to Italy and it's highly overwhelming. Visiting with my husband and 14 year old daughter. Plan is to travel from end of march to first week of April. Some of the itinerary I have thought of is:

- Fly into Rome, spend 3 nights here.
- On the 4th day, hire a driver that can stop at Pompei on the way to Positano.
- Planning 4 nights in Positano, planning to make day trips from there to Amalfi, Sorrento, Capri and Ravello.
- 5th day take a train from Naples to Florence, where we spend another 3 nights.
- Train from Florence to Rome for our flight back.

Would really appreciate the feedback to my questions below:
- Is it better to fly in and out of Rome? Or fly into Naples and out of Florence?
- We do want to visit museums but also need some time to relax, Do I increase our stay in Positano to 5 nights?
- Do I need to add another day to any of the above cities?
- Easter is on April 12th but we are flying back before that, would that be feasible?

Jean

How many days do you have not including your arrival and departure days? (When you think only in terms of nights in a place, it's easy to lose track of the time lost traveling between points.)

Try to eliminate staying in Rome twice. Could you fly into Florence and out of Naples, or vice versa? If the best flights are in and out of Rome, after landing in Rome, head immediately to Florence by train (about 2.5 hours). Then train to Naples (about 3 hours). Train to Rome (less than 90 minutes). You should plan to stay your last night within a taxi or hired ride away from the airport.

Just FYI, if Pompeii is of particular interest, you would probably enjoy visiting the archeology museum in Naples more than a full day spent exploring Sorrento. Almost all of the artifacts found in Pompeii are housed in the museum in Naples. But a day trip to Naples from Positano using public transportation could easily take 2 hours each way.

kja

I second everything Jean said.

How much time to spend in any of these locations depends on your interests. For me, 3 nights in Rome would not be enough, nor would 3 days be enough for Florence. And I'd want about 5 days in Naples. But that's just me! I would encourage you to spend some time thinking through your priorities for each destination, checking on their hours, and plotting things out on a calendar.

Sounds like a nice way to celebrate your birthday!

Dukey1

I would also look at the possibility of flying out of Milan instead of going back to Rome.

Traveler_Nick

End of March will still be low season. For Rome and Florence not an issue. But depending on what you mean by relax I'd check openings and if you're thinking beach/seaside understand the weather may not cooperate.

Open jaw/multicity aka into one city flying out a different one will make your life easier. But you'll have more direct flights from Rome.

A driver from Rome all the way to Positano will be expensive and not that fast. You might want to think about the train to Pompeii.

I would add days to Rome but it really depends on your interests. Make a list of what you want to see and do. Then figure out how long it will take.

I've no idea what you're asking about Easter. The only issue is it'll still be low season when you travel.

dfrostnh

Last September I flew into Naples for 10 days on the Amalfi coast with a small group. We stayed in a very small town and did day trips. Then the trip leader helped me buy a train ticket from Naples to Rome where I spent 4 nights. Train travel was very efficient, easy and fast. Naples is a much smaller airport than Rome. The only thing I didn't like was I flew Aer Lingus and it was confusing which terminal in Rome they operated out of. Fortunately it was printed on my trip ticket. Their check in desk was only temporary and shared with another airline. Check in line got very long before they opened up and it was very tiring to stand and wait for so long.

bilboburgler

I'd use local drivers for local sites, and trains for long journeys. After all, Rome to Naples is just motorway.

isabel

I've been on the Amalfi Coast the second half of March and not only can weather be 'iffy' but the villages of Positano, Amalfi, Capri are still not 'fully open'. I'd say almost half the restaurants and shops were in the process of painting, repairing, etc. to get ready for the 'season'. Perhaps since you might be there a week or two later more will be open but don't count on it. People there told me things don't fully 'open' till after Easter. I also had pretty extremes in terms of weather. Some days were glorious sunny and 70 but others rained so heavily I didn't want to go outside, and when I did there was nothing to do.

I would not only consider cutting the time there vs Rome/Florence but also consider staying in Sorrento instead of Positano. First of all, you can get there on the local train (which stops at Sorrento, does not go on to Positano). From Sorrento it's an easy day trip to Pompeii and back to Naples for the museum. It's also an easy day trip by bus to Positano and Amalfi and by ferry to Capri. I'm not even sure the ferry between Capri and Positano runs at that time of year meaning you'd have to take the bus to Sorrento, then the ferry and reverse to get back making a long day trip. In March Sorrento is a much better base than Positano.

In general I think the amount of time you have is not enough to 'fully' see Rome, Florence and the Amalfi region. I understand the desire to get a taste of them all but one suggestion would be to skip the Amalfi region and just concentrate on Florence and Rome. There are lots of day trip options you can take from both of them (especially Florence) to get something other than big city. Spring in Tuscany is beautiful.

Michael

You might want to think about the train to Pompeii.

And we should the OP put the luggage given that it is a stop on the way to Positano?

kja

There are luggage storage options at Pompeii, I believe both lockers and a manned desk.