We are in the very earliest stages of planning a trip for a little over 2 weeks in late August. We plan to fly in and out of Barcelona but use RyanAir (incredibly reasonable tickets) to hop over to Italy for the middle of the trip. So far our preliminary plan is this: Spend the first five nights in Barcelona, fly to Rome and sometime in that week in Italy drive down the Amalfi coast, returning to Rome to fly back to Barcelona for the remaining 3 days or so.

Does this sound reasonable? I have traveled in northern Italy but never have been to Rome, though my husband has. Are we biting off too much to spend a few days in Rome, then drive to Amalfi/Capri, then back to Rome in a week's time? I also know very little about the Amalfi coast at this point in my research (know the name Positano mostly from Under the Tuscan Sun fame). My husband has been to Capri but I haven't and would really like to spend a day there as well. Any and all ideas about this plan as a whole are totally welcomed. Thanks!

I don't the amount of time that will be spent just getting back and forth to airports for the Spain to Italy and back portion of your plan but our first trip to Italy involved a rental car from the Amalfi Coast back to Rome. We did three nights on the Coast and 3 in Rome. That gave us ample time to explore the Coast and Capri, but it just hit the highlights in Rome. So now we have an excuse to return this August!

If you have never been to Amalfi Coast-go for it-prettiest and most relaxing place I have ever been. Took family last summer. I suggest this- train to Naples-driver pick u up and stay in Positano for two nights. Can take short ferry to Amalfi, etc if want to see more. Driver took us back to Naples for train with stop in Pompei. Well worth the effort. Villa Rosa hotel in Positano great location, view, and reasonable. Go for it!!!

I think that there is a flight either on Easy Jet or Alpi Eagles from Barcelona to Naples. This will save you a lot of backtracking.

You could then either arrange a private transfer to your hotel at Positano, or take a boat from the dock at Naples. There's also a local train to Sorrento, where you would switch to the SITA bus for the ride to Positano. But with luggage, the first two options probably make better sense.

From Positano, Capri is about a half hour boat ride. Or, you can take a day tour with Salvatore e Gennore, a very small tour company located at the town dock in Positano. I highly recommend them!

To get back to Rome, I would suggest taking the boat back to Sorrento, then the local train to Naples.( You can also take the SITA bus from Positano to Sorrento, but I much prefer the boat- less traffic, less crowd!) From Naples, you can catch the Eurostar to Rome. Of course, you can also arrange for a private driver to take you to Rome, but this is very expensive!!

Most importantly, I would strongly recommend getting in touch w/ hotels in both Positano and Rome ASAP. The end of August is still the busy tourist season, and many hotels book a year ahead for the summer months.

Toni_g_b, Texas Tiger, and Weadles - thanks so much for your extremely helpful replies. We are exploring the possibility of flying from Barcelona to Naples on Alpi Eagles - we'd never heard of this airline - and making our trip look more like this: Approximately 5 days in Barcelona, 5 days in Amalfi coast region, then 5 days driving somewhere north from Barcelona into France, arriving back in Barcelona to fly home. I know this is the Italy forum - but any opinions on this itinerary?

I love planning trips with the help of Fodorites...we had an amazing 2+ weeks in Ireland last summer (still trying to put together a trip report) and the same great experiences two years before that in Paris/Venice/Florence/Tuscany/Cinque Terre. I always feels guilty when we buy the tickets but am never, never sorry once we've travelled.

If stay in Positano, catch ferry to Amalfi and catch a cab or bus up to Ravello high up in hills overlooking Med. Great restaurants, shops, concerts if you like- but mainly the view. Check out Ravello in books and on this site. An easy, relaxing daytrip from Positano.

Still searching here, though we have plenty of time to plan. We've had lots of advice about other options - doing an open jaw flight to save backtracking, using other small airlines that fly to Naples rather than Rome...but every option is much, much more expensive, enough more that we just can't justify it, even with travel time saved and extra ground transportation added in. We got amazingly cheap tickets in and out of Barcelona from JFK, hundreds of dollars cheaper than to and from anywhere else. We've checked local airlines other than RyanAir and are looking at two tickets, round trip, for
200 or 300 euro rather than 80 euro - that's with taxes for both of us, round trip. So I think we're pretty much set on having to trek to Girona from Barcelona the night before our flight, though the train or bus doesn't look to be too long or cost an awful lot, and they run frequently so it won't actually take a whole lot out of our stay. When we return to Girona, it looks like we'll be renting a car to drive into Provence for a couple of days, so being away from Barcelona center won't be a problem at all on that end.

Thanks for the recommendations of things to do around the AC. We still don't know enough to make a decision about whether it's best for us to stay in Positano, Sorrento, or maybe even Praiana. Any opinions and/or reasonable lodging recommendations? We'd like to keep it under 100 euro per night.

Thanks, as always.

No problem what so ever. It takes about a 2 hour train ride to get to Sorrento. Which is the first town in southern Italy that I would recommend a stop at. In fact you could stay there and then take day trips to the other places.

Capri is just a boat ride away from Sorrento. It's a beautiful Island that is worth a day excursion. Warning, the blue grotto tour is a scam, don't go. Everything else was lovely.

Almalfi and positano are about at most 2 hours by bus to get there. The views from the bus will astound you and maybe frighten you a little. ha ha. Would not miss it for the world. 1 day is good enough to see the two towns. Then you can see the volcano ruins for 1 day and then head back to Rome or spend a day in sorrento relaxing. You can do it, and I'm a bit jealous! ha ha

Ciao

Theresa

www.nomadwannabe.com