ljv

I am trying to assist my 70y/o mom and her travelling companions plan their trip to Italy. Originally, they indicated Rome as a base , with one or two day trips out.

Now, they are expressing an interest in spending a couple of days on the Amalfi coast, before heading to Sicily. They are travelling in mid June.

1. Are Positano or Sorrento doable day trips from Rome? If so, what is best method?

2. If not feasible as day trips, what is best method for getting there? Which town makes a better base? Good mid-priced hotel recs?

Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated. These folks are pretty clueless about travel planning and should probably have booked a tour or a private guide. As of this moment, they have nothing, except R/T plane tix to Rome.

.Thanks in advance for your input
Lori

ellenem

So they are committed to roundtrips flights to Rome. How much time do they have in between the two flights, meaning how many nights in Italy?

I am reluctant to suggest a way to create a Rome-Amalfi Coast-Sicily-Rome trip without knowing if they have a reasonable amount of time in which to accomplish such a trip. For example, most people who post about their Sicily trips here recommend no less than a week just for a visit to Sicily.

Positano and Sorrento would be 4 hours in each direction from Rome--not my idea of a day trip, especially for the clueless travel planners you describe.

greg

They are heading to a logistics intensive destination. Even for more experienced travelers, the trip to the Amalfi cost requires planning and execution skills due to the number of transportation connections required.

What is your definition of "best?" Deciding what is "best" requires knowing objectives and constraints.

I think they can still book a long LOCAL day tour from Rome. I don't have a recommendation. I do see several Rome to Amalfi coast tours if I do "Positano day tour rome" google search. They are long day tours costing more than €180 each.

Do I presume they can speak Italian?

Ann1

If they go to the Amalfi coast to spend the two days, they can take a ferry out of Salerno to Sicily.
http://tinyurl.com/yhyfy8g and they can take an aliscafo from Amalfi to Salerno to get the ferry:
Amalfi – Salerno (P.zza della Concordia):
10,40 – 12,45 – 14,10 – 16,15 – 17,45 - 19,10
Or Positano to Salerno:
Positano - Salerno (P.zza della Concordia):
10,00 – 12,00 – 13,30 – 15,30 – 17,00 - 18,30

So IMO Rome to the coast to Salerno to Sicily

If they stay in Sorrento they can take the train to Naples and there are more ferries that leave from there. TTTLines goes to Catania and others go to Palermo.

If they choose that, make sure they arrange with their hotel to have a taxi meet them at the port.

Ann1

OOOPPs I forgot, or they can take the aliscafo from Sorrento to Naples and take the ferry from there. The only reason I mention Naples is because they have more choices.

ljv

Thanks for all the prompt replies!

One of the group speaks fluent Italian, so at least they have that going for them.!

Theey fly out of Newark on June 16 and back out of Rome on July 3.

Lindateach

We had a driver (limoservicerome.com) -NOT limoservicesrome drive us to Sorrento from Rome. The ferry is a possibility to Sicily and then fly Easy Jet from Palermo in Sicily to FCO. Logistics and moving around in this type of trip is NOT easy. We also used Seahorsecarservice in the Sorrento area for private transportation (such as a driver to Salerno to catch the ferry).

ira

Hi ljv,

>1. Are Positano or Sorrento doable day trips from Rome?<

Yes, but not recommended for 70 somethings.

How about:
Train from Rome to Salerno - take ferry or SITA bus to Amalfi - 2 nights (or whatever)
From Amalfi they can take the bus to Positano and Sprrento, and a ferry to Capri.
Return to Salerno by bus or ferry and go on to Sicily.

The bus stops at the train station. The ferry is about 3 blocks away.

aaronw

Hi, if you go here http://www.limoserviceitalia.it/file...ours_italy.htm you will see that it is possible to do a daily tour to sorrento and positano but I checked on google map and you need to do 3 hours car to get there...