Southern Italy itinery help
 

We are planning 10 days in Southern italy for early April, and are torn as to where to go. Our thought was to fly into Palermo, explore Sicily for 5 days, then drive up towards Naples, doing a few days in Campania, a few days in the Amalfi area, then possibly a day in Naples. Is this too much to do in 10 days? Would it be better to either stay in the Naples Amalfi area or just Sicily instead of trying to do both? If it came down to one or the other, which would you recommend?

<<Is this too much to do in 10 days?>>
YES


<<Would it be better to either stay in the Naples Amalfi area or just Sicily instead of trying to do both?>>
YES!

Hi zootsi,

I would do one or the other.

However, after Sicily you could stay in Sorrento and visit the AC (1-2 days), Pompeii (1 day) and Naples (1-2 days).

My husband and I did a very similar trip two years ago. We flew into Palermo, stayed there two nights seeing Monreale, Palermo highlights, Erice and Mondello, then drove to Taormina, stopping quickly in Cefalu and having lunch in Capo di Orlando. We stayed in Taormina three nights and were able to see it, Mt. Etna, and take a daytrip to Lipari. Then we drove to Positano where we stayed three nights. We had been to Positano several times before so we didn't feel the need to do a lot of sightseeing; just went to Ravello and Amalfi for half of one day and the rest were spent relaxing. We had another week of our trip which we spent on Ponza and Rome. Sicily is difficult to see in just five days but if you do a trip similar to ours, you can see about half of it. Since you have ten days, you could spend seven of them in Sicily and also get to see Siracusa and Agrigento. Or add those two days to the Amalfi Coast and take a day trip to Capri and/or Pompeii. You can do it, but don't expect to see it all. In any event, you'll want to return.

We did sort of the same trip this summer, but in the opposite order. We started in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast and ended up in Sicily. The difference is we spent 12 days in Sicily alone, and we flew from Naples to Palermo. Keep in mind that driving from Sicily to Naples, when you take into account the ferry crossing and everything else, is at least an entire day spent in the car. On a 10-day trip, that's a lot.
I think with only 10 days, you're better off choosing one or the other. While Sorrento and Amalfi were very beautiful, I don't feel any need to go back there. On the other hand, I will definitely return to Sicily. It is so big and so diverse that you just want to see more.
Most of the posters on this site recommend Taormina and the eastern part of Sicily. Taormina is certainly more tourist-friendly than other parts of the island, but the southwestern area is also very beautiful, less crowded, and contains most of the important archeological sites. Palermo and Monreale are also "must-sees."

You might try to do either Naples area and another inland area, or just Sicily. My vote would be for Puglia: heel of the boot. You could divide your five days to put at least 4 in Puglia and six in Campania. Puglia is a great food (think orrechiette pasta with broccoli) and art (think best Baroque of the South) region, and it is a little off the beaten path, but still not quite as adventurous as a place like Basilicata might be. Anyway, if you want to know more about it, let me know. I really loved it.