Suggestions for 12 days in Italy
 

We are two families a total of 7 (4 adults and 3 kids ages 12x2 and 8)leaving ion June 8th, 2007.

1. We arrive into Venice for 3 nights (Dei Dogi or Luna Baglioni)
2. Pick up a car in Venice on day four and drive down to Siena, spend one night there (Hotel Continental Siena).
3. The next day drive down to the Amalfi Coast and stay there for 4 nights. We are not sure where to stay yet in Positano or in Amalfi? we are not finding Hotel availability in Positano but in Amalfi we have found space in Hotel Luna Convento. I've been told that Amalfi gets too crowded and to try to not stay there just to visit!
4. After the Amalfi Coast we drive up to Pompeii and on the same day drive up to Rome to spend our last 4 nights there.

The only thing we have set are the arrival into Venice and Departure from Rome. Have booked some tentaive Hotels bur are still looking. Any suggestions on our itinerary. Is it too much to do in too little time?
Thank you

How about Sorrento for a great base at the Gulf of Naples. You can do lots of excursions from there. Capri, Amalfi and Pompeii is about 30mins by train. And its a great town in the evening for the walk on the main street and people watching at piazza Tasso.

Well, strictly speaking, you take a boat from Sorrento to Capri. And probably a bus to Amalfi.

But there are lots of hotels in Sorrento. You may want to drop your car at this point and use public transportation.

Mimar, lol Guess I should have given Pompeii it's own sentence.

Hello Lunita, your itinerary looks fine to me if the children can handle the drive from Siena to the AC. Sorrento as TravMinu suggested is a good suggestion. And if you stayed in Sorrento you could turn the car in at Sorrento and take the train to Pompeii and than onto Rome (where you will not need or want the car).

But speaking of cars..are you planning on renting two cars? I don't see anyway how 7 people plus luggage would fit into one rental car. Another thought is that you could travel by train.

Thank you for your replies. TravMIMI and Mimar, I guess we didn't even consider Sorrento as a stop. We were planning on going by boat to Capri From Positano or AMalfi. But I should look into it. Remember that we are coming from Amalfi and going up.

As far as the drive from Siena, LoveItaly, do you think it is too long? we live in California so we are used to driving and my 8 year old should be OK. Also, yes we are getting two cars not just one.

What do you all think about leaving the cars in Naples and going to Rome by Bus or Train from there? Initially we were going to drop them off in Rome.

What abbout Hotels?

I have an apartment in Sorrento that I stay at quite often and I don't even consider driving in Napoli, others I know love to drive in Napoli. I just take a hydrofoil to the port in Napoli (30 mins) and take the bus or tram to the train station. I always pick an ES train that stops in Mergellina train station as I stay away from the central station.

Hi L,

>I've been told that Amalfi gets too crowded and to try to not stay there just to visit!<

You are visiting the AC in high season. You are lucky to get a hotel for your family at all.

Have you made parking arrangements in Amalfi?

Driving the Coast Road in Season is a real drag. Plus you will have to find a place to park.

Have you considered driving to Salerno and dropping the car there?

You can take the ferry or the SITA bus to Amalfi.

You can visit Pompeii via ferry from Amalfi to Sorrento (I think that this will be faster than the bus) and Circumvesuviana train to Pompei Scavi. You can leave your luggage there.

You can then take the Circumvesuviana to Naples and on to Rome.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

We did a similar trip last year. We stayed 4 nights in Venice at Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo. It was wonderful. We did a day trip to Verona. Then we traveled to Rome by train and stayed at the Hotel Teatro de Pompeo and we loved the location and that hotel as well. Then we went to Sorrento by private driver and stayed in Sorrento at the Hotel Minerva Sorrento and LOVED it. We took day trips to Capri and to Positano and also to Pompeii. We took the train to Pompeii and the ferry to Capri and Positano. The Hotel Minerva Sorrento has a wonderful rooftop pool with a great view that your kids would probably enjoy. The views from the breakfast area are amazing, too. We had wonderful food in Sorrento and enjoyed walking around at night.

For our last night we traveled back to Rome by private driver and stayed at the Holiday Inn airport hotel for our early flight home.

Be prepared to fall in love with Italy. I wish we were going back this summer!

Regarding Amalfi being too crowded. Wait until you see Positano. The last time we were in Positano during the day (as a stopover on the boat taking us from Ischia to Amalfi to catch the bus up to Ravello), we could not move in the "streets" of Positano. Tour busses unload and the tiny pedestrian walkways become totally stopped and clogged with shoppers. Positano is one of the most beautiful spots in the world if you are sitting on your hotel balcony up on the hill overlooking it all, but it is tourist central otherwise. Put me in the minority who would actually probably prefer to stay in Amalfi than Positano (we have stayed in Postitano for three days before). I like the more "real" Italian town feel better than the "strictly for tourists" feel of the town of Positano. And I think the Luna Convento would be a nice place to stay -- just removed from the crowds of the town itself, yet a short stroll away.

And I don't find driving the Amalfi coast road in the height of season any worse than riding a SITA bus or taking a hired car on that same route which doesn't avoid any of the pitfalls, yet prevents you from pulling off at the many turnouts whenever you want to stop and breathe in the beauty.

I think with 7 of you, it actually makes sense doing the two cars and not the trains, particularly so you can do things like stop at Pompeii, or stop for a lunch along the way somewhere. How on earth do 7 people stop at Pompeii with all their luggage on the way to Rome?

There is a left luggage spot at Pompei's main entrance and the train station. Most people travel pretty light these days so there's no problem with space. There is a charge but it's safe and certainly worth it. If you have a months worth of luggage or steamer trunks I wouldn't suggest it.

Thanks for the info.

In Amalfi, we've made reservations at both The Santa Caterina and Luna Convento and they both allow us to park the cars at an additional charge however, we are considering to drop off the cars before getting to the AC if we can find an easy way to go back to Rome stopping in Pompeii first.

MauiTammy, could you please give me more information on the private driver?. If we drop off the cars before AC We would like to go from AC to Rome that way.

If we keep the cars, NeoPatrick you just made me aware of the luggage. I guess we can't just leave it in the car as we do here. TravMimi can you elaborale more on the location to store the Luggage in Pompeii. We should be traveling light!

Also, NeoPatrick in AMalfi, which Hotel do you prefer the Luna Convento or Santa Caterina?

In Positano I've also made a reservation at Bucca di Bacco but I am not sure that it would be good for the kids since they do not have a pool and it will be very Hot.

In Rome we have booked the Boscolo Exedra, Hotel de Russie and Regina Baglioni. Any comments?

http://www2.pompeiisites.org/databas...f!OpenDocument
hope the like works. Its for Pompei. Info on left luggage is at the bottom. You will no doubt enter at Porta Marina right near the train station.

I can't remember the exact name of the company, but the owner's name was Renato Cuomo or something like that. They were very prompt and picked the 6 of us up at our Rome hotel and drove us to Sorrento by Mercedes van. The driver was a sweetheart named Franco I think. It was very enjoyable and then they picked us up at our Sorrento hotel and drove us back to Rome hotel for flight home the next day. They were very reliable and it was an enjoyable experience. It was reasonably priced as well. I will try to find the name of the company for you, but do a search for that name and it will probably come up.

Here is the name:
Try Limousine Service Sorrento (Renato Cuomo)
www.cuomonet.it

They were wonderful to work with for our trip and I would feel confident recommending them based on our experience.

We ate lunch at Bucca di Bacca. I had originally made reservations there for our family, but cancelled them and decided to stay in Sorrento instead. The lack of pool was a deal breaker for us too. After seeing the beach area there I was glad we had not stayed there. It is not a nice sandy beach, but is dark, rocky and a very crowded area. There were a lot of fumes from boats too. We loved Positano, but could never find accommodations with a pool available for our dates even though we were booking about 8 months in advance. We absolutely loved Hotel Minerva Sorrento. I was not prepared to love Sorrento very much as people seem to like Positano better, but we loved Sorrento. I would love to spend some Positano some day too.

TravMimi, thank you for the information on the storage.

MauiTammy. It looks great I already sent them and e-mail to see what can they do for us. I'll keep you posted.

Also, we have added one more day to our trip so we have 13 days so we need to decide where to add the extra day.

It could be to Siena, which would give us time to stop in Verona and the next day wonder in Siena and on the third day leave early to AC.

We could add a day in AC to be able to relax, however I have been able to book the Sirenuse for only three nights today (to my surprise) and Santa Caterina we only have 3 nights too.

Or we can add one more night to Rome (we already have 4).

Please commment on this.
Thank you.

Hi L,

>I've also made a reservation at Bucca di Bacco but I am not sure that it would be good for the kids since they do not have a pool and it will be very Hot.<

IIRC, BdB is right on the beach.

Ie, also, can recommend Renato Cuomo.

((I))

Thank you IRA for your reply. Yes I think I need to let go of the BdB reservation.

Also I contacted Renato and we already booked him. He is great!

Please advise on Hotels Le Sirenuse in Positano vs Santa Caterina in Amalfi.
Thank you

Le Sirenuse is alway my choice for a romantic getaway.

We've extended our stay two night in Siena instead of one. What do you recommend we do? We'll have cars for those days.
We are staying at Continental Hotel.