My husband and I and 11 year old daughter will be driving to Rome from Tuscany. After our stay in Rome (hotel has a parking lot), we plan to drive to Positano. MY QUESTION- is the drive THAT HARROWING? My husband is a good driver and we've experienced the South of France and the Verdun Canyon by car. We could always just give back the car in Rome and hire a driver to take us to Positano and then back to Rome at the end of our stay.

I wouldn't call it harrowing. I also wouldn't want to drive it myself. My wanna-be-a-racecar-driver husband, however, would love to.

The Rome to Naples portion would be typical autostrada with lots of traffic leaving Rome, lots of traffic around Naples. We spoke with people in Sorrento who got carsick on the Naples to Sorrento portion.

The road from Sorrento to Positano is obviously twisty/turny, but mostly it's narrow. Buses and delivery trucks have the advantage just because of their size. Cars back up or do whatever to allow the big guys to pass. Motorcycles and scooters just weave in and around.

Our bus lost a side mirror to the mountainside because the driver had to pull over to allow another bus from the opposite direction to pass.

The two alternatives are a hired driver, as you mentioned, or the trains to Sorrento and bus to Positano.

The drive isn't that harrowing but it's not all that fun for the driver either. After you exit the autostrada south of Naples, you will be on a fairly narrow two lane road through Sorrento and on to Positano. Sometimes you luck out and there isn't much traffic and the drive (from the exit) takes an hour or less. But sometimes the traffic is extremely heavy and it's bumper to bumper the whole way and can take around three hours. Because of the narrow and winding Amalfi Drive, the driver needs to keep his or her eyes on the road and misses much of the gorgeous scenery. Be aware of the etiquette on the Amalfi Drive to sound your horn when approaching a curve (Italian drivers will pass whenever they can, even on blind curves)and to back up to allow oncoming vehicles larger than you (tour bus, truck etc) to pass in tight spaces.

You need to be a local to understand the rules of the road. I would not drive it! We have driven all over Europe, but not that road.

do a text search on "Rules for Driving the Amalfi Coast" for both insight and humor.
enjoy!

We were in Italy for the past two weeks....returned last night. We drove from Rome to Florence to Venice to Siena and through Tuscany, to Amalfi, and then back to Rome. Autostrada driving is no problem at all as long as you use the left lane only for high speed passing. On many an occasion while moving along at 130+ kph in the mid lane and doing alot of passing, we would ourselves be passed by typically BMW, Audis, Mercedes, and a few Porsches...as though we were standing still. You should find the run from Siena or Florence, or Rome south to Naples or just south of Naples is no problem at all.

The trip from Naples south was more interesting. We stayed in Amalfi for four days and used a number of different approaches to Amalfi. Each had its pluses and minuses, but none of them allowed very much taking in of the view by the driver. The day that we arrived at Amalfi we approached by heading across the peninsula and over the hills. This route does not have the coastal scenery all the way, however it seemed to have fewer busses than we saw on other routes and was quite hilly and winding....the pace was slow and consistent with no delays. Besides driving to/from Amalfi, we also did two one day trips from Amalfi....one to Pompeii and Herculenum, and the other to Paestum for the day with a beautiful morning diversion through Ravello. In each of these cases we made an "end run" by going from Amalfi through Minori, Maiori, and Cetera towards Salerno to pick up the Autostrada at Vietri sul Mare...and although it is somewhat out of the way for Pompeii/Herclenum, there seemed to be relatively few busses and trucks to contend with and the trip was reasonably easy except for some tight bends where the busses/trucks had trouble negotiating past each other in Cetra. It may have been because we left Amalfi on a weekend (last Saturday), but the traffic between Amalfi and Positano was badly backed up in a number of places where busses, trucks, and cars were fully stopped and to use a big city term "grid locked" in the tight bends and all needed alot of direction and guidance from others to get past each other.

Our most enjoyable travel day for this driver while on the Amalfi Coast however, was the one day that we took a boat for the day from Amalfi to Positano and back. We loved the flexibility of the car, but the driver was never relaxed or enjoying the scenery on the peninsula.

IT's not harrowing at all! You just take the Autostrada to Naples and from there it's about a 45 minute drive to Positano. It is a small, winding mountain road, but very easy to do!
Enjoy your trip!

I agree with garefi, as long as you're only going as far as Positano. It's typical Italian driving -- if you can handle driving in other areas of Italy, you can handle the drive from Rome to Positano. It's beyond Positano that separates the men from the boys, or whatever the politically correct phrase is nowadays. I, personally, do not drive beyond Positano; I leave that part to the professionals, either bus drivers or a private driver. However, many others find the adventure exhilarating. Certainly, you must travel beyond Positano, and you must take this road because the scenery is magnificent, but if you're at all hesitant, I would advise that you leave that part of the driving to people experienced at driving that road.