Traveling within Italy
 

My fiance and I will be going to Italy for our honeymoon for about 2 weeks. We plan to make our way from Florence/Tuscany area down to the Amalfi Coast. What is the best way to get around Italy with these locations? Some have suggested that the Amalfi Coast is best approached by CAR (taxi), because of the way it is set up. Any suggestions are welcome.

Also, it's possible that we are not able to find a flight leaving from the Amalfi/Rome area (if we fly IN to the Florence area). Therefore, if anybody has any suggestions regarding getting back up North those are appreciated as well.

Looking to travel in a cost effective manner, so that is part of the consideration.

Thank you so much for your time and help!

You should be able to fly to/from anywhere in the world from Rome. I do not understand what you mean. Please explain. If you cannot find a flight home from Rome then fly into Rome and home from Florence. This will save backtracking and valuable vacation time.

Have you tried Naples departures?

We would like to fly INTO Florence and out of the Amalfi area (I suppose leaving from Rome would be okay). So that part will probably work out. I guess I am primarily interested in getting around WITHIN Italy. I have not yet tried Naples departures, but geographically that would be great!

If traveling from the city of Florence to the Amalfi coast-

Take the train to Salerno and then a bus or public boat to either Amalfi or Positano.

If coming from the Tuscan countryside (and you have a car), drive to Salerno, drop car, and proceed by bus or boat to your Amalfi destination.

If there is another scenario, let us know.

I frequently fly into Florence and find the airport small and easy. A taxi into the city center is around 20-25 euro (a flat fee plus luggage charge) and the bus to the central train station is just 7 euro per person.

Do check flights returning from Naples or Rome. Use the "multi-city" function to search for flights. I like to use itasoftware.com to search for all options.

<< We plan to make our way from Florence/Tuscany area down to the Amalfi Coast. What is the best way to get around Italy with these locations? >>

You need to be specific about where you're originating and terminating. Are you traveling from Florence to Sorrento? Are you traveling from Pienza to Ravello? How you get from one place to another depends on the locations.

<< Some have suggested that the Amalfi Coast is best approached by CAR (taxi), because of the way it is set up. >>

I'm not sure what you mean. Buses have the right of way on the coast road; cars must yield to buses.

If you can't get a flight returning home from Rome it's not because you've flown into Florence but because there are no flights.

We did Rome, Amalfi Coast (Positano) then to Tuscany as part of a trip when we had a rental car. Admittedly this was in November when its fairly quiet, but we found that when we booked the apartment they had pre arranged parking in Positano (for a fee) and they were very helpful with directions for getting there. Basically we pulled up at the booking office, followed them to the unit and their driver took our car away for parking. We didn't need it while we were there for the 3 days, but if we wanted it, we were told to call and they'd bring it to the door. Not sure if all this is normal or not but worked well for us. (Good directions and a good GPS are helpful! The drive from there to San Gimignano was fairly straight forward. And once ther a day trip to piza and Florence was easily done, although parking in Florence was difficult to find. :)

If you're going to Amalfi, taking the train to Salerno and then a train or boat to Amalfi is almost certainly the best choice. If you're going to a town west of Amalfi, you may have to change buses in Amalfi, and in that case, it might be better to take the train to Naples, the Circumvesuvian commuter train to Sorrento, and then a boat or bus to the destination.

You can get private driver services from Naples, if you want to spend the money. I think it's about 100 euros. Again, if you're going to Amalfi, or points east, it might be be better to get a driver from Salerno.

You probably need to get a little more specific about your plans for the AC. The info others have provided is good, but a lot depends on exactly where you're going on the AC and what you want to see.

For instance, a lot of people use Sorrento as a base (although, technically, it's not part of the AC). Others go to Positano. Also, how much do you want to spend for transportation. There are a lot of options.

<i>Also, it's possible that we are not able to find a flight leaving from the Amalfi/Rome area (if we fly IN to the Florence area).</i>

That's rubbish. Do a multi-city search from your home to Florence and return from Rome to your home. Rome will have the MOST transcontinental flights of any Italian city, Milan will have the next highest number.

Odds are that if you want to fly from Naples to somewhere in the US, you'll be flying through Rome, Milan or another major airport in Europe (e.g., CDG in Paris, which sucks).

Okay, thank you all so much for your input. More specifically, we are going from Florence to Rome to Positano. We had hoped to also visit Cinque Terre and a day trip to Pompeii (or do it on the way to the Amalfi coast as some have suggested but we will have our luggage). I will be looking to book our flight multi-city flying into Florence and out of Rome or Naples or something along those lines. From what I understand if we base ourselves in Positano we can spend a few days there just exploring and enjoying ourselves without needing to travel TOO far by anything other than foot for those few days. My dad suggested that we pay a few bucks and get a driver to take us around some more of AC since we'll be there. He also suggested that we visit the Isle of Capri for a day. Thank you all so much for your feedback!

We have done this very trip. We started in Florence, went to the Amalfi Coast and ended in Rome. Flying from Naples, you will most likely have a stop in Europe. You may be able to get a non-stop flight from Rome, depending on your home airport.

Capri is lovely but best visited at least overnight. It is very crowded during the day with cruise passengers.

Agree I would switch it so your time in Rome is at the end of your trip then fly home from there. That makes the most sense logistically.