We're now in the early stages of planning a trip of approximately 11 days including Venice, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast. It will be either this fall or next spring, in an attempt to bypass the brunt of the tourist traffic and the most oppressive of the summer weather. There will be four people in our group. Our very tentative plan is to fly into Venice, then drive or train to Rome, end up at the Amalfi Coast, and return to Rome for our flight home (JFK). I have been to Venice and Rome several times (not recently), but have not been to the Amalfi Coast. So my questions are:
1. How many days to spend in each? (I'm thinking three, plus a travel day between the stops.)
2. Whether to go by car or train? (I've done lots of traveling by both and have rented as recently as two weeks ago in Poland.) If by car, I'd pick up the car when leaving Venice and return it at the Rome airport. If the costs are approximately the same, I will probably prefer renting a car for the greater convenience it would provide.
3. Which hotels to stay at? I'd like to keep a max of $250 a night. In Venice, I will want a centrally located (near San Marco?) hotel, preferably on one of the canals. In Rome, I prefer the area near Piazza di Spagna. On the Amalfi Coast, I'm leaning toward Positano, but am open to other ideas. If need be, I will use Priceline to get hotels in Venice and/or Rome. For the Amalfi, it may well be that I have to go above my budget to get the accommodations I am looking for.

Often trains are best, but with 4 people and since you are experienced with rental/driving in Europe that sounds good for your group.

Pensione La Calcina in Venice is a lovely hotel. It's along the Guidecca (large shipping canal) and a tiny bit out of the way (near L'Accademia bridge) about 10 mins. walk from San Marcos. www.lacalcina.com

Would it make more sense to end your trip in Rome? You can fly from Venice to Naples very cheaply on either Alpieagles or volareweb instead of going to Rome twice. Do you have 11 days in Italy or does that include travel time?

I agree. The best way to maximize your time would be to fly into one city (Venice) and out of another (Rome or Naples).

Hi NR,

I also suggest that you look into flying out of Naples.

Prices for trains
Venice/Rome 67 or 45E
Rome/Naples 33 or 22E

Schedules and prices are at www.trenitalia.com/en

From Naples you can train or hire a car to take you to the AC. Prices are about 90E.

I'm doing a similar itinerary this August/September.
fly NY-London-Venice
4 nights in Venice at La Calcina
fly from Venice to Naples; ferry to Capri
2 nights Capri - Caesar Augustus hotel
ferry to Positano
4 nights Positano -- Albergo Miramare
train to Rome
4 nts Rome - B&B Banchi Vecchi - Campo dei Fiori
fly from Rome to NY

Thanks for the ideas so far. We had planned three days at each city plus one day for travel in-between, giving a total of 11. The major change I can see is to put the Amalfi in the middle so we don't go to Rome twice. If we don't make that switch, we might be able to leave from Naples, but that would almost certainly require a change of planes en route back home. From Rome, I'm sure we could go nonstop. I'll have to check the possibilities for air connections from Venice to Naples. If that works from a cost standpoint, we may be able to forget about a rental car or train since cars are useless in Venice, Positano, and Rome. All we would need complete the picture would be transportation from the Amalfi back to Rome, which I suspect is no big deal.
Re Venice: I had heard about La Calcina and will certainly keep it in mind. We'll probably also take a shot at the Accademma, though from what I've heard it's very difficult to get reservations. Even so, if we go in the spring, that might be far enough in advance.

Are you planning 4 to a room or 2 and 2 at the $250 night level?

We just did that trip, but in reverse: 3 nights Rome, 3 nights Positano, 2 nights Capri, 2 nights Sorrento, 3 nights Venice; the distance between all but Sorrento and Venice were short and reasonable. Had we known there would be a train strike while we were in Sorrento (the day we planned to go to Pompeii), I would have tacked more time on staying in Positano, only because (aside from the beauty), it makes a great base to travel the Amalfi Coast.

>Had we known there would be a train strike while we were in Sorrento

But that's the beauty of Italy. You never know when there is going to be a train strike. Or when the conductor wants to stop and get coffee or pick up his dry cleaning or wait for his next door neighbor . . . ;-)

gnr

I wouldn't get a car for this trip. I would fly into Venice for 3 nights fly to Naples on one of the budget airlines (probably can book cheaper than the trains), take the Curreri shuttle bus(about 10E- 60 minutes) from Naples airport to Sorrento train/bus station and catch bus(2-3E) to Positano/Amalfi for 3 nights. Last - train to Rome(22E) for 3 nights. You won't want a car in Rome and there isn't much parking in the Amalfi coast area. If there is a train strike you can take the Marozzi bus from Sorrento to Rome for 20E.

gnr,
While our son was disappointed, he has many years to go back and see Pompeii. We spent the time at the beach (the water there is incredible!), perusing the shops, swimming in the hotel pool, and waving at the Sorrento Web Cam!

In answer to one question: four people in two rooms.
Many good suggestions. We're pretty much set on Venice as our entry gateway. The idea of flying inexpensively to our next stop might put our time and money to better use. Even so, when adding in the extra time needed to check in and then the time and cost of a taxi back into town, the train seems to be worth considering. Plus, it should be more relaxing, especially if we can travel midday, having lunch while we move along. By train, it's four and a half to five hours from Venice to Rome and then a bit less than 2 hours from Rome to Naples. From Naples, we would probably use a car service to and from Positano for what appears to be at least $100 each way. Adding it all up, I think we'll still spend less than we would on a car rental. Compared with either of the low cost airlines, it will cost a bit more, but the advantage (I hope) will be greater comfort en route. Also, by taking the train from Venice to Rome to Naples, the task of arranging flights will be simplified. Just JFK to VCE, then NAP to LHR? and then back to JFK. What's left now is hotels. For Venice, I have several in mind, including Pensione Accademia and La Calcina. For Rome, it's the Hotel King and ???. For Positano, it's either the Villa Rosa or Miramare. I'd like to think that with this much notice I have a good chance of being successful with whichever I pick. Any further suggestions on these would be appreciated. Last, but not at all least, will be ideas for restaurants and possibilities of what to do while there. Although we appreciate three-star Michelin restaurants, they can easily break the bank and you need to have a lot of time in between. Some years back, I visited five three-stars (all in France) in seven nights. That was easily the height of stupidity. So we now lean more toward Michelin's Bib Gourmands, restaurants with good value and, hopefully, a special setting. For those, I'll be scouring all sorts of observations on restaurants and appreciate any comments from Fodorites. For what to do, we are especially pleased by what's really special about an area. In Venice, it would more likely be a concert or concert rehearsal than a ride on a gondola. In Rome, it might be a visit to a lesser known church rather than coffee on the Via Veneto. In Positano, just looking at the sea would be enough. You get the picture, I hope. Over the last few years, we've gotten many exceptional suggestions from this forum and look forward to more for this trip. Many thanks to all.