2 weeks in Italy for a wedding in Vietri Sul Mare in October!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/positano-amalfi-question

Perhaps the link may help.
Have a wonderful trip!

Start with a guide book (RS or any other company) and use Google Maps to zoom in and get a sense of where these places are, how far apart they are, and the types of transport available between them. Then come back and you will be SO much more able to ask questions and understand the responses.

I would stay in Vietri Sul Mare. It looks beautiful and should be quieter and more relaxing. We visited Salerno a few years ago and found it quiet noisy.

Hello Karen O, as I'm sure you've seen the options for Rome out of SAN only come from a few carriers. Just by chance we usually fly BA through Heathrow and the they are well connected through out Europe. BA started doing two flights a day out of SAN during the summer last year and I think they are doing that again this year. But KLM is also starting to fly Amsterdam 3 days a week this summer and Amsterdam is a good connection airport as well. LAX has Rome direct flights but SAN has not caught up to that service yet, but you have options.

They are also trying/starting to open the tiny "Salerno/Amalfi Coast" airport again, but I have no idea what the flights look like into there. They are probably budget carriers that bring low fares but luggage limits and other issues, but it might be worth looking into. Direct Rome to Salerno trains are about 1.5-2 hours but I would recommend staying in Rome at least the first night after that flight.

For the wedding I would definitely stay in Vietri Sul Mare or Salerno. VSM is the very last town on the Amalfi coast so coming from Sorrento or Positano will present real connections issues and you don't want to be late for the wedding. From Salerno there is train, bus and even just a taxi because it is that close. Be sure you know where in VSM the actual wedding is happening because there are many outlying areas - like Dragonea - and villas up in the hills overlooking the sea and you probably want a cab for those unless they have arranged transportation.

Salerno has the best connections to the coast with ferries and buses to everywhere. Capri is furtherest from Salerno but there are cruises out there. Salerno is very much everyday Italian life with a small old downtown and a pedestrian shopping street with a good collection of restaurants and bars. It has a small sliver of the southern chaos that Naples has in spades and it reminded me of touring Italy in the 90s. I liked Salerno but it is very much not the Amalfi Coast vibe. I think the AC is very beautiful from the sea but too tourist crowded to feel like you're discovering anything new.

October is getting out of season so the crowds should be less but ferries will still be in full service. Depending on the year the weather can start to turn on the coast which is another reason to stay close because rough seas can cancel the ferry service - especially in Positano. I understand your position on lodging but the AC lodging fills up quickly and early so if you actually want to stay on the AC you may have no choice.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Thank you so much! I am searching for info on Salerno & there is not much ...even in Rick's book. We are leaning toward basing there for the transport options! The wedding is only 10 minutes away (allegedly). We are looking at a place that looks very nice called Casa Santangelo that another person mentioned. Has anyone else stayed there? Becky mentioned Salerno is noisy. Any feedback??

Appreciate any suggestion for hotels in Sorrento? I think we will go there for a few days first.

Thanks for your lengthy reply!!

How many NIGHTS do you actually have in Italy?

Any interest in Pompeii, Naples, Paestum?

If you are set on RT Rome then you need to end your trip in Rome.
Give Rome 3 nights minimum. Bare minimum.

Are you committed to 4 or 5 nights for wedding? Should you stay in Vietri sul Mare for wedding activities?
Salerno is a good choice for a starting point especially if arriving after overnight flight then train ride.
Casa Santangelo looks really cool- I don’t think that was there when we stayed in Salerno 2019. Good location
We stayed at a small boutique right on the Corso- Hotel Montestella- were just there as quick 2 night stop from ferry for train to Paestum and Venice.
Best gelato and very fun passiegiatta.

If you Search the forum for Salerno- there are posts- be sure to filter by Type and Date.
There are some interesting sites, medieval center, easy train to Paestum, good restaurants, nice waterfront/beach and views. Less touristy, more real.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Salerno&utf8=✓

We spent 9 nights in the AC area-
4 Sorrento- visited Pompeii and Capri
3 Amalfi/Ravello- visited Positano by ferry
2 Salerno- visited Paestum

We’ll go back to Sorrento and probably Salerno at some point.

Salerno is a good entry/exit point to the area because of direct trains to Rome and north.
We enjoyed all 3 towns as bases. It was easier to move every few nights than to travel to/from every day. Traffic is chaotic. Views of the coast and villages are best from the water.

Fly to Rome
(Or spend 1 night in Rome if you need to)
Train to Salerno 2 nights- visit Paestum
Vietri sul Mare 5 nights- wedding, Amalfi/Ravello, Positano

Sorrento 3 nights- Capri or Pompeii
Rome 3 or 4
Fly home

I can’t imagine flying in or out of Rome and not spending time there.

Casa Santangelo looks very swanky but my practical side is saying you may want something closer to the train station. You're practically a 1/3 of the way to VSM being that far down. The train station is where the AC buses leave from and is just above the ferry so nearly all modes of transport leave from that area. If you have to do that trek everyday to go somewhere else you may wish you were closer.

You can check Google maps - it's probably not even a mile so depending on your tolerance for walking that may be fine. And if you decide to take a cab you're saving yourself a couple of euros by being closer.

Corso Vittorio Emanuele is a long, wide pedestrian shopping street that stretches north for about a km from the train station before dissolving into the old town. Somewhere in this area keeps the walk to a minimum and it is a pleasant shopping street stroll with everyone out seeing and being seen.

As for noise Salerno is a busy city and towards the old town the roads and town are starting to get squeezed down between the hills and the ocean so everything kind of packs together. Noise in Italian city, and maybe in any city, is different from block to block and building to building. If you are closer to the bar and restaurant zone I can easily see it being noisier - both in people being out and on bottle recycling collecting day which can happen early in the morning. Or if your window faces a main street that buses and trucks run down I can see that being noisy because there aren't that many through streets.

I don't think there's any way - except maybe reviews - to assess how loud or quiet any particular property is. We were there in October and it was quiet in the mornings with people rising later and places opening later and it seemed to follow the days of the week too - weekdays were quieter and expect closures of most things on Sunday and some into Monday. Italians respect la domenica and Sundays are not for working.

As for Sorrento it's been way too many years for me to think I could make recommendations there.

Hope that helps,
=Tod

We stayed at HOTEL RAITO in Vietri last year. It's a great, very Italian hotel with sea views, pool and free parking. They have a shuttle to the town center.

I would connect in Rome and fly on to Naples, and rent your car at Naples airport for the drive south.

RE hotel stop: You can also see if the bus stops near your hotel. You still may very well prefer to be closer to the train station (and so you can just walk to the ferry port, which is close), but as I recall, the bus departs from the train station and then makes stops all along the main route.

The reviews on booking.com are a good place to look for reports on things like noise, if the property you're interested in is listed there. You can't leave a review on booking.com if you haven't actually stayed at the property, which makes the reviews considerably more reliable than average.

Thank you all for your replies. They are very helpful!

I don’t know how to reply to each person ?!

We’re not going to do Rome this time because we have been there several times. We want to see as much as we can south of Rome as we only have two weeks.

We are once again looking at staying in Vietri sul Mare for the wedding activities, which begin on Monday and end on Thursday - 4 nights. We are pretty much committed to flying in and out of Rome because the itinerary is so much better for us. We are planning on renting a car and driving straight to Sorrento when we arrive, as it seems connections are not super easy, and a private transfer is $600-$750 (two quotes I have received in the past two days). Many places I have looked at have free parking in Sorrento. Any recommendations that are your favorites are welcome! If we stay 2 or 3 nights we can visit Capri, (Pompei if we decide to) and can ferry to Positano and Amalfi.

Then we are thinking that we will drive over to Puglia to see the trulli houses and the coastal towns over there. Any recommendations in that area are what I need now!! I think we will have 5-6 days there. Then we will drive back to Vietri sul Mare & stay there for the wedding. We have a couple extra days to see more of the Amalfi coast before driving back to Rome for our departure.

As far as lodging, someone mentioned staying at Hotel RAITO.
I believe the rehearsal dinner will be held there. The reviews on TripAdvisor in the last year are horrible for hotel guests. It looks like a beautiful hotel but if several guests are consistently saying negative things, I think we’ll choose somewhere else! Any other recommendations? I have sent inquiries to the Aquaboutique Wellness Spa twice and have not received a reply! Other recommendations from the wedding website include Hotel La Lucertola, Hotel Scapatiello, Hotel Vice Del Mare and Villa Paradise AC. Has anyone stayed at any of these?

If there are any other must see areas?

Again, Thank you so much for your replies to my questions! I appreciate you!!

I would think carefully about landing in Rome (flying overnight?) and immediately driving to Sorrento, for multiple reasons. Otherwise, several days in Sorrento, Vietri, and over in Puglia sounds like a great plan. I can’t quite follow your overall order of things, but I would pick up a car when departing the Amalfi area and drop it when you return.
Anywhere in the Itria valley or the nearby coast is a good base for Puglia.