after Rome?

What is it that attracted you to Maiori and the Amalfi peninsula? Maybe we can suggest similar alternatives.

Well, DH and I have been to Florence/Siena/Assisi, and we wanted to be somewhere other than a city for awhile. Capri/Amalfi are supposed to so beautiful,so I don't want us to miss a "once in a lifetime" experience. However, when my kids remember other places we have traveled, they remember the food or the exhaustion or the unique people we meet, never the historical monuments or gorgeous views.

If you don't like waiting for buses, picking a place with ferry service (Amalfi/Positano/Salerno) on that side of the Amalfi coast shouldn't be too hard....I used to live in Salerno for 2 years and its a great city to base yourself out of to see Amalfi, Capri, Positano, Vietri and Paestum, without using buses at all...... Yes, you will have a trek each day to hit all those highlights, there and back (no matter where you stay), but don't worry yourself in thinking that you will only be riding buses like sardines with other tourists and other italians.....just keep an eye on the schedules!

I agree with Katherine. The Amalfi Coast is beautiful, but you can see it in one day and it will be probably the most congested part of your trip. Procide and Ischia are lovely, but I would not miss Paestum.

Sorrento could keep you busy for a few days. Do not miss Paestum, the ruins are incredible. Capri is gorgeous aswell.

Stephanie, My wife and I took our 13 year old son to Italy last summer. He travels well, has a good attention span and loves history. Nonetheless, 4 days in Rome was plenty. We didn't see EVERYTHING (you can't) but we saw plenty. As Rick Steves says "You will return to Rome someday". I'm not sure there's a place to stay in Pompeii, but it is between Naples and Sorrento on the train - about a half hour from each. Knowing that my family would burn out on sight-seeing, and because Rick recommends NOT staying in Naples, I booked Sorrento for 3 nights. We took a train from Rome to Naples, did Rick's "Naples in a half-day" self-guided tour (and ate incredible pizza)then took a ferry to Sorrento. (The train would have been fine and a lot cheaper!) We loved Sorrento. Our hotel was "up the hill"; it had a pool which my son especially liked, and a shuttle bus down to town, where we went each evening. The street life was my wife's favorite part of the entire trip! Pompeii is a great day trip - a 30 minute train ride -you can go twice if you want to. Or see the Herculeum (a smaller, better preserved city that was also engulfed in Vesuvius' ash). More on the next post. Dave

Stephanie - here's the rest of my ramblings: The only problem with staying in Sorrento is that it takes pretty much a full day to get anywhere else major(Florence, the Cinque Terre, etc.) but I think it's worth it. And while you've seen the major cities before, your kids haven't. And nowadays, they learn a LOT about ancient Rome, Florence and Venice in 7th grade. My son was telling US about the Medici family, etc. But his favorite place was Venice. Ask your kids where they'd like to go. You might consider an itinerary that looks like this: Day 1-2-3-4 Rome Day 5 Naples-Sorrento day 6 relax by the pool Day 7 Pompeii Day 8 Relax, then take a sleeper car to Venice Day 9-10-11 Venice
Day 12 depart Venice, or take a train to Milan if that's a cheaper flight. Happy travels! Dave

On our first trip to Italy travelling on our own we spent 2 nights in Pompeii which gave us the whole in between day at the ruins. We were able to take our time and see everything. Hotel Amleto in Pompeii had nice room, large bathroom, friendly, helpful service. It was a block or so from the main square where we went to sit at a cafe and sip wine and people watch. I recommend the Hotel Amleto. Have a great trip.
Mimi

I would stick with your original plan. Get an apartment or hotel in Positano following your 2 days in Pompeii and use it as a base to visit the other towns by ferry, which should be running in early June. At all of the beaches in Positano you can rent paddleboats, which should be enjoyable for the kids if they get tired of playing in the ocean. We stayed in Positano for a week and never stepped foot on a bus and didn't have a car. We visited Capri for a day by ferry. We took the ferry to Amalfi and visited Ravello and Amalfi for the day. We took the ferry to Salerno to visit Vietri Sul Mare for the day. To get to Paestum, you could take the ferry to Salerno, then walk over to the train station and buy train tickets to get the Paestum and back. If you and the kids are serious walkers, you could even do the Hike of the Gods one day. Probably our favorite day was when we caught the De Adolfo boat at the "pier" in Positano and rode it over to Laurito Beach, where we spent much of the day laying in the sun on the loungers, playing in the surf and having a fantastic meal at the beach restaurant Da Adolfo in our swimsuits.

Thanks everyone - I think I am going to stick to our original plan. I found an apartment to rent in Vietri sul Mare within our price range. Vietri sounds more charming that Maiori, and we will be able to use the ferry in/out of Salerno. This has been the hardest part of the trip to plan, so I want to make it as fun as possible. Thank you so much!

In Paestum the kids will probably enjoy the ruins and the museum (small enough not to be boring and repetitious), there's a beach, and lots of mozzarella farms (some have visits/tours).