Amalfi Coast

Retired teacher here. I survived 34 years to a blissful retirement.
Sorry, but Positano is not a good base, and outside of high-end shopping, doesn't offer much. The beach is small, black pebbles, and the ferry dock is small, meaning that it may close in bad weather, and you are stranded. Positano is best viewed from the water. The Instagrammers have misrepresented the area. There will be severe crowding, even in May, and transportation out of Positano is a pain.
May I suggest staying in either Sorrento or Salerno? Salerno has good train access.
Research the infrastructure issues in the AC and Sorrento- moving about takes patience and time due to the congestion and poor public transportation modes. There are dozens of posts here offering helpful info- just Search.
Wishing you a great trip, once you take in account the realities on the ground.
Safe travels.

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Amalfi+Coast

I agree with everything Pat has posted.
Positano is not a good base, it’s worth an hour or 2 at most- lots of steps, lots of high end shops, very crowded, tiny pebbly beach.

Sorrento will probably be best choice for your group. You should be able to find affordable lodging if you book early. Sorrento is the transportation hub for all of the AC, bus or ferry, train to Pompeii etc.
It’s a pretty town with great restaurants, nice views, fun shopping and room to move around.

Take a look at Mondo Guides Shared Tours- they are quite affordable- we enjoyed the Capri boat tour with them as well as the Pompeii visit. Others here have been happy with their AC coast tour which takes you to Positano/Amalfi/Ravello.

https://www.sharedtours.com/

Or you can DIY yourself by ferry.

Do some searches here and read thru the dozens of posts about Sorrento and AC and all of the issues.

We did enjoy our time in Salerno- it’s way less touristy but not a good location if Capri is high on your list- just a bit too far by ferry.

We will fly home from Naples

No matter where you stay you will likely need to stay in Naples the night before your flight- most flights out of Naples are quite early in the am and getting to NAP on time from anywhere along the coast is very risky unless your flight happens to be later in the day.
If you stay in Sorrento or Salerno you could stay there night before departure as long as flight is not super early and you have your transportation figured out- there are direct buses to the airport from those towns.

Consider Salerno for your base. Lodging should be cheaper, and you can use the savings for sightseeing.

Throwing my vote in with the others to skip Positano as a base; they've already listed good reasons why. Salerno has seen an increasing amount of love from posters who have enjoyed their stays there very much. One of its benefits - besides pricing + not yet, to our knowledge, being overrun with Instagrammers and Influencers - is that it has fast-train service (Trenitalia and Italo) to/from other Italian cities. It also puts you closer to the towns of Amalfi and Ravello. Unfortunately, it puts you some distance from Capri (2 hours one-way by ferry) and Sorrento. Sorrento really is the best base for that one and for Pompeii (which you didn't mention but I'll heartily recommend) as well.

Whatever you choose, I'll also recommend staying in Naples the night before your flight. There is ferry service between Sorrento and Naples or battered commuter train, and fast-train service from Salerno. You might also consider hiring a private transfer service? With that many of you to split the cost, that might be an easy option. Where will you be coming from?

Good replies. Sorrento has, by far, the best transit connections for daytrips. The town is a bit of a postwar, purpose-built resort town, with a lot of low-rise reinforced concrete buildings. But it was perfect for our five nights in a (pricey) cliffside hotel with a view of Vesuvius from the bed. We did daytrips every day.

I urge you to use the Search box (top center) to find hundreds of posts directly on your questions. Sorry to say, when we were in Sorrento in the last week of May, every bus leaving for Amalfi (via Positano) had a line waiting that held more people than would fit on the next, half-hourly bus. Our host, Rick, has noted that it's a good idea to bus to Positano first, then on to Amalfi/Ravello, because after 3PM, the bus from Amalfi may not even stop (I mean returning to Sorrento) in Positano because it is packed to the rafters, including standees. We hired a car and driver for 8 hours for our AC day from Sorrento.

I don't know the facts, but because Positano has hundreds (yes, hundreds) of stair steps, there have to be some cheaper hotels that do not have an easy walk to the small, all-pebble beaches and the press of humanity.

We stayed in Positano a couple of years ago and I agree with all of the comments.
Am asking the experts if the town of Amalfi would be worth considering.

Btw, we loved Ravello, it is easily worth a half day.

We stayed in Amalfi and enjoyed it
There is a bit more to see and do there and more room to move around/avoid crowds
Took bus to Positano and returned by ferry
Took bus up to Ravello
This was in May 2019-crowded but not unmanageable

We used a driver from Sorrento to Amalfi

Amalfi is better transportation wise but not good for visiting Pompeii (did that and Capri from Sorrento)

We spent 2 nights in Salerno ( ferry from Amalfi) specifically to visit Paestum and take a fast train north
Other villages to consider are Vietre sul Mar and Maiori-both have ferry

Suggestion - As 2 ladies in our 70's we are staying in Minori for 8 nts. It's great for day trip all along the Amalfi coast...Capri and Sorrento. Minori is only a 20min direct bus to to Amalfi town, from there you can take a bus or ferry anywhere even Ravello. We're leaving for Italy on Sept 17th.....8nts in Minori and 4nts in Sorrento. We have a great itinerary planned for each day!

We have an early flight out of Naples so we plan on getting to the airport the day before, staying in the pod rooms which are right there on the grounds of the airport. We're taking the direct bus from Sorrento, dropping off our luggage and then taking the direct bus to Naples to enjoy our last day in Italy. The bus to Naples has two stops, we're getting off by the ferry port to see the sights in that area. Hope this helps, its so much fun planning! How long is you trip?

Another suggestions....Atrani.....it's a small lazy town but is walking distance to Amalfi, where you get the busses and ferries to most towns. In fact there is a 10min walking tunnel between Atrani and Amalfi. This sounds perfect for a home base to see the Amalfi coast

We stayed in Sorrento and were happy. We took ferry day trips to Amalfi, Capri and Postiano ( fortunately the weather cooperated). `Also from Sorrento we took the train to Pompeii. Sorrento worked out for us.

...we are staying in Minori for 8 nts. It's great for day trip all
along the Amalfi coast...Capri and Sorrento

Jo, I see that you're staying in BOTH Minori and Sorrento? You'll want to go to Capri from Sorrento, not Minori, as ferries from there take 80 minutes, one way, versus 20-30 minutes from Sorrento. There are also VERY few ferries which service that route: schedules are showing only one per day in each direction.

There are isn't any ferry service from Sorrento to Minori or vice versa.
https://www.naplesbayferry.com/en/index

I get so excited about our trip that I wasn't clear about Sorrento and Capri. After the 8 days in Minori we are taking the ferry to Sorrento for 3 nights, doing a day trip to Capri and another to Herculaneum. The day before our flight we will take the direct bus to the Naples airport.