We are planning a day trip from Rome to see Pompeii in early July. We have a driver picking us up at the Naples train station and taking us to Pompeii, where we'll have a two hour guided tour. We expect to finish around noon. The driver is then going to drive us around for the afternoon and take us to the train station in time for our return train to Rome. We need to decide which train station to use for our return to Rome: Naples or Salerno. In order to make this decision, we're hoping to get more information on the time involved in driving the Amalfi Coast during the super busy summer season.
When we finish at Pompeii, we will need to eat lunch (a quick one is fine) and then want to drive at least some of the coast. We would like to spend at least an hour in Positano, maybe also Amalfi if time allows? We have seen many warnings that driving the Amalfi Coast is ridiculously slow during the summer. My question: how far is it reasonable to expect our driver to take us along the Amalfi Coast, given our time constraints? On even a terribly crowded traffic day, is it reasonable to expect to get all the way to Salerno, or would that be pushing it? We don't want to spend all afternoon "pedal to the metal". Ideally, it would be nice to see the entire length of the coast, but I worry that being required to get all the way to Salerno might be too stressful. I'm leaning toward having the driver take us to Positano, perhaps Amalfi and then turning around to go back to Naples (there are trains leaving Naples at 6:30 & 7:40 pm). Also, should we give any time to Sorrento, instead of Amalfi? I've heard about a coral factory in Sorrento - is that interesting. or a tourist trap?
I'd appreciate hearing from others with experience along this route in early July. Thank you!