buon giorno :) we will be spending some time in naples in october. without a car (trains, ferries are great!) we'd like to visit capri, sorrento, amalfi and positano.
we will definitely spend a few nites in capri. other than that, i'd really appreciate your ideas on how to best see all these towns by only staying overnite in TWO other places (we don't want to be unpacking all the time!).
grazie!
You can see them all from one place, or you can stay in Naples, and island, and one of the Amalfi coast villages. Sorrento is expendable in my opinion.
valadelphia, thank you so much! given the choice - what town would you recommend basing-out in? we're not interested in shopping or nightlife - looking for beauty, culture + great little trattorias.
I only made it as far as Amalfi. Amalfi, neighboring Atrani (since it is a short walk from Amalfi), or Positano would be my choice for access to ferries as well as buses.
valadelphia, thanks so much for your ideas!
I would probably pick Sorrento and Amalfi since you can day trip to Positano from either of them.
But are you talking about having five nights in addition to the two in Capri or three in addition to two in Capri? If so, I would consider spending two in Sorrento, two in Amalfi, and one in Capri.
But I must admit we mostly used Sorrento as base to visit Pompeii and climb Mt. Vesuvius. Sorrento is charming but not as interesting as the Amalfi coast itself. So if you are only interested in the coast, I would locate in one place and day trip from there. I liked Amafi town better than Positano. We stayed in Sorrento, Amalfi town, and Positano. I would have not have moved to Positano--too close too Amalfi town for the trouble of moving.
Beth
thank you beth! exactly what i'm thinking about now.
we are spending 4 nites in naples and moving-on from there. So, with 5 nites - we want 2 nites (or 3) in capri and then the rest. what we're trying to figure-out is where to 'base-out' after that. we'd like the best location to daytrip from, really. we will probably get the train back to naples from Salerno, so perhaps the last nite in amalfi would be a good idea.
out of curiosity - how was getting to pompeii from that side, rather than naples?
appreciate your help so much ;)
Getting to Pompeii Scavi is much easier from Naples (40min) than Amalfi (1H31min). This is what I'd do. Naples-Capri, 2 nights. Capri-Amalfi
3 nights. This allows you a day to visit Positano, and to visit The towns south. Minori, Maiori, and Vietri sul Mare.
Ferry and bus schedules.
Leaving from Amalfi to Salerno is a good idea from this side of the coast.
We took ferry from Naples to sorrento and then went to climb mt Vesuvius . It was a mistake as closer to Naples than sorrento. But I thought it was very reasonable to go from sorrento to Pompei.
We took bus to amalfi town and then another bus to positano. We had hiked path of gods and ended up in positano so especially silly to move to positano for 2 nights. We took ferry from positano to Capri and then back to Naples which we flew out of.
One of my colleagues from Italy told me he and his wife stayed a week in amalfi and day tripped from there.
Beth
Good advice from Gerri above. If you’re seeing Pompeii etc. from Naples there is zero reason to see Sorrento. Two nights in Capri out to be plenty. I had my fill with a day trip, though a balmy October evening after the crowds leave sounds lovely!
Amalfi makes the best base transportation-wise, though I didn’t care for the town too much. Atrani was a great place to stay, very humble authentic village with some great restaurants (I’d recommend dining here instead of Amalfi - Ristorante Savo was excellent.) Atrani also has a free, sandy beach.
I highly recommend spending a day in Ravello, an easy bus from Amalfi. There’s quite a bit to see there, and is a lovely place to explore. Ristorante di Salvatore is stellar with amazing views.
thank you everyone! this has cleared things up for me a lot. appreciate it <3 happy travels, all!
