Amalfi Coast Off Season

It will be our starting point for two weeks that will include Naples, Rome, Florence and Venice.

That is a lot of ground to traverse in just 2 weeks. And do not forget the daylight hours will be getting shorter in the Oct -Dec period.

I don't take off-season trips to Europe because of iffy weather almost everywhere and short days, so I have no personal experience with what you're considering. However, I think there have been comments here about reduced transportation options along the Amalfi Coast in the off-season, and perhaps restaurant closures. A good guidebook should address that type of issue if it is a problem.

The city part of your itinerary would be fine as long as you pack appropriately.

I agree that you have a challenging destination list for the amount of time you have.

Hi Mr. & Mrs Glass- I hope you can take the trip in 2021. If you have to prioritize , I would rank them as

Rome

Amalfi Coast

Venice

Florence

Naples

Surprise - Surprise- Naturally this ranking isn't the most travel efficient.
By-the-by, I used to work with a Gary Glass in Ft. Wayne...

We will actually be there 16 days. Those do not include travel days. I knew that a lot of restaurants and hotels close at the end of October on the coast. We are not beach people. We are “foodies” and plan on taking some cooking classes, seeing museums and maybe a few walking tours weather permitting. My original plans were Sorrento 3 nights, Naples 1 or 2 nights, Venice 2 nights, Florence 3 or 4 nights and Rome 4 nights. We are hitting the highlights this trip. Then we will be back for more! I’m about to bust to get this trip scheduled again. I have MS and don’t do well in heat so cooler weather trips are just a must. We also have to schedule around 2 granddaughter birthdays in September and October. So if December isn’t a good time we will have to go with end of October early November.

I am following this thread closely cause we are looking into travel in the off-off season. We always had to travel when the school schedule permitted but I am newly retired so we are free to go whenever. As I get older the hot weather bothers me more, not so much my hubby. But he will go whenever. We went to Rome during winter break one year (mid February) and it was wonderful. Cool weather, only one afternoon of rain. Crowds at the usual places - Vatican, Borghese, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum - but most other places no so much. We were 3 couples and had a great time. Also, the hotel we stayed at was half the price then the summer. The early sunset didn’t bother us at all, hardly noticed. We went out a few nights to walk around and get gelatos. No restaurant reservations anywhere we ate, no problem.

It’s nice to hear that you enjoyed Rome in February. The Amalfi Coast shuts down many restaurants and hotels. We just plan on seeing the coast by private taxi and visiting Pompeii. I follow a Sorrento FB group and the Christmas decorations were SO pretty.

We toured the Amalfi Coast area in late December 2012. The weather was sunny each day, and a light jacket was helpful in the evening, but that weather was pretty close to perfect. No outside dining, but no problem finding outstanding places to eat, in Sorrento or Naples.

After a week in Rome the week before Christmas, we flew to Sicily for a week, renting a car there. We brought it by car ferry back onto the mainland a few days before New Year’s, making our way north. After seeing Paestum in the afternoon of our second day after Sicily, we spent the night in Salerno, with marvelous choices for dining, and a wonderful stroll in the nighttime air.

Reached Sorrento the next day, actually staying in Piano di Sorrento. We used the rental car to reach some sights, including Pompeii and Herculaneum, but used the train for a day trip to Naples and its fantastic Archaeological Museum. The Polo Nord ice cream shop in Naples was closed for the season, so we missed out there, but then few tourists go to the real North Pole in December, either! We drove the Amalfi Coast again one day, coming back west with a beautiful sunset. Turned in the car before taking a train back to Rome for a last day and night.

Day trip to Capri by boat was enjoyable, too. Nowhere in Italy was absolutely jammed with other visitors. There were certainly other people, but it wasn’t stifling.

Three times in subsequent years have been to Florence in late October or November. Jacket needed on cool days, a bit of rain on occasion but not unmanageable, and, again, no dinners outside, but really a great time to be there.

Rome in December: magical, with pleasant weather and surprisingly small amount of people. We didn’t have the city to ourselves, but it sort of felt that way, considering it was such a major destination. Of course that was 8 years ago, and maybe had changed since then, but what will things be like in a year, maybe really different?!? We stayed in the Trastevere part to the west, with access to a daytime outdoor food market and easy transportation (or walking) into the city.

Venice? Have only been there in summer. Hope you can get there, whenever that will be.

Thank you! Yes...whatever next year will look like! Positive outlook that things will be better! Great to hear that you had good experiences!

Considering that December days are the shortest of the year, I would avoid places that I'd be dependent on daylight activities when sunset is before 5 pm, making for long evenings with not much at all to do.

I've been to the area twice in February. The first time I stayed in Sorrento and day tripped to Naples, Herculaneum and Pompeii. The second time, I spent a few days in Naples, then a few days in Salerno to explore the Amalfi Coast and Paestum. I was lucky both times, only had one day of rain (my day in Herculaneum). Many hotels were open in all 3 cities as well as all the restaurants and shops. Nothing was crowded and there were more locals than tourists everywhere. Most of the lodgings and restaurants in the AC villages were closed and virtually all the tourist shops, which was okay by me since the scenic beauty of the coast is what I enjoyed. For charming villages and small towns, there are much better areas like Umbria, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.

I would think October would be delightful.
We spent a month in that area in 2019 but were there all of April. The days were mostly 60s with some few 50s and several 70s. No rain problems except for a shower or two that didn't last. I would think October would be crisp nights with mild days.

Seeing Chani’s comments reminded me that it rained briefly while we were at Herculaneum, too. It was fantastic seeing that the 2,000-year-old gutters there still work, with water running down them to the ancient drains!

My prioritization would be different

Rome- my favorite city in Europe
Venice
Florence
Amalfi Coast- also like Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii
Naples-The Archaeological Museum is great, but not so much the city.

My pal Chani & I champion off-season visits to Italy, and to Europe in general. I've been twice in the late February to early March timeframe.

First time, in 2015, started in Paris, then by train to Lucerne, Switzerland, then across the Alps through Milan, to Florence, then to Salerno. Side trips to Amalfi and to my ancestral spot up in the mountains to Sant' Arsenio.

Last time in 2017 was a week in Rome at an apartment, then 5 days down in Sorrento.

Remarks--no question I'd rather travel at this time of year. We got the idea from a couple--from Chicago--that we befriended at a B&B in Salerno, who are a bit older and retired, but have dual citizenship and spend their winters in Rome. What almost nobody realizes is that The Eternal City in the winter is temperate for the most part & quite delightful, maybe like late April/early May in Chicago. Few tourists & locals willing to talk freely. Buses, Metro and attractions not jammed with people. Restaurants not crowded.

RE: the Amalfi Coast, we were there twice in early March and it was still pretty shut down, except for Sorrento. However, the SITA bus runs from Salerno to Amalfi, or from Sorrento to Positano, and I'll tell you, seeing one of the most beautiful spots on the planet without throngs of tourists is a real treat, even if most places are still buttoned up.

Even though you have the opportunity to hop from place to place, I will caution that 1-2 days cannot give you the flavor of a city or town. If possible, cut down the number of stops. You'll enjoy it more, trust me.

I've been to the Amalfi coast in both July and March and there was a considerable difference in terms of what was open. I'd say more than half the shops and restaurants in Amalfi and Positano were still closed for the season in March (and this was late March), almost that much in Sorrento. Once I was talking to a small shop owner in Sorrento (this was on one of my July trips) and she said most small shops and restaurants shut down by the end of October and don't open up again until Easter (so different every year) except that many of them do open for a few weeks in December. So that might work for you. However, since what you have planned is pretty tight and weather is iffy at that time of year I would consider staying for several days in Naples but not Sorrento. In "season" I would never suggest that, but off season with high chance of rain staying in a city might make more sense. You could then do day trips to Sorrento, Amalfi and Positano on sunny days, visit museums or churches or whatever in Naples on rainy days. If you have hotel reservations for 3 days in Sorrento and it rains all three days, then you move on to Naples for two days and it's sunny - well you're kind of screwed whereas if you booked all 5 nights in Naples you'd have the freedom to do outside things on the best days. Of course the downside is you'll spend two hours round trip on the train to get from Naples to Sorrento. But I can tell you there is NOTHING to do in Sorrento (and less than nothing in Amalfi and Positano) in the pouring rain. And that would mean one less hotel move on an already somewhat crowded vacation.

Rome and Florence are wonderful anytime, even in the rain, and long dark evenings are no problem - everything is beautifully lit. I was in Rome in late November once, things were starting to be decorated for Christmas, it was wonderful (even though it did rain a lot that trip).

October is probably my favorite month for Italy, but I've had great winter trips to Rome and Venice. I think you can usually find plenty to do in the way off season months in the cities, but not so sure about the Amalfi Coast area. We were there for 4-5 nights once at the very end of October, first days of November, and weather was good, but the last weekend of October was definitely the end of the season in Sorrento. Many businesses shuttered their windows on the first day of November and the ferry schedules dropped drastically. I generally like being in Italy when too many people aren't there, but the Amalfi Coast may not be at its best then.