Amalfi Coast - Which town to stay in?

Sorrento. I don't know much about the Amalfi Coast, so I can't down Positano or Amalfi as places to stay, but Sorrento was awesome and of the three, it's the easiest to get to from Naples. I would stay there and use it as a base for all your Amalfi Coast (mis)adventures. The entire Amalfi Coast is breahtakingly gorgeous, so I certainly wouldn't complain if someone "bent my arm" and made me stay somewhere else haha, but I really enjoyed Sorrento and I think it's a nice mixture of modern conveniences (as in buses, trains, etc...) and a relaxing get-a-way. If you're more into getting away from it all, though, then maybe the other places would be a better option. You can't lose either way.

The ideal thing would be to split your time between Sorrento and Positano, if you have several days there. But if you only want one home base, go for Sorrento.

The advantage of Sorrento is that the Circumvesuviana local train goes there, which makes it easy to visit Pompeii, Herculaneum, & Naples - if you want to see any of those places too. Sorrento is also much larger than Positano, with more shops, places to eat, etc.

I've stayed in Amalfi, and visited Positano, but for convenience, I will stay in Sorrento on my next visit. I makes a good hub (transportation wise) for exploring the entire area whether you are going to Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Positano, or Amalfi. There should be a multitude of accommodations to choose from as well. In February it will be cold, and some of the tourist oriented businesses shut down for the off-season.

Well, with my job February is very slow for me so I was looking at places to go that way I could vacation and not worry about missing a ton of work while I was away. If you have any alternatives I haven't thought of, please feel free to tell me. I was looking for a European destination....

Thanks for the insight everyone. James- I was in Rome two years ago so I was trying to go for somewhere different though I'm sure I could go back and have a ball!

Rome, Rome, Rome. There's so much to see and do there.

Michael - I think Tracey was referring to our favorite town in Amalfi Coast. Staying in Rome for your Amalfi Coast visit is do-able, but not highly recommended :-)

Go North to Cortina D'Ampezzo and go skiing! If you have to endure the cold, do it in style! That's peak tourist season there. It's like being in Switzerland only the "Swiss" are speaking Italian!

Sorrento is our 2nd favorite place in all of Europe - I vote for Sorrento! You can still see Herculaneum, Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius, Capri, Positano in February and enjoy them all. Sorrento is extremely relaxing, beautiful, a good mix of old and new, and a wonderful "real" Italian town with warm and friendly people.

Sorrento gets my vote!!! Best of everything and a great jump off pt for transport to Capri, and surrounding tourist areas. The eve stroll is very nice also w/ gelato in hand!

Thanks everyone! I think I am going to go ahead and plan the trip and stay in Sorrento. Even if it is a little chilly it's still a vacation in Italy :)

Now, I just need a place to stay!

Thanks!

We stayed in Maiori and found it an excellent location. Bus & boat service to the Amalfi and Capri.

We stayed at Hotel Panarama. It was a nice hotel and directly across the street from the beach.

The hotel rates appear to be more reasonable in maiori as well.

Positano. Hands down.

Sorrento in February. I think that sounds wonderful!

We have visited the area before and are returning in September. When we travel there, we like to stay a long time and with our budget, have to choose the less expensive recommendations. The last time we stayed at Hotel Desiree, page 861 of Rick Steve's 2010 Travel Book. If you can afford more, then, there will be many other suggestions, but we enjoyed the staff and our stay at Hotel Desiree. They offer a nice simple breakfast included and are extremely helpful in answering any questions about connections, language, sites to visit, etc. Some prefer to stay a shorter time in more expensive places, but we like to spend the entire month in a country when we go and so, make these choices. Sorrento is an ideal location as a home-base on the Amalfi Coast.

Does anyone have any experiences with the Casa Dominova in Sorrento? It received a lot of positive feedback on tripadvisor.com and 50 euros a night, seems like a pretty good deal.

Also, has anyone stayed at the new IQ Hotel Roma? We are going to be flying in and out of Rome (yes, I know all about open jaw but Delta sucks and doesn't have pay with miles on any flights to/from Naples - and I would rather save over $700 and make the train trips). Last time we stayed out at the Pizza del Popolo so I was looking for something closer to the train station.

Finally how does this look for a plan:
Saturday - depart US
Sunday early AM - arrive Rome, stay in Rome
Monday - train to Naples then transfer to Sorrento, stay in Sorrento
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - explore Amalfi Coast and a trip to Pompei - staying in Sorrento
Friday - transfer to Naples, train to Rome, spend the rest of the day in Rome.
Saturday - depart Rome for US.

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all of your help. This is my third trip I have planned through Rick's books and the help of this website!

We stayed in the Hotel San Francesco in Maoiri...it was quiet, not as crowded as the other towns, but you can get around by bus or boat. Depends on what you're looking for...the staff was wonderful, the food was great (we were doing a package deal, supper was served at the hotel), and it's not even a block from the beach. Every night we would sit outside and drink our vino or lemoncello. I'd go back in a heartbeat!