Amalfi Coast with Kids

Spend the last night in Rome. You do not say how old the kids are, but it sounds like they are an age that is high maintenance. Even without kids I would suggest the last night be in Rome.

As for parking in Positano you should ask your lodging what provision they have for parking.

Traffic on the Amalfi coast is heavy and slow. If you use Positano as a base and want to use the car to go somewhere you slog through traffic and then have to find $$ parking, when you get to your destination.

The other issue is whether its worth the bother to go there for the limited time you have. You should figure a half day travel each way to/from the AC region.

The other issue is whether its worth the bother to go there for the
limited time you have. You should figure a half day travel each way
to/from the AC region.

Echoing Joe here, it would be helpful to have a more concise look at your itinerary? You definitely need to return to Rome the day before your flight out: the Amalfi is much too far away to take that sort of risk with either a car OR the trains. Consider that the usual recommendation for airport arrival is 3 hours before an international flight. Anyway, knowing exactly when your ship will arrive and how many nights - subtracting one for Rome - you will have to spend in the A.C. may determine if it's worth the effort. It may also help to know how old your children are as traveling with very small kids is a different animal than, say, with teenagers.

Personally? I wouldn't consider a car for sightseeing the A.C. during high season for all the reasons Joe has listed. The ferries are a better choice, IMHO, when at all possible. This may be especially important if any of you have challenges with motion sickness. It may be OK to get a rental to drive from Civitavecchia to Sorrento or Salerno and then turn it in but I'll have someone else weigh in on that option. If you go that route, reading up on stuff like ZTLS, insurance and International Drivers Permits is advised.

Adding to the above reccommendations.

While Salerno may seem to be a viable choice, the ferry rides to Capri and Positano will eat up too much valuable time.
See ferry schedules here.

http://www.positano.com
To Capri: 1 1/2 hrs. To Positano:
1 : 15.

From Sorrento-Capri. 20min.
Positano 40 min.

You need to count nites, not days.

1. Arrival Citivecchia Port.
   Train or drive to Sorrento 4+hrs. (IF)you've driven in Italy before, car would be best bet with kids and cruise luggage
   Otherwise take train.
   Check into lodging. Dependent on the time you leave the ship, it could be as late as 5pm.

2. Visit Capri. This will take the better part of the day.
   If your flight is the next day, you need to take the evening train to Rome.

3. Flight home.

If this is the amount of time you have, consider instead a town like Orvieto. It's 1 1/2 hrs from Rome.

If you do have an additional nite, you could visit Positano, but even this is a hellish pace.

You might wish to go to the library and read our host's "Rick Steves Italy" (any year) for some background information. A beach is a beach (even if it's 1 1/2" stones, no sand) and you have to pay for a chair. But Positano is a not a real "kids" destination. It (like Capri) has hundreds (yes, hundreds) of steps, and long walks to get the car. There is only one two-lane road through the town. Capri should not be done with children who cannot walk a mile before and a mile after lunch. It's a pedestrian island.

I wonder if you picked the AC by name and reputation, instead of matching something with Civitavecchia, which is well north of Rome. For example, you could consider the Tuscany area lakes, like Castiglione del Lago (just one example), a quiet but beautiful town where a car is a plus instead of hinderance. Lots of posts here (search box top center) laud Tuscany agriturismos for families, but I don't have personal experience. One point is that the airport is OUTSIDE Rome, so it's convenient to get to FROM TUSCANY (or that part of the Atlantic coast), rather than the impractical schlep from the Amalfi Coast.

If you stayed in Orvieto (a bit intellectual for young children ... ) a town I love, you could take a chance and leave at 7AM on return home day. But check-in lines for Economy can be fierce. At least you don't have Rome traffic to contend with.

Edit: Restated location of FCO airport due to later post.

One point is that the airport is NORTH of Rome, so it's convenient to
get to, rather than the schlep from the Amalfi Coast.

Tim, Fiumicino is Southwest of Rome, last I looked. Did you mean a different airport?

The Amalfi coast is not easy to get to, get around and adding in small children, will not be a great combination....but try ISCHIA...if you like the idea of going where Italian families go to vacation.

Ischia is perfect for kids..a great family getaway....train from Civitavecchia to Rome Termini then high speed train to Naples, taxi to ferry port to Ischia...it will be the perfect beach getaway with sandy beaches that you walk on to, no cliffs to scramble down to go into the sea, and there are sights to see, gardens, Castle Aragonese etc. It is like going back in time in Italy...I recommend looking at information on the web since RS does not cover this island in his books. Lonely Planet has good information.

The island is much bigger than Capri, and easier to navigate. Renting a car here is easy, and recommended if you have a hotel with parking. Look at Ischia Ponte or Forio for easy beach access and restaurants, shops etc. There is a ferry that goes directly from Naples to Forio's port, or you can go take a more frequently running ferry to Ischia Porto.

You can visit all the 4 major towns by taking a boat tour...or take a ferry to Capri for the day if that is important.
Pack light, do laundry! :)
http://www.ischiareview.com/

Choose a hotel in Rome for your last night. With a noon departure, you should plan to be at the airport at 9.00. That means leaving your hotel around 8.00. When you get to Civitavecchia, go to that Rome hotel and ask them to store the bulk of your luggage. Take one bag for the 2 nights you'll be away. Take a fast train to Salerno and stay there. You can get buses and ferries from Salerno to explore the Amalfi Coast towns. Then take an afternoon or evening train to Rome. Forget about Capri for this trip.

Salerno is a pleasant town and mostly at sea level, unlike Positano or Sorrento, for instance. There is a nice beach and lots of restaurant, cafe and gelato options. Very walkable with a nice medieval section.

We drove from Florence to Positano, parked the car in parking garage for one night (no parking at the hotel). We thought we would use the car and quickly realized it was foolish to have it on the coast. So, we took it back to the Naples airport the next day and dumped it. We took a boat to Positano and used public transportation the rest of the time. I do NOT recommend a car on the Amalfi Coast. You can move around using buses and boats. We hired a car and driver to take us back to Naples when we left, then took the high speed train to Rome.

Thank you all for your precious help.

We will be arriving to "Civitavecchia" at around 8:00 AM on the 28th of July. My kids are 12 and 8. Our flight from FCO is scheduled on the 31rst of July at 12:00 PM.
Staying at Positano is no longer an option because I found no hotels available.

The plane tickets are already confirmed, so I will need to find a nice beach destination for the kids during the last few days of our trip. I will pack light.
Rome will be covered before the cruise so no need to explore it again.

So now I am confused about what to look for and really running out of time.

We will be arriving to "Civitavecchia" at around 8:00 AM on the 28th
of July. My kids are 12 and 8. Our flight from FCO is scheduled on the
31rst of July at 12:00 PM.

Ok, that's the info we needed. Your problem is that it would have taken a good chunk of the day and multiple types of transport to get to Positano on the 28th anyway, and you'd only have the 29th before having to head back to Rome sometime on the 30th for your flight on the 31st.

If still intent on the A.C. region, you could get to Salerno by train in about 4 hours or so but I'm not seeing particularly good reviews on the beach there, although I've seen love from RS posters for the city itself. Paestum is supposed to be much better for the beach and can be reached in 30 minutes or so by rail from Salerno. You'd have the Greek temples to explore there as well. That might be an option? You'd still need to get an accommodation nearer Fiumicino on the 30th prior to your flight on the 31st but you can get from city-to-city by rail: no buses/boats needed.

If the sole goal is time on a beach, you might also look at something closer to Fiumicino? I'm randomly throwing these out as I haven't been to any of them but Santa Marinella or Santa Severa are mere minutes away from Civitavecchia by very cheap regionale train and are not all that far from Fiumicino either, although it would still mean catching a very early train on the 31st (involves a change in Roma Trastevere or Ostiense) or hiring a private transfer, which is probably what I'd do. Anyway, these two are so close together that you could easily and very inexpensively hop a train to explore both during your stay: only 7 minutes apart by 1,10 E regionale train.

Anzio might be another option. Again, I'd arrange for a private transfer to the airport on the 31st: faster than the train.

Just some random info, and maybe some of the other posters can shed some additional light on them:

https://www.thelocal.it/20160523/the-best-beaches-within-easy-reach-of-rome

Glad to see that you've switched gears.
More info on Santa Marinella.

http://www.revealedrome.com/2013/07/beaches-in-rome.html
Not as cute as Sperlunga, but close and a nice beach.
Best way to get there is a 25 min taxi ride from the port.

No need to spend the nite in Rome, it's a 35 min ride to the airport. Same as Rome.

Thank you ALL again for your help. Enjoy your travels...