Amalfi Itinerary

Don’t rent a car on arrival day if you flew over the Atlantic the night before, hire a driver. I wouldn’t stay in multiple hotels I would pick one for the entire duration. Amalfi might work best since you want to spend time in Positano and Ravello. Most people prefer Amalfi over Positano anyway.

Taxi to Napoli Centrale (20min). Train to Salerno (47min). Ferry to Amalfi (35min).

https://www.travelmar.it/en/timetable-from-april-2023

Agree w/MaryPat, stay in Amalfi, it’s the transportation hub for the coast.

Bus timetable.

https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/sorrento-to-positano-bus-schedule?route=amalfi_pogerola#section-schedule-result

Minimum drive time from the airport to Amalfi is about 2 hours. Dependent on traffic.

I agree that 3 split stays on the AC is too much. Amalfi Is the most central of the 3, with decent transportation connections by ferry to Capri. As for dates, I'd pick May - the earlier in the month the better to avoid the heat and crowds.

Much as I love it, In my opinion, 9 nights is a bit long for the Amalfi Coast. However, if you reassort your stays, there are plenty of intriguing day trips to keep you busy. We stayed in Amalfi. We had planned a day in Positano; but we found it so dull, we left after half a day.

Otoh, we were sorry that we didn’t stay a night on Capri. By the time we took the ferry, then got from the marina up to the town and later went up to Anacapri, we had to hustle to be sure to get the last ferry back, which left in the late afternoon.
Ravello is lovely; but, again, 3 nights seems like too much.

I recommend that you look into Salerno with a day trip to Paestum. .Also check on this site for comments about having a car. Unless all your lodgings have parking, a car is not a convenience; and driving the coast road is legendarily difficult.

You might want to consider staying in Naples for a few days. Besides being a fascinating city it is an easy train ride to Pompei and also home to the archeological museum which houses most of the mosaics and other artifacts from Pompei. Also try to spend at least 2 nights in Capri. It is a gorgeous island with so much to see and do. I also would choose either Positano or Amalfi and not stay in both. Amalfi would be my choice as it is much more interesting and a good transportation hub. It is also a rather short bus ride to Ravello from Amalfi.

We stayed in Salerno & Amalfi. We took the ferry over to Positano and the bus up to Ravello - both from Amalfi. I found Ravello to be charming, but I wouldn’t stay there unless I was there for an event, such as their music concert because it’s so quiet. If it helps, I’ll add my trip report. Paestum is a definite “yes” to go see!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/mother-adult-daughter-italy-trip-aug-sept-2022

You may want to go to Capri from Amalfi because the ferries may be larger ships than in Positano. You may find getting to Pompeii from the AC (as opposed to from Sorrento or Salerno) to be expensive or slow, but I would not want a car in the coastal towns. Ravello is beautiful but remote and limited attractions after one day.

Last week of May was very hot and crowded for our trip. Book early, too.

It is easy to get to Ravello on the City Sightseeing bus from Amalfi and go to Ravello on a day trip from Amalfi. I would replace 3 nights in Ravello with 3 nights in Sorrento. It is much easier to visit Pompeii and Capri from Sorrento than from the Amalfi coast, and Sorrento ended up being a favorite of ours.

May is beautiful with all of the flowers in bloom. I would recommend taking the boat from Positano to Amalfi to enjoy the spectacular views of the Amalfi Coast. It would be good to stay overnight in Naples the last night before your flight as traffic getting into Naples is very slow. You could also see the National Archaeology Museum in Naples the afternoon of your last day before you fly out of Naples.

With 9 nights I would probably choose to stay 4 nights in either Positano or Amalfi, 3 nights in Sorrento, 1 night in Capri and 1 night in Naples before your flight.

Consider switching one of the Amalfi villages with Capri. I'd also stay somewhere more convenient to Pompeii.
What are your goals for the trip--what do you want to do? Nothing wrong with staying in small villages, but these are really close together--even I would mix it up (and I love tiny towns and hiking).
Late May is really lovely, and September would be better if you want to swim in non-frigid seas.

We spent 9 nights in the region
Sorrento 4-visited Pompeii and Capri, skipped Naples due to pouring rain (in May)
We really liked Sorrento-just a fun walking around kind of town with beautiful views and some very good restaurants
Amalfi 2 nights then 1 night in Ravello
Salerno 2 nights-visited Paestum (fabulous)

We took the bus to Positano and spent a few short hours there, not much there other than high end shopping
Took ferry back to Amalfi-the views OF Positano from the water were much better than being in the town

Took ferry from Amalfi to Salerno-fantastic views on that ride and we really enjoyed Salerno

We’ll return and likely stay a few nights in Naples next trip

We used a driver from Naples to Sorrento and again from Sorrento to Amalfi
You do not want to have a car in that area!

https://www.topexcursionsorrento.com

We enjoyed both day trips we booked with Mondo Guides
The Capri boat trip was especially fun, a highlight of our visit
www.sharedtours.com

We enjoyed both day trips we booked with Mondo Guides

@Christine, or anyone else that wants to weigh-in. Out of curiosity, I plugged in potential dates for Pompeii and Naples in April when I'll be there, and nobody else has signed up yet. I'm OK with giving it a shot, but don't really want to find out a few days before that the tour is a no-go. What's the experience been with Mondo Tours and the success factor of the tours going ahead as planned?

Allan
It may just simply be too early
I guess I probably signed up maybe 6-8 weeks in advance? I think there were already a few others listed on the tours we took and it wasn’t long after I signed up that we were notified it was a go
We did Capri and Pompeii

On the day of our Capri tour we were notified early that am that we could cancel if we wanted as it was foggy day threatening rain but we went ahead, our boat had 6 others. And the skies cleared so all was well

On our Pompeii day it was pouring rain, we went anyway
It was pretty miserable but we had ponchos, etc and at least it wasn’t raining ash or lava!!
And the guide was wonderful

Thanks everyone for all of the great input. I’m definitely in the research stage at this point so all of your suggestions are really going to help.

A little late to the discussions. My view is a bit different. I agree 3 places are too many. We love the coast but it all depends on what your expectations are. Our first trip we stayed in Ravello----loved it. The food was superb and I am married to a chef. But we were in to relaxing and taking it easy not on the go every minute. Lots of places to meander around. We did a day trip to Amalfi---more great seafood.

Years later in 2017, we returned and stayed in Positano for 4 nights with our daughter and son-in-law. Absolutely loved it. The charm of Positano is when all the day trippers leave. It's magical but that's my personal view. I am not into high end shopping or tourist traps but just remember they are everywhere. The food on the coast was wonderful. We did a half day hike on the Path of Gods---again just beautiful.

You can't go wrong where ever you go-- just remember everyone has different expectations of what they want to see and different styles of traveling. You have plenty of time to research and figure out your style. Good luck and enjoy! The planning is half the fun.

FYI, 1st trip we drove, but that was years ago---no problems. This past trip we used Topexcursions(I think Christiane actually got his name through me). he's great! He picked us up in Rome and drove us directly to Positano. We used him for several day excursions and our return to the train in Naples.

For May or September travel to the A.C., know that it's going to be v-e-r-y crowded. Gridlock happens very easily on the peninsula that time of year. Personally, we've found the charm in it to be when it's not overrun with tourists--we've been there twice in March.

You do not want to be driving a car anywhere near Naples or the Amalfi Coast, trust me. If you're flying into Naples, I would either:

1) from the Naples Centrale train station, take the Circumvesuviana commuter train line to Sorrento (on the other side of the A.C), or have a driver take you there from the airport, and base there. It doesn't have quite the views that Positano & Amalfi have, but it's relatively flat and then you'd have easy access (via the Circumvesuviana) to Pompei, Herculaneum & Naples--all reachable in under an hour. Has many great hotels and in my opinion the best food on the peninsula.

2) from the train station, take the Frecciarossa train Naples to Salerno (just off the Amalfi Coast) , and base there. Salerno is a charming coastal city of 100,000, and the Old Town is wonderful. Plus, you can easily take the hydrofoil from Salerno to Amalfi, Positano, Capri or even Sorrento. And a 45 minute train south from Salerno takes you to the ruins at Paestum. Haven't been there but it's supposed to be great.