Best Amalfi town for views/relaxation/beauty

It's not on the Amalfi Coast, but Sorrento is your best bet as a transportation hub. Amalfi Town is likely your best bet on the coast if you want to be in the middle of everything and the Vesuvius sites such as Pompeii aren't on your itinerary.

I ended up booking a place called San Cesareo 64 in Sorrento - apparently it’s kind of in the middle of the main street and I guess centrally located to get to other places. Let me know if I’m wrong and it’s not a good location - it’s fully refundable at this point.

Lindsey, the location is fine; very central.
The property has a "Wonderful" rating on booking.com, with positive mentions of location.

Hi Lindsay. Your lodging choice looks great, but it doesn’t look like it has a sea view and that is something you mention as a desire right there in the title of your post.

We were in Sorrento this past May and also chose lodging without views but wished we did. We walked around Villa Communale (google the pictures) and there was a view from there but it was a small area and we would have preferred a terrace or balcony from which we could have relaxed and enjoyed the view.

When you say you want to “explore” does that mean explore Sorrento itself, or go to Pompeii, Naples, Amalfi Coast towns? I thought Sorrento was a good base to visit the other places but I think if we were looking for a place to just relax and enjoy views I would have chosen one of the actual Amalfi Coast towns to stay in. Not trying to disparage Sorrento or anyone else’s experience there, this is just my opinion.

I hope others (especially those who have actually stayed on the Amalfi Coast) chime in with some more thoughts!

You can expect May to be very warm in Sorrento. Note that except for hotels with pools, there is not a lot of swimming in Sorrento. It's built on stone cliffs. There is one small sand beach reached by an elevator. But the higher priced "Amalfi Coast" towns (which are not as well connected for excursions) tend to only have small, pebble beaches. Your hotel looks very nice, but I'll mention that the big luxury hotels on the cliffside not only have pools, but private swimming platforms in the Gulf of Naples, reached by the hotel elevators.

If Sorrento is your last stop, you need to know if you can check in 3 hours before your flight home to ? the US. That is risky if flying from Rome. It would be impossible from a town actually on the Amalfi Coast. You are wise to book early in this area.

Sounds like a fun trip. We have visited the Amalfi Coast twice and we still have not made it to Sorrento. I know it gets top ratings as far as getting to other locations but "nothing' beats actually staying in one of the actual Amalfi towns. We stayed in Ravello years ago on our honeymoon. We loved it. Food was fantastic and a lovely town to meander around. However, it's not the easiest location to visit neighboring towns.
We went again several years ago with my daughter and son-in-law and stayed in Positano. Again, we were wanting to relax, eat well and just enjoy the beauty of the coast. We did some hiking and took an all day private tour with a driver. Beaches' are not like in the states but you can find a couple. I hear lots of negatives about Positano from posters but from what I am reading most people just breeze through for a few hours and move on to the next town. Not my idea of soaking in the true feel of the coast. Mornings and evenings in Positano were simply gorgeous. My only thought about your time is that 3 nights are really not enough to warrant the time it takes to get there. I would give it 4 nights---3 full days if you can squeeze it in.

You said you want to be in the middle of everything so maybe the town of Amalfi would be the best choice for you? Just make sure to have a room with a view and balcony or terrace. Enjoy!

If you can get a hotel near Villa Communale area in Sorrento with a balcony that would be ideal. The sunset views are spectacular and you would be near the elevator in the Communale park which takes you down to the Marina area. We loved Bellevue Syrene but it is expensive. Other hotels to consider near it would be Imperial Hotel Tramontano, Hotel Regina Sorrento ,and Grand Hotel La Favorita, or in another area in Sorrento with sea views you could try Grand Hotel Europa Palace or Grand Hotel Ambasciatori. We also stayed in Positano at Hotel Eden Roc with a sea view. Covo dei Saraceni in Positano would be an option closer to the beach in Positano. We loved staying in Sorrento and enjoyed the Centro Storico area with shops and restaurants also. Sorrento is a great base to see Capri and Pompeii if you are interested as well. We loved the weather on the Amalfi Coast in May.

apparently it’s kind of in the middle of the main street and I guess
centrally located to get to other places.

It's actually a block off the main pedestrian street which is Corso Italia, but the location is excellent. We stayed about about 2 blocks away from there in April. You'll have an easy walk to the train station to Pompeii and Naples, and to the marina if you want to catch a ferry to the Amalfi Coast or Capri. One block north of you on Via dell Accademia is our favourite restaurant in Sorrento called Bollicine Wine Bar and Cucina.

When you say "explore," what do you mean--Pompeii, Naples, Capri? Or do you want to set up in a village and chill?
I would have suggested Praiano if the latter (meaning no day trips). Sorrento is a great base, but not the most beautiful spot on the coast if seeking views. The villages at the mainland end of the Amalfi coast provide a nice middle ground--they still have convenience of ferries, but you do not feel like you are in a transit hub.
If you are flying out of Naples, you might want to be in Naples the last night.

Oh wow, you’ve all given me a lot to think about! It sounds like overall it’s a good location so that’s good. I’m probably thinking we will want to relax as it’s the end of our trip but in reality, I want my daughter to see Pompeii (I’ve been but will gladly go again), and I want to see Capri too. So it might be that the location is very good for day trips it sounds like. I will look at the hotel mentioned above in Sorrento near the elevator - lots to think about still!

And for getting home, we will be flying out of Rome so we will need to get to Rome fairly early the day of our departure. If that won’t work train wise we may have to get a driver, even though I know that will be expensive. I haven’t booked the flights yet, I like to book the fully refundable stuff first while I’m still thinking things over. We are from Vancouver so it will be Rome to Munich to Vancouver.

For those day trips, Sorrento would be the easiest, but do note each day trip could full a whole day. I would try to rework something earlier in the trip so you get an additional day to just relax--though of course the Capri trip should work for that!
I would see if you could put Rome last so you don't have the stress or expense of flight-day travel. Good luck!
Also, if you have to change planes anyway, check flights out of Naples--you never know what could work out.

I booked the Imperial Hotel Tramontano - I think it will be great for being in Sorrento for convenience for day trips etc., but it’s also a sea view property - I want our last place to be a place where we treat ourselves! Thanks for all the input - I love the forums - you get so much good advice here!

If you are departing from Rome you need to be IN Rome the night before your flight
Too risky to be in Sorrento

If you are departing from Naples it’s probably OK to spend night before in Sorrento
In that case I would book a driver and not depend on public transportation

Maybe look into Minori? Back in March, it worked a charm for us.
Good luck.
I am done. the end.

For emphasis, and in all caps: everything that ChristineH said!

Hey Lindsay, you said swimming was important, so you got some good advice about swimming. It's still not 100% clear whether you want to sit an chill, or go on excursions. There's no question that Sorrento is the best base for excursions; it's even "a shorter boat ride" to Capri (and has bigger ferries in high season, which are thus more reliable.) Aside from getting back to FCO for your flight, you don't want to stay up on a hillside on the actual Amalfi Coast if you are going out all the time. Positano, for example, has literally hundreds of stairs in the town. Do you understand that Sorrento is a pleasant postwar resort town, not a historic monument of Italy?

But "get to Rome fairly early " is not enough information to get you the best advice for a complex situation. It's only a hint. In fact, the Frecciarossa train (Naples-Rome, where you "could" change for the airport train) is hours faster than driving from Naples to Rome. Have you found out yet that a car service from Sorrento to FCO is hundreds of Euros? And it's ... subject to traffic, which can be especially bad in Campania, an area that has been starved of government infrastructure money for generations. This is not like driving between two villages in Tuscany.

This next linked discussion isn't just good on its own, it is loaded with links to additional discussions and information:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-for-7-nights-itinerary-help

Try this map link (which is only approximate for timing, of course) again during the Italian weekday rush hour:
https://goo.gl/maps/rEWumMuyAxLzZUACA

I think I’m going to stay in Sorrento, realistically we won’t relax too much so excursions are important. And it didn’t even occur to me to fly out of Naples instead of Rome, so that’s what we will do!