April 2026: Cinque Terre or Amalfi Coast/ Capri after 4 days in Rome? Or too crowded?

If you want to avoid over touristed places, the last places you should go are Cinque Terre or Amalfi/Capri. And Cinque Terre is far from Rome. That said, for the Amalfi region Salerno is a smaller city with a nice seafront and good atmosphere, that has good travel connections and is relatively less touristy. Staying on Capri and trying to day trip by boat sounds very inconvenient. In April, you will find things open and the weather should be pleasant, but the sea will be too cold for swimming and the air likely too cool for beach lounging. There are some seaside places closer to Rome, such as Anzio, that sound interesting and don’t get much international tourism, but I haven’t visited them so am not able to give a more informed recommendation.

I am glad to hear your feedback on Croatia as I keep hearing it is suffering from over tourism, and I have not been in several years and really want to go back! But that makes me wonder if you are not as sensitive to crowds as I probably am. Maybe you just had great luck!
Since you rented a car in Croatia, you must be open to renting one in Italy, and in that case you have dozens more places that are relaxing, on the coast, and beautiful, but which are not overwhelmed with tourists as CT and the Amalfi area are.
It's a bit early for seaside though, which makes me think you could consider rural Tuscany as well.

How many nights do you have? We loved how quiet Orvieto was but it is countryside. It had wonderful food, a lovely town to stroll around. My other thought would be Ischia or Procida instead of Capri. I haven't been, but those islands are on my " next time" list. I believe they are much quieter than Capri and just as accessible.

Everything is open in April, as there are no shoulder seasons any more in most of Italy. You will find large crowds from April thru October in all the popular areas. And note that Easter is early in 2026, so avoid the week before and after this holiday. Good luck!

SInce it's lower season I would opt for Amalfi. There are many great things yu can do and when it's less touristy it really is amazing (I was there Early October). I wouldn't just stay in Capri, I think it might get overcrowded pretty easily. I would suggest you rented a car and go around Amalfi, and maybe dedicate some days for day trips to Capri, Positano etc. This is a guide that helped us out and I think you can also find good info (local food, vibe etc). I hope that helps! If you also want suggestions for Rome, I'll be happy to share my experience there too

Like @valadelphia, I'm intrigued by your Croatia trip - I'd been considering it for our next adventure but was put off by reports of over-tourism. Could you share details on the time of year and itinerary?

I enjoyed the Amalfi Coast more than CT.
Loved Capri and Sorrento.

Sarah, welcome to this newsboard with your first post. So you may not know that the AC (Amalfi Coast, you can't write "Amalfi" because that is also the name of a popular town) comes up here every week of the year. You may wish to read some past questions (excellent Search box top left, blue type). You can even filter the results down to the last one or two years - although the major questions about the AC don't change (!)

It does not make sense to plan daytrips from Capri, however nice it is. Capri is largely pedestrianized, and there are even hotels that taxis can't get to. Also, ferries can be cancelled for bad weather, and they are likely to be a long walk from your sleeping place. That said, many people love Capri. (The ferry ride can be bumpy, and there is no outside seating.) As for your choice of popular places but concern about crowds, I can only quote Yogi Berra, "Naah, nobody goes dere anymore, it's too crowded." Try to download enough ferry schedules to see when the high-season schedule in put into effect.

Some of the more distant AC towns have sand beaches. But as a resident of the East Coast USA, I found most seaside spots in Sorrento and on the AC to be less attractive for a day at the seaside than are the magnificent beaches in the US. Some of the beaches are all pebbles, and pretty tiny, with paid chaises taking up a lot of the beach. You might add your home area to your public profile, so we can see if you are from, say, California, and don't need to fly 5000 miles to sit on a nice beach! There are many Climate websites to look up air and water temperatures for April. (We went the last week in May, and it was sweltering out, especially in the sun. Slept in Sorrento, for public transportation options. I'm glad we had air conditioning.)

There are posters here who love Salerno (I've never been there), but you should understand that it's not very much like Sorrento, Positano, or Amalfi. I wanted to see Positano, because of its reputation for old world, old-money luxury. But I was disappointed. The sights were mostly the same overpriced boutiques you can go to in Rome, Paris, or wherever, with crowded passageways for pedestrians. (Note that most of the AC (THAT IS, between Sorrento and Salerno) is served by one two-lane road, which is often slow and crowded. There is no remedy for this.)

I guess I'm suggesting that you do some more general research, and see if you might formulate a different plan. Note that there are many places in the AC area where you simply CANNOT wake up and fly out of Rome the same day, and not even a morning flight from Naples, if that happens to work for you. Infrastructure in southern Italy tends to be a bit chaotic and unreliable.