Good Amalfi Coast itinerary?

When is the above trip? How big is the group? What is your travel style and mode? I would avoid Italy the week before and after Easter, which is late in 2025. If the trip is 2024, book ( cancelable) lodgings asap. Do research on booking.com but book directly.

The infrastructure south of Naples has been sadly neglected. As a result, there is no efficient or quick way to get anywhere. Roads are congested. Public transportation kind of follows a schedule. The ferries are weather-dependent , and are canceled if a bad storm comes up. It's very different from northern Italy. Traveling in Sorrento/AC takes time and patience. It is not relaxing moving around. I wish I had know that last May, 2023. As a result, I was rather disappointed in the area. Having a car is useless. If you can handle these issues, and add extra time, you will have a great trip. But remember two nights is one full day, and with the congestion, make sure you're not spending too much time just sitting in traffic.

There are no shoulder seasons in Italy post-COVID, so expect crowds. The AC is a victim of its Instagram success.

Review the related posts under Italy here on the Forum. Your questions come up a few times a week. You will find several well- written responses which will be very helpful.
Safe travels!

This portion is in October. Just husband & myself.

Great information, Pat, thank you! :)

I would not divide your Amalfi Coast days between Positano and Amalfi. We did that and it was a mistake. You can take the ferry between them and my opinion is Positano is actually prettier from the sea. We spent two nights in each and much preferred Amalfi.

Atrani is close enough to walk through a tunnel to Amalfi which is the transportation hub. I would stay either in Atrani or Amalfi for your three nights. Ravello is lovely but not good for day tripping anywhere else as located up a hill.

We went to Capri from Amalfi Coast and then took ferry to Naples. There was luggage storage. We spent the night then in Naples before flying back to US the next day.

Beth, that's awesome advice. Thanks so much!

Do check the nearby discussion:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-end-oct

Depending on your budget and preference, you may not need four hotels. Do you want to change rooms that often? It's true that transportation can be tedious in this area, but changing hotels is, to me, tedious too. We simply wanted to get a look at the famous AC, from our five nights at the Ambasciatori Grande in Sorrento. Sorrento has the best transportation options in that corner of the area, i.e. for daytrips. Clearly you don't plan so much for daytrips when you sleep over.

Anyway, we hired a car and driver for eight hours of AC touring from Sorrento. We had 90 minutes of free time in Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello, plus a few photo stops elsewhere. That was enough for us, I see you want a more on-the-ground experience.

I've only slept in Sorrento, but I'd check with your other hotels about how high above sea level they are, and how your luggage gets to the hotel if it's nowhere near where a taxi can go. (?)

Will do, thank you, Tim!

I'll check out staying in Sorrento for the whole time, as you suggest. Moving definitely gets tedious, I agree! If you'd recommend who you hired for private driver, could you please PM with the information?

Your hotel looks absolutely lovely! :)

Thanks so much!

Hi there, Sorrento is a great base, but not that much of a town, per se, and also not technically part of the AC. And then you have to get into the AC, which frankly I think is best seen via ferry. Many people on the Forum base themselves out of Salerno, seems to be easier traveling in & out. A brief search in the tool bar above for 'Solerno Forum', specifically in the past 2 years, gives info about alternatives to travel on the AC - https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Salerno+Travel+forum&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Driving can be very frustrating and traffic jams are notorious. Thus our preference is for ferries, not sure how many are running into October. We got a private driver OW after spending 3 nights in Amalfi town, (which drove up over the hills, not along the coast!) to stop over in Pompeii and deliver us to the Naples train station. I would not rely upon anything but private transport or train to make a flight back to Dusseldorf, and what time is your flight?
I loved Ravello, both times, but would probably stay down on the coast in Amalfi for the food & wandering alternatives. ENJOY!!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-day-trip

Hey, there are five hotels with the same ownership on the cliffside. But there have to be 200 places to stay in Sorrento, if not more. I did not mean to suggest you had to stay at the Ambasciatori! But we did like it.

Be aware that it is between risky and impossible to wake up on the Amalfi Coast and take a scheduled flight the same day. Naples is more possible than Rome, but you may have to spend 200 (?) Euros on a car service to Naples in order to be certain of your flight to D'Dorf. An alternative is to put 3 days in Naples at the end of this segment. We only spent one night in Naples, but it is a target-rich destination that probably is worth 3 nights, although you can visit there (or Pompeii) easily from Sorrento.

More links in this discussion:

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

Sandancisco, thank you. I will check out the area you suggested.

We actually just changed from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt instead from Naples. It'll be an early flight (around 06:30 am).

Thanks so much!

Tim, that's a good suggestion about putting the Naples days at the end. I was kind of thinking that myself....great minds think alike!

Oh no! Your hotel looks lovely....I would stay there if we were just doing the Amalfi Coast for sure, but we are in Europe for 35 nights sooooo.... ;)

Also, we just changed from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt...might have a better (more central) chance of seeing some football matches there.

Thanks so much!

More two cents from me. I liked the Amalfi coast much better than Sorrento. We had been in gritty Naples first but Sorrento is quite well manicured and a bit Epcot like to me. And it really isn’t that close to Amalfi Coast.

It just depends what you are looking for.

We did a day trip to Ravello, for example, which would just be hours on a tour from Sorrento.

Are you flying into Naples or coming from Rome?

Are you flying into Naples or coming from Rome?

Beth, we are flying into Naples from Venice.

We are looking for beauty, new experiences, culture. Thought doing the blue grotto on capri might be nice. Did you do that?

Ronda, the Blue Grotto is a tourist trap, and again, a victim of its own Instagram success. You can find pix of boats waiting in "lines" for the short visit inside.
If you're coming from Venice, take the train, not fly. If you block out the times, including time getting to the airport, arriving two hours early, the actual flying, and getting from the Naples airport to the Naples train station, you'll come out about even in length. And- that's not including flight delays and luggage issues.
We did the math coming from Lake Como (Milan airport) to Naples this May, 2023, and found the train was within 20 minutes of flying, and was so much easier, and we had more schedule choices.
Have a great trip! Safe travels!

AH, now I see you're staying in Naples for a few days at the end, excellent! I loved Naples, though people do complain about it being a bit gritty, it has absolutely fantastic food & the Archeological Museum is utterly amazing..

We are looking for beauty, new experiences, culture. - Then consider Villa San Michele in Anacapri, https://www.villasanmichele.eu/villa with sensational views out overlooking the sea. Others loved the chairlift up above it, haven't been. Just take the ferry to Capri and keep on going by bus up to Anacapri, rather than hanging out in the jammed area around the square. They are also some hikes along the cliffs close to the town of Capri, sorry to say that's kind of lost to history.
Absolutely agree, skip the Blue Grotto.

Pat, that's great advice to take the train. Thank you so much!

Thanks for letting us know about the Blue Grotto, too. Glad I asked. I wouldn't be thrilled to have a long wait to get in just to be in the cave for a few minutes. We'll mark that off.

Appreciate you! :)

Sandancisco, thank you so much for the place to visit. It looks perfect!

Yes, we will do Naples on the back end of that so then it's an easy flight up to Frankfurt.

Thanks so much! Appreciate you!

• Ronda

You have already received some great advice. I was on the Amalfi Coast/Sorrento last year in May, staying in Sorrento for 4 nights and Positano for 2 nights.

Here are some things for you to consider:

• Weather: if there is rain and wind, ferry service could be impacted. We went in mid-May 2023 expecting great weather, but it rained the entire time. Ferries did not run on some days and the lines for buses were long waiting in the rain.
• Changing locations. The rule of thumb is 1/2 day for location changes. That is true on the Amalfi coast because the traffic is so bad, it takes time to get anywhere. You may want to reduce the number of locations and consider day trips to go to the other towns to maximize your time sightseeing.
• Terrain. I really wanted to stay in Positano and I am glad that we did for two nights. However, Positano is a vertical town. We had the most amazing view at a lovely B&B. It was 170 steps to to our room. When we wanted to go to the beach, going down was easy, coming back up was literally breath taking. If I were to stay in an Amalfi coast town again, I would stay in Amalfi. It has good transport, is less challenging physically, and has more options for eating.
• Sorrento: we stayed in Sorrento rather than Naples mainly as a transport hub. The rain changed our plans and we really got to know and love Sorrento. It is easy to get to Naples, Pompeii, and Capri from Sorrento if the weather is good. The city is self, especially outside the tourist areas is warm and welcoming. It was one of the places that we felt like a local.

SandyO, we were in the AC at the same time last May, 2023, with the constant rain. Was quite a different experience. For the first three days we didn't see Vesuvius at all!
Hope we all have better weather in 2024!

SandyO, wow! Thank you so much for the great advice! :)

We hadn't even given thought to how rain would affect ferries and such!

I'm so happy to be getting such great advice from everyone on this travel forum. I appreciate it A LOT! :). :)

Ok, so we booked 7 nights in Sorrento at the same **** hotel that Rick Steves stayed at on his video when he was there...Hotel Minerva. It's cancelable, if we find something better or different but at least it's booked. :)

From Sorrento, we will move to Naples for 4 nights before moving on to Frankfurt.

Pat,

Fantastic advice to take the train from Venice, thank you! When I told my husband what you recommended, he completely agreed with you right off! :). So, that's what we will do!

• Ronda

Pat,

Interesting to see we were there at the same time, who knows we may have passed each other :)

We were in Amalfi area for about 5 days several years ago. Stayed in Amalfi, and really enjoyed it. Note that in the afternoon, you can expect lots of tourists from the cruise ships for an hour or two. Most of those who get off the ships hang around the shops and cafes, not venturing too far away. I don’t remember what days they dock.

If you like to walk, this is a great location for you. Lots of Roman trails to explore that lead to breathtaking views of the water and coastline, too. Trails can lead to Ravello, Atrani, and other spots. I don’t believe the trails are difficult either and would rate them at moderate for length and difficulty.

We did a day trip to Capri and one to the blue grotto caves. Capri is very touristy, as one may expect. Very crowded when we visited (month of May). Blue grotto caves were fun!