I want to squeeze Pompeii and Amalfi Coast into 1 1/2 days is this doable

Am I crazy to try and do this in this time frame?

yes

Not really possible. You need at least one day for each excursion.

hey gina
could be possible, only you won't see much except from train or van window with the scenery passing by. still a busy time of year and tourists. "crazy" is a big word in my vocabulary and that's how i feel with this. plan another trip and stay in amalfi or capri. don't go by what you've heard, they could have had a bad experience and you'll have a great one, you are the decider.
aloha

I think you'd be able to do it reasonably well if you stay in Naples near the train station or near a metro stop that will take you quickly to the train station. Take the ferry from Naples (though I don't know how to get to the ferry from the train station except that taxis get bogged down in traffic in Naples) to Capri for the day. The next morning take and early Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii from the train station and leave by about 1 pm to get to the train station in time for the 3 pm train.

Consider leaving your bags in storage at the train station and just packing essentials in an overnight bag that you could tote around Capri. That will save you having to stop at your hotel to drop your luggage. You'll want to leave it in storage anyway when you go to Pompeii.

I have been to the Naples area twice, the last time on a cruise.
The cruise only spent one day there and we took a tour from the ship that included the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. Yes, it can be done in one day. You would not nave time to visit Sorrento or Capri.

I just came back from my first visit to Italy and took a cruise as well. We did the mondo guide Rick Steves tour of Pompeii/Sorrento/Positano. There were no cruise ships in port that day so they picked us up at the train station in Naples after taking the early morning high speed train from Rome. We stopped along the way to take pictures and then stopped in Sorrento to walk around at our leisure. I had lunch at the Foreigner’s Club with a beautiful view and wandered around the shops. Shopping is not a passion of mine. The driver then picked us up and we drove to Positano. My friend and I try to make it a point to swim wherever we can so, while others went shopping, we walked down to the beach, changed our clothes and went for a quick swim. One of our companions loved the shopping. Our driver then picked us up again and we went for a two hour guided tour of Pompeii. One of our companions is 88 so we walked slowly. We were then dropped back at the train station about 5 for our trip back to Rome. Yes, we saw the three sights. Yes we could have seen more if we had more time but you work with what you have. I am glad I did it because it gave me a taste and let’s me know what I want to come back and see. Given your schedule you could do parts of the AC on your first day and then do an early morning tour of Pompeii on your second day. Not ideal but better than not doing it at all IMHO. The cost of the tour was 65 Euros per person plus the entry fee to Pompeii but they need a minimum of six people to run it which we were. Had their been a ship in port, the tour starts from there which we didn’t want as we would have had to pay extra to get to the port

yes, you can do it. You will somewhat rushed but plan accordingly and you will be OK. We did it. I wish we had more time in Pompeii.

And I'll say no: save the coast for another trip when you can give it the time it deserves and you can allot enough of that to work around a potential day of inclement weather. That can happen: it poured rain on us from Rome all the way to Naples and on to Capri in early October back in 2007. That wouldn't be any fun if it was one of the only 2 partial days that you had!