Itinerary for Rome/Amalfi Coast?

Sheena, I'd have to ponder your Itinerary for a few minutes, but one thing to mention straight away concerns "Drive to Sorrento". Keep in mind for driving in Italy, EACH driver must have the compulsory International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L. Failure to produce an IDP if requested can result in fines on the spot! Another point to mention is that you'll have to be careful to avoid ZTL (limited traffic) areas, as substantial fines can result for passing through these. Opting for a comprehensive CDW package is a good idea, and a GPS along with a good Map would also be prudent. Cheers!

if you are only renting a car to get back and forth between rome and sorrento i would take the train or use a car service.
we used sorrento silver star for a couple long transfers and they were great...of course there were 4 couples to split the cost. i was initially resistant to public transport as we are usually independent car travellers but after reading this forum i was glad we did it. we took the circumvesuviana to pompeii and the ferry to naples from sorrento. dont know if ferry runs in feb. for rome day 3 you can easily add a museum or two or a museum and a couple churches. look at rick steves two rome walks that include the fountain and spanish steps and take a look at the pantheon as part of the walk. if you have to pick just one museum my vote would be the galleria borghese. be sure to reserve entry ahead of time. if the colosseum underground tour is available in feb it is well worth it. book ahead for that as well.

you probably don't need to see a 2nd museum in rome - any church you wonder in is museum quality. also suggest you take the train from rome to naples, then train or boat to sorrento.

Sheena, Day 5: Amalfi Coast bus tour? Do you mean bus tour for the tourists? I think most of the tourist bus tours will not be started until middle of April. How about Capri Island?
Have a good one!

A couple of things to think about - Do you sleep well on the plane? If not, you may be exhausted when you land in Rome. It depends on your flight itinerary. You may want to do Trevi and Spanish on day 1 (these really don't require much walking) and then do Forum and Colosseum and maybe Pantheon on day 3. Your day at the Vatican is going to include a lot of walking, so you'll want to make sure that you are rested. Definitely get your tickets for the Vatican ahead of time. If there are still tickets available, I'd recommend the Scavi tour to see the necropolis under St. Peter's. I visited it last January, and that was one of my highlights of the trip. They only allow around 200 people a day to visit, so if you have any interest, I'd look into getting tickets right away. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html You're going to love your trip!

Sheena,
We are in Sorrento now and spent yesterday in Naples. Here are a couple of thoughts for your days 4-7 based on our experience. You can easily reach Sorrento by trains or the Curreri bus from Roma Tiburtina. Half a day is enough time to see the town. Try Rick Steves' self-guided walk for a good overview and to get off the main drag. The weather will be chancy in February. If it's raining, there's not much to do here, in fact many restaurants and hotels close down entirely for winter. Some are closed now, and more close in January, reopening March 1. Your AC bus ride will also be weather dependent. Pompeii can be done rain or shine I am told. We'll be there Monday and it's supposed to rain, so I'll find out. So far, we've had sun to mostly cloudy and it only rained at night, and we've been here 3 nights so far. The area is certainly gorgeous, but the orientation is to outdoor activities. Naples is not my cup of tea, sorry to say. The National Archeological Museum is worthwhile, and there are several others i'd like to see over time, but it is just too intense for me. People are nice, and we ran into few tourists (advantage of off season is i get to practice my Italian more), but it is crowded and noisy. Rome is busy, but has more to offer, IMHO. In short, I might spend more time in Rome if I were you, and consider the very long day trip to Pompeii if that's on your bucket list. Maybe you could consider seeing Florence instead of the AC. Depends on your tolerance for off season.

Thanks for the advice everyone! Okay, to answer some questions: -Our package deal included the rental car. I'm a fan of public transport (trains, buses) but my mom specifically wanted to book this package deal. I already knew about the IDP since I used to work for AAA, so we'll both be getting those. (I don't plan to drive, but I'll get one just in case something happens and my mom isn't able to drive.) Also, our package deal included comprehensive CDW coverage on the rental car. -I like the suggestion of doing the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps on the first day. I typically sleep some on the flight and adjust pretty well to local time. (I get jet lag coming back to the US.) -I had considered checking out of the hotel in Sorrento one day early and venturing to Florence. However, we would be driving to Florence on a Sunday to make this happen, and I would have to try and cram everything in on Sunday afternoon since pretty much everything is closed on Monday. So, I think I'll just have to make a separate trip to Florence and Venice another time! -I will definitely check into the Amalfi Coast bus schedules. I sincerely hope that someone will be operating that time of year since I don't care to drive the coast! We will be in that area during the first week of March, so hopefully things will be up and running. Thanks again! :)