Looking for home base advice for 7 nights - Amalfi coast

Sometimes it sounds pedantic to keep saying "Sorrento is not on the Amalfi Coast." (AC) But my point isn't semantics, it's that the Amalfi Coast is a poor location for a home base. Do you know yet that there is no train to Positano?

It's attractive because it's slightly hard to get to, either by public transportation or by car. Sorrento, which is less "attractive" than the AC, is a pretty good transportation hub. But it's a hub for a particular region, not for all of central-southern Italy. By that, I mean the Naples is do-able (but why not stay there to see Naples on the way), but even the relatively nearby Caserta Palace is a dreary public transportation trip from Sorrento. Paestum is really, really far from Sorrento. One of the key access aspects of Sorrento and Positano are ferries, but you've stated that you don't wish to take a ferry. There is not enough to do in Positano unless you are willing to go to Capri. By late May, the busses through Positano are quite crowded.

Unless I liked pebble beaches and shopping at boutiques I can't afford, I would not stay 7 nights in Positano. If you have never been to Rome you should stay at least five nights there (daytrips can be excellent from there) and fewer nights at the fabled AC.

We rented an apartment in Positano for a week and were never bored. Some days we did a day trip and another days we just snooped and enjoyed where we were. We had a driver pick us up at the train station in Naples and drive us to Positano and he came back and picked us up at the same spot a week later. It was the best money we ever spent and a splurge but so worth it. We went to Pompeii with a small tour out of Positano.
We stayed here:
https://www.summerinitaly.com/holiday-home/casa-niobe

If you are interested in taking in the beautiful setting but also seeing Herculaneum and Pompeii, then I suggest staying in two locations to avoid long day trips. You could stay in Positano or whichever village catches your fancy and then stay in Sorrento or Naples. An alternative is to stay in Salerno or one of the Amalfi coast villages closest to the mainland, from which you can do it all.
Does sea sickness mean you also get motion sickness on bus rides? The road is quite windy, so something to consider.

We have stayed in Sorrento for a full week. It was lovely. We could go north to Pompeii or Ercolano or Naples, (we did each on a separate day) or south to Amalfi Town, Positano, etc. Another trip we did a day on Capri.

Ravello is absolutely stunning and we spent a 3-day weekend hiking there one year.

If you want one base, Sorrento, but it's hard to do more than one day trip to the AC, i.e., Positano, Ravello, Amalfi Town, etc. SO maybe split your time between Sorrento (4 nights) and Ravello or Positano (3 nights).

I found Salerno less pretty and we did not care for Paestum. Once you see the museum (and hour or two) and the ruins (2-3 hours) there's not much to recommend it. (It might have been that the dead kitten in one street, dead rat in another turned us off as well in a 2-night stay.)

In May it's going to be busy but except for the very end of the month it shouldn't be too bad. That being said, I'd try to score one base along the A.C. for the week--Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, maybe even a little farther east in Atrani, Maiori, Minori. Some of the real great places might be already booked, so I'd hop to it like today.

Sorrento is a fine choice but really only for the purposes of being the best base on the peninsula as far as logistic ease to Naples, Pompei, Ercolano, and then by SITA bus over to the A.C. And the food is really wonderful, reasonable and varied. But the views, the spectacular vistas are on the A.C, if that is a determining factor. No doubt about it.

Salerno is an OK choice as well for a little taste of the real Italy, and logistically it's not bad either. Great food as well.

It makes tremendous sense to divide that leg into two halves. All the heavy-duty sightseeing (Naples/Pompeii/Herculaneum) is on the Bay of Naples side. I can’t imagine trying to navigate from the Amalfi Coast side as a day trip here. Sorrento is a popular base here for a reason. It’s not only convenient, but you have options. For instance, the day I was supposed to see Pompeii there was a strike on the Circumvesuviana train line. That threw the entire region’s tourists for a loop, but I hopped on a ferry to Naples and rescued the day. You don’t need to plan time for sightseeing Sorrento itself, it’s just a pleasant place with great views and plenty of restaurants. It makes for a nice, stress free base after what is usually some intense, hot sightseeing.

On the Amalfi Coast side, I’ll throw my vote in for Atrani. It’s a quick walk down the road from Amalfi. It’s a characteristic little town with some great restaurants and it’s own public, sandy beach. Amalfi is the transport hub on the coast, so it’s easy to grab a ferry to Positano or a bus up to Ravello (Atrani is actually right below Ravello.) Otherwise, I didn’t care for Amalfi town one bit. Positano is certainly the more romantic choice, I would not have regretted staying there. I kind of feel like every place has its little pros/cons, and in reality there’s not an especially poor choice town-wise. Everything on the Amalfi Coast kinda blows your mind.

I hope your sea sickness is not too much of an obstacle. Traveling by ferry around there is a wonderful way to experience the scenery, and beats cramming into a bus. It would also be a shame to skip Capri, it’s worth a day-trip and can be done as an on-the-way visit between Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. If it helps, the ferries between Sorrento and Capri are pretty large. Smaller ferries handle the Amalfi Coast towns (smaller ports).

I personally would do 2 bases.

Base one Maiori. 3 nights. Nice beach town, good rest from Rome.

How to get there. Train Rome-Salerno. Use one of the direct trains. Ferry (Travelmar) Salerno-Maiori

http://www.travelmar.it/downloads/orari_travelmar.pdf

This is an easy base to visit Amalfi, Ravello and Positano. Using either
The bus or ferry. Timetable below.

http://www.positano.com

Travel from here to Sorrento, both the bus and ferry have a transfer in Amalfi.

Sorrento 3-4 nites. See Pompeii, Ercolano, Capri and Naples.

If you are flying R/T Rome, your last nite would need to be spent there.

We stayed in Positano for 4 days in late September, but wish we stayed another 1-2 days for more relaxing. Positano does have a few drawbacks – lots of stairs (and most hotels don’t have a lift), lots of traffic & people (even towards the end of busy season), difficult to visit other cities without pre-planning (you have to hire a driver), and did I mention lots of stairs? But the views are so worth it!

We kept a busy schedule – took a cooking class, went hiking (path of the gods – highly recommend but fairly strenuous), had a beach/boat day, and took a day-long wine tour. There were other things we could have done nearby, such as tour an olive oil or limoncello producer, we just didn’t have time. We also did a day trip to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius – it was a very long day with lots of driving, but glad we did it (we hired a private driver to take us to both from Positano). Pompeii does not have many signs posted describing what you are looking at, so I would recommend hiring a guide unless you have a great guide book. We were travelling with another couple that did a day trip to Capri when we went hiking. I believe the Positano-Capri ferry was less than 30 minutes, not sure if that would be too long to trigger sea sickness?

Depending on your interests, and as long as you don’t mind a few low key or beach days, you could definitely fill up a week in & around Positano. But, if I go back to the AC again, I’d probably split my time between a few days in Positano (with less excursions & more relaxing!) and a few days in another city.

Have you considered 1-2 more days in Rome? I was very glad we didn't spend less than 4 days there. We were on full-speed in Rome, soaking in all the sights as quick as we could, and still didn't get to do/see it all in 4 days.