Paestum for 3 nights

How close to the site do you wish to be? Santa Maria di Castellabate Is about a thirty minute drive from Paestum. I stayed further south and took the train to Paestum, which worked well.
You may also find Velia of interest, though it’s not as impressive as Paestum, an expert may find it so.

In 2022, we stayed at Azienda Agrituristica Seliano with our college age children (at the time). We stayed in a family room, with air con, which you will definitely need in August - whew! We were there in early June and it was needed.

The agritourismo is not at the beach, but it is a working mozzarella farm and they do have a lovely pool with plenty of free parking. You can easily drive to the beach and it is a 10 minute drive to the ruins.

We live on the northern Gulf Coast, so beach access was not important to us. We did drive to the beach one day and the water was lovely; however, do not expect soft, sugar-white sands. The beach in this area was pebbly - I would advise having water shoes.

I've visited a few mozzarella makers in that area; one of them, Vannulo, offers tours in English and you have a chance to see the buffalo up close.

There are a few in Capaccio; we visited Masseria Lupata (this was during a visit to Amalfi, when we hired a driver to take us to Paestum and to the cheesemaker) ..but we did not see animals there, only watched the cheese-making process. If you want an actual tour, with English-speaking guide, I'd recommend Vannulo; here is a commentary on my visit, but this was in 2012:

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/my-visit-to-the-tenuta-vannulo-water-buffalo-farm-near-paestum-947662/

The B&B GIARDINO DEI PINI is close to Vannulo:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057688155226

The beaches get nicer as you move further south. Many are still rocky (I find these to be the best!), but some are sandy. Lots of great boat trips you can take, out of Marina di Camerota and Palinuro.

Near Palinuro - where Palinurus died in the Aeneid - you will find Pisciotta and a lovely hotel up on the hillside, Hotel Marulivo. It’s not that close to the beach, but it’s lovely and with your car the beach will be a short drive.

When we were there in April two years ago, it was too windy for us to get a boat out to the Blue Grotto out on the point past Palinuro, but in August, the weather gods may be kinder to you.

Since you will have a car, the whole Cilento coast and Cilento region is open to you. You can easily take in the ruins and museum at Paestum and the buffalo mozzarella farm, Tenuta Vannulo, on your way between Naples or Salerno and Pisciotta should you choose to stay there. You need to get to Tenuta Vannulo in the morning for the tours, at least that was the situation in 2024. Check their website for your trip. And enjoy their gelato.

FWIW, our 2024 TR on southern Italy is at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel
We travelled through a fair bit of Puglia by bike. That was in April, perhaps it’s too hot in August even along the Adriatic, but your fam is of the right age that such travel may be enjoyable. Self-guided, so the vendor books the mostly 3 star (some 4 star) hotels and they arrange the luggage transfers. Pretty cool.

I assume Matera is on your list. You may want to read Carlo Levi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli if 20th C. history is of interest. The museum in Lecce that I raved about in my TR will certainly appeal to your interest in ancient history, Magna Graecia, Phoenician trade and marine archaeology.

I visited Vannulo on a day trip from Salerno to Paestum. I didn't know about the tour, which I assume is about cheese-making. I did go to see the cows, they are cows, pretty much like cows everywhere. I don't care much for fresh mozzarella which many locals buy there, esp. on weekends they sell out by noon. However, I had a cannolo - the best one I ever ate and some very excellent gelato as well. Highly recommend a visit for that. The archaeology museum is quite good. The temples are beautiful, rivaled only by those on Sicily. They are especially striking in the late afternoon sunlight. Then it's a treat to watch as the sky darkens, the colors fade and the floodlights gradually illuminate the ancient stones.

With only 2-3 days you don't have time to visit further south in Cilento.

Which route to you plan to drive from Paestum to Puglia?
Stop in Matera?
If you have time along the route, let us know and we can offer some ideas..

Thank you so far...
We are unsure of the route to Puglia. We don't know where we will call "home". Thinking Monopoli or Ostuni. We will be staying in Matera after Puglia on our way to Ischia.
Our plan now is fly to Rome - Paestum - Puglia (town TBD) - Matera - Ischia - Rome. So I will take info on any of this.

Trying to make this trip to Italy unique from our previous times. My husband's favorite place in the entire world is Venice and since we aren't headed up North this time, I want to find a way to hold everyone's interest.

In June 2024 we stayed at Hotel Villa Rita- Loved it! Very simple. It was a last minute reservation due to a change in plans. They have a nice pool and they have a really great restaurant on site. It is a 5-10 min walk to ruins and the beach. There were a lot of groups staying there as part of different cycling tours. We went to Tenuta Vannulo and were underwhelmed with the tour (especially since we had to take a taxi there). We walked to Barlotti from Hotel Villa Rita and it was much better!

But going from Paestum to Puglia and then all the way back to Ischia is not the ideal plan. Could you not go to Ischia, followed by Paestum, and then on to Matera and Puglia, and fly home from Puglia, rather than double tracking all the way back to Rome?

My thoughts exactly eks, but if the order is this way for a reason, you could arrange the car round trip out of Salerno and maybe drop at Naples for an easier transfer to Ischia.

We have rented a car out of Naples once and several times from Salerno. Unless you are flying into and out of the Naples airport I would encourage renting the car out of Salerno. Most of the car rental places are an easy walk from the train station and then getting out of the rental agency is easy.

I agree with ekscrunchy’s suggestion to visit Ischia near the front end of your trip. BTW, Ischia has a nice beach in Ischia Ponte and I am sure there are others (and likely better) elsewhere on the island.

You can spend your time in Matera on your way to Puglia from the Cilento and you can, perhaps, finish your Puglia visit in Brindisi or Bari and fly back from there. That approach eliminates backtracking and one to two days of driving if your plan was to rent and return a car in Rome. Visit Rome once, not twice, if airline schedules permit. Rome at the front end makes a lot of sense.

We did not make it to Brindisi so I know -0- about it, but in hindsight I would have been pleased to have spent more than the 24 hours we spent in Bari.

Bari, too, has lotsa history for you ,,, San Nicola and the Swabian Castle from the 1100s, later used by Spanish rulers of the Kingdom of Naples/Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. We did not have time to explore Bari’s opera house and rich musical history.

I’d suggest you take the train from Rome to Naples (or Salerno) and just rent a car on your way out for the drive to the Paestum area and the Cilento, Basilicata/Matera and Puglia. And I’d turn in the car on arrival in Puglia and then train/bus/bike in Puglia.