Please critique my itinerary - Amalfi Coast and Rome

May 31 - Positano, Amalfi, Ravello

What means of transportation are you using to go to and from each of these? If it is the bus you are going to be challenged by the sun, the wait for the bus and the crowd of other people waiting to get on also.

June 3 - Travel to Rome - Walks of Italy tour in afternoon

Just one thing: getting from Sorrento to Rome on the same day, then getting to your hotel ,and then doing a walking tour in the afternoon might be a challenge

What time do you arrive in Naples? Would you have the wherewithal to hop on a train to Rome that day? That way, you could avoid having to split your time up.
I believe you said in your other post that there were children traveling as well. Pompeii and Herculaneum in one day might be tough. I spent several hours just at Pompeii. Take hats and water, as there is little shade.
Overall, its a pretty hard-charging itinerary, with little down time (some like that--nothing wrong with it, but it tires me just reading it). You might want to prioritize which you would drop if you need a down day.

Just one thing: getting from Sorrento to Rome on the same day, then getting to your hotel , and then doing a walking tour in the afternoon might be a challenge

As Jazz says, challenging. What time is the tour? You will probably need to get the first Circumvesuviana out of Sorrento.

To many things scheduled for the time you'll have. Example:

May 31 - Positano, Amalfi, Ravello
June 1 - Pompeii and Herculaneum
June 2 - Praiano, Maiori, Minori/Grotto boat tour

You're not going to pull that off - especially not with kids in tow.

As you say, the decision to fly both in and out of Naples was a mistake. Is it too late to fix that? (I'm not asking if it's too late to change that without paying a fee - you're already paying a huge penalty - it might be worth it to buy your way out of that mistake).

You also have a trip that's simply too short for what you are trying to do. The best fix for both of your problems would be to change your ticket: Fly in to Rome and out of Naples (or vice versa), and most of all: you need to add several days to your trip. Pay the $$$ price to fix that now, or pay the price in lost opportunity to do what you want. The cost in $$$ may not be very high. If it were me, I'd add 4 or 5 more days, fly in to Rome and out of Naples, bite the financial bullet to change the flights, and get to enjoy the trip you want. If you stick to your current flights, you'll need to drop a bunch of stuff either in Rome, around the Bay of Naples, or both.

Hi Max,

Since you cannot change your booking on your Italy flight to do an open jaw flight plan, I suggest that when you land in Naples, take a direct train to Rome and start your trip from there and work your way back up to Naples. Naples to Rome is just a 3 hour train ride. Here is an itinerary that can work for you:

May 29 Naples (Arrival) .......Travel to Rome immediately (From Naples airport using TRENITALIA line, take the train to Rome)

May 30 Rome - Walk of Italy tour

May 31 to June 4th Rome - Rome (planning activities) Possible Day Trips: Ostia Antica, Orvieto & Civita di Bagnoregio, Tivoli, or Giardino di Ninfa

June 5 - Travel to Naples (Herculaneum tour late afternoon)

June 6 Naples - Day trip by boat - Capri and Ana Capri

June 7 Naples - Village Day Tour - Positano, Amalfi, Ravello

June 8 Naples - Pompeii Day trip

June 9 Naples - Fly out of Naples

Noticed I left off Praiano, Maiori, Minori/Grotto boat tour. Since you will be traveling with children and dealing with the

summer heat at that time of year, you don't want to exhaust yourself cramming these other places. A vacation is supposed to be

relaxing not rushing. If you really want to do the Grotto tour then shorten your stay in Rome by one day and use that

extra day to do that.

I hope you find this itinerary doable for your trip.

Take care

Rjean

This is actually a double posting. Scan down to see the same question with more responses. Maybe he didn't like the earlier responses. Don't know the reason for the second question. Another case of asking for input after having made major decisions.

PS Just read RJean's response since we were posting about the same time. Makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately the doubling back to Naples is not a good use of time. But I would consider staying in Sorrento instead Naples as more consistent with the his goals that were stated in his earlier question.

For other readers, this is good example where a open jaw saves time and money.

My tickets unfortunately are non refundable and to change them will cost me a ton....I wish I had made the booking out of Rome...

Arrival on May 29 is at 12.15 pm at Naples....

I agree that going to Rome first makes the most sense.
If you are set on sorrento, you could base yourself there instead. Herculean is closer to Naples than sorrento. Pompeii is closer to sorrento. I agree that seeing both Herculean and Pompeii in one day is a bit much. We went first thing from sorrento by train and were not back until at least 4 pm. We spent a day on Capri . It is very crowded. It was fun enough but something I would have skipped had we been short on time.

How are you planning to see positano, amalfi and Ravello? We spent four days in this area using public transportation. I think you would either need a tour or a car. I don’t think this is very doable otherwise. And frankly I would skip Ravello if you only have one day. It is a lot of territory to cover.

Plan is to use a tour/taxi to see the Villages of Amalfi.......
Thank you for all replies/suggestions - going off Rjean's itinerary - will this work?

May 29 Naples (Arrival) .......Travel to Rome immediately (From Naples airport using TRENITALIA line, take the train to Rome)

May 30 Rome - Walk of Italy tour

May 31 to June 3rd Rome - Rome (planning activities) Possible Day Trips: Ostia Antica, Orvieto & Civita di Bagnoregio, Tivoli, or Giardino di Ninfa

June 4 - Travel to Sorrento

June 5 Sorrento - Day trip by boat - Capri and Ana Capri

June 6 Sorrento - Village Day Tour - Positano, Amalfi, Ravello

June 7 Sorrento - Boat tour Grotto

June 8 Sorrento to Naples - Need to plan something close to or on way to Naples

June 9 - Fly out of Naples

Yeah, that looks better. Day of travel (June 4) Rome to Sorrento, you'll have to make a decision whether to get private transport from Naples Centrale to your Sorrento hotel--a little pricey--or take the Circumvesuviana with bags. Dirt-cheap but with kids, that could be a challenge. Or it could be real fun for them, like a big-city subway, in Italy. But that would be only if your hotel is near the station. If it's going to be down by the marina, just have your hotel set up private transport, much easier & less stressful.

If your flight out of Naples is later in the day, you could stay in Sorrento that last night (June 8) and take the Curreri Viaggi bus direct from Sorrento station to Naples airport that morning, or take private transfer.

Is the grotto the blue grotto in Capri? If so, be aware that can be long lines and that it is also dependent on the weather. And you are planning to make two trips to Capri .

Personally, I would substitute Pompeii . We really enjoyed it and is different from other types of sights on amalfi coast.

Personally, I would be a little hesitant to spend last night in sorrento unless you are flying later in the day. Our flight was at 7 am so obviously had to be in Naples night before.

But generally, you have a much more reasonable itinerary. I don’t think you will miss the time traveling to Rome in day of arrival as you will be jet lagged and may even be able to catch a short nap.

Flight out of Naples on Jun 9 is at 7.15 am - hence was planning on getting to Naples on Jun 8

On the 29th, be aware, there is no train from Naples airport.
You can take a taxi, or the Alibus to Napoli Centrale. Do not pre purchase train tickets on this leg, just in case your flight is late.

In Naples, we stayed in the area by Castel dell'Ovo or the Egg Castle. It is a pedestrian free zone with lots of hotels and restaurants and a view of the sea and the castle. It is very pleasant and our hotel booked an early morning taxi for us. I had been in Naples for a conference and stayed in this area and my husband met me afterwards. We returned to the same hotel the night before we flew out. I noticed at the conference that everyone who stayed in this area liked Naples while others did not. Naples is hectic and this area is not so I think it gives tourists a bit of a pleasant rest.

You can walk in 15 minutes from the ferry which is what we did both to catch the ferry to Sorrento and upon returning to Capri. The train station is a bit further so we elected to take the ferry. However, Sorrento is up a cliff from where the ferry comes which we did not realize until we arrived. We took a bus up (I think there is an elevator too but bus was right there so seemed faster).

We found out that stopping at red lights at 5 am was optional in Naples! We were to the airport in less than 10 minutes!

Stopping at red lights at anytime in Italy is option. And a green light for crossing is only a mild suggestion. Find a nun or priest to follow very closely across.