Rome and Amalfi Coast

Feasable.
I think the only thing I would reconsider is the Vesuvio. When you're in Pompei, you'd be able to this the same day. It's very close of course, you go by car to a certain place, then you park and you walk up there for about 20-30 minutes. Then you stay on top maybe half an hour for the feel, the pictures.
So if you leave Pompei at 3pm, you have enough time to do it after.
This leaves you Naples for a day. Short but better then nothing.
Make sure to go to the archeological museum, one of the most impressive in the entire world. Most of the objects, sculptures, mosaics come from Pompei, Herculanum and around. So when you see Pompei and go the museum after, you better understand the life 2000 years ago and appreciate even more what you saw the day before.

thank you! I also thought about going to Naples from Sorrento and staying there for day and a half and fly out of Naples instead of Rome (the only drawback i can think of is a ticket price). Also do you think one day trip along the coast is enough to see Amalfi, Ravello and Positano?

It seems like a lot in hot weather in a short amount of time. I would suggest no more than 3 nights in Rome that time of year. Depending on what type of traveler you are, how you respone to jet lag, I can tell you that last Sept. I arrived in Rome, then immediately took a high speed train ( about 1hr 15min) to Naples, stayed one night to see Archeological Museum and Herculaneum, then continued to Capri. I have to warn you, Pompeii is massive and extremely hot that time of year, also, with very little shade. You may want to consider Herculaneum, it can be seen in 2 hours, which leaves time for something else! It is also much better preserved than Pompeii. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum

Unless you are interested in hiking up it, Vesuvius can been seen from anywhere in the Naples area, so a visit may not be necessary. The archeological museum in Naples houses all the artifacts recovered from Pompeii and Herculaneum, so that might be a good way to cool off in the middle of the day if you are not at a beach. If going to beaches water shoes are a must as large rocks beneath the water make wadding in and out impossible.

Depending on whether you are an island person or would prefer to stay on the coast and town hop, you should choose EITHER Capri or the Amalfi Coast, for me Sorrento is very skipable compared to the other two.

I stayed 3 nights in Rome at the end of the trip, but was visiting relatives, so two nights may be enough for you. Also, relaxing first, and getting over the jet lag will enable you to be more on Rome time zone for a city visit, which requires LOTS of walking. Enjoy!

thank you! We are just choosing Sorrento as a base to do town hopping along the coast and also travel to Pompei and Capri. I start thinking about going to Naples from Sorrento on our way back, visit the city and the museum, spend one night there and fly out of Naples instead of flying from Rome.

Amalfi, Ravello and Positano in a day will be intense. Those are 3 small places but still. If you start early morning and finish after dinner yes probably. But remember you have to get to those places, eat, park or take the bus maybe. These take some of the time.
In Amalfi for instance, you might want to take a boat ride to see the coast from further away which is spectacular or go to a cave by boat from Amalfi to Furore and back. That took some of or time.
Eating a few gelatos take some time to. :-)

Flying into Naples and out of Rome would be the easiest itinerary.

Naples is much easier to fly to, then take the Curreri Viaggi bus to Sorrento. 10E 1:15.

The only drawback is that you have to take a connecting flight. If you do this, try to connect in Frankfurt, Munich, or Amsterdam.

Flying out of Rome your only a half hour to the airport. A taxi is fixed rate and for 2, almost the same as the Leonardo Express when considering you have to get to the train station.

We are doing something similar, same time of year and flying out of Boston. We fly into Rome and out of Naples and flights were the cheapest I've seen @ mid $600 for an open jaw flight. We leave Boston 8/29 spend 3 nights Rome, travel on private transfer to Sorrento stopping in Pompeii on the way in then spend 6 nights in sorrento as our base to see the coast. Will send a day going to Capri, take the ferry to ischia for a day, we have a private boat rented for one day to do the coast. There's 6 of us so it was affordable splitting costs of everything. I think flight prices are still down. I'd check it out, we didn't want to spend all that time going back and forth to Rome just for a cheap flight price.

Yes, everyone recommend to fly out of Naples. I think we will do the same. Thanks for sharing! Also, do you mind telling me more about private transfer? Are you planning to spend some time in Naples as well?

As far as flying, as I have been to this part of Italy many times in the last 10 years, I no longer fly into Naples due to no direct flights. I fly into Rome and take a 1.5 hr train ride to Naples, then either stay one night see sights etc or if I am feeling energetic or have a short trip, I go right to the ferry port and hit the islands ( or down the coast etc). There is just too much drama with taking two flights for cities that are only 1 hour apart by train! :) Good luck figuring out what works best for you! Have fun!

Just to add....
Do leave your itinerary for the south of Rome open to flex with the weather and potentially rocky seas? Capri is no fun in the rain, and the boats can't dock in Positano if it's windy enough to really stir up the waves. Sure, you can take a SITA bus to Positano and Amalfi as a plan B but it's worth a mention if your heart's set on doing most of your sightseeing on the coast by water. :O)

Our travel agent set up the private transfer so I do not know what company or the particulars. They will pick us up at our hotel in Rome and drive us to Pompeii for a 2 hour guided tour then take us the rest of the way into sorrento. We opted to fly into Rome because of the direct flight but didn't want the hassle of having to get back to Rome at the end of the trip. We fly Naples-Rome-Boston. We are not spending any time in naples, next trip! Looks like we will be in sorrento at the same time, we are staying at Marina Piccola 73, my husband will be wearing the Sox baseball hat!

doffa50, great! I will keep that in mind:)) We haven't bought tickets yet but planning to do it soon. Have a great time!

thanks everyone for your suggestions. It really helped!

Not enough time in Rome! But, since you do have limited time, I would recommend you jamming in that time with organized tours your first day. There are a few big companies that do great tours – Enjoy Rome, Dark Rome, Walks of Italy, but I prefer the smaller group/semi-private tours that they offer. Or a smaller company altogether like Eden Walks or The Roman Guy, who offer more intimated experiences. Eden Walks also has this amazing food tour around Trastevere that I went on when I visited Rome last. It’s a 3-hour tour of local, authentically Roman food. Highly recommend it.

I haven’t visited the south in so many years I would be afraid to give you any recommendations because they would be outdated.
But a friend of mine recently stayed in a small town a few minutes away from the Amalfi Coast called Atrani. Looked super cute (and I am sure a little less pricey).