Sorrento, Positano, Salermo...which town should we choose?

Sorrento. It has ideal position and connections everywhere.

Agree with Ilja, definitely Sorrento. A wonderful, charming town with the best transportation options.

I'd also suggest Sorrento as the best "home base" for that area. It has reasonably good transportation connections (rail and bus) and is the closest location to Pompeii. Positano has no rail service so would present some difficulties and extra costs for touring.

Specifically to visit the other parts of the A.C. and Pompei, and trucking kids around, I probably would give a nod to Sorrento as well.

But Salerno is quite a nice base as well. City of 110,000, great transportation to Paestum, Herculaneum, Pompei, Naples, all an hour or less by bus or train. 1 hour Salerno/Amalfi, another hour to Positano. And much more variety in food, dare I say better quality in Salerno, and no doubt less expensive. We based at a B&B there 5 nights last March and enjoyed every minute.

Note that the Salerno train to Pompeii stops in modern Pompeii, a considerable distance from the excavation. The Sorrento train stops almost opposite the main entrance to the excavation. I would think that Salerno is cheaper and has better room availability, but I've never been there. Both Sorrento and Salerno require some time and trouble to visit "the Amalfi Coast." I am sorry to have missed Paestum, but I wouldn't think three children would want to see the temples.

You didn't give a month of the year. This area can be very crowded from May to September. Sorrento needs to be booked months and months in advance. You need to give a lot of consideration to boarding busses or fitting into a sedan (not ... ) with a driver. Ferries have fewer departures off season. I suggest you use the Search box at top center to read some of the many threads about staying in this area.

Correct, Tim. The train from the Salerno Centrale train station to Pompei lets you off at the Pompei town station. A considerable distance from the ruins? Not really, about a 20-minute walk to the back entrance, I believe the Nocera gate. It was a nice day, and we really enjoyed strolling through the town. Walking past the city hall, there was a neat monument/remembrance of 9-11 with a couple of steel beams from the actual Twin Towers.

The more popular entrance to the ruins--and the one that the Circumvesuviana train lets you off at--is the Pompei Scavi entrance.

We've been to Sorrento 3 times, a week each time, in July and did not find it crowded at all.
We thought visiting the AC from Sorrento was easy.

Gee, Susan, we spent five nights in Sorrento in late May, 2014. Every single time we went to the Circumvesuviana station to start a day trip, there was a fiercely long line for the SITA bus to Positano/Amalfi. I counted the bodies, and there were more people in line than would fit on the next bus!

We didn't actually take that bus, but Rick Steves writes in his southern Italy book that you should see Positano first and then go to Amalfi, because the bus back to Sorrento may not stop at all in Positano because it was completely full when it left the originating return stop in Amalfi! (No personal experience, as I said.)

We paid over 250 Euros for eight hours with a car and driver to visit the AC from Sorrento. Not everyone has that in their budget. I would add that I took my fifth or sixth hotel choice in Sorrento because I only reserved two months in advance.

Jay, the reason I warned about modern Pompeii is that the OP mentions three adults and three children. They don't have the option of flagging a cab if the fierce summer sun is too much (before even getting to the un-shaded and stony Pompeii!) Wait till they try driving a stroller on the Roman streets of Pompeii. Youch.

Without a car, I'd stay in Sorrento.

Thank you so much for all your advice! Sounds like Sorrento it is! Hiring a private car/driver may be in our budget...would that be the best way to see A.C? We would want to take public transport wherever possible, just because in my experiences trains, anyway, are pretty simple and reliable. We'd have the issues of car seats though. Kids are 7, 10, and infant. Trip is in May.

Sorrento!!!
Positano is remote and very steep so walking with infant can be difficult.
Sorrento has a convenient bus terminal with many connections. Great hotels.

Definitely Sorrento! It's a great town with a lot of transportation, lodging and restaurant options. We used a private driver for a day trip along the Amalfi Coast. We visited in Aug/Sept and there was no way I was going to fight the crowds on the buses to visit the various towns along the AC. I heard it's difficult to get a seat on the bus during peak season and there's no A/C and the thought of standing on a hot crowded bus on twisting/turning roads was a recipe for motion sickness & an unpleasant experience. We had a wonderful experience with our driver, Francesco Marrapese. He picked us up at our hotel in Sorrento in an air conditioned comfortable Mercedes van and drove us along the coast for the day stopping at the various towns and for lunch, etc. He spoke perfect English and make it really enjoyable. Francesco uses an Ipad to enhance the experience and he shows you various movie or commercial scenes that were shot along the coast as you drive up to the exact location and he gave us a lot of interesting information about the area. He was an excellent driver and although I'm prone to motion sickness and was worried about getting sick, I never had a problem due to Francesco's conservative driving. He made excellent suggestions regarding where to stop and where to have lunch and at the end of the day he delivered us back to our hotel in Sorrento. While it was certainly not cheap, my husband and I both agreed that we saw way more than we would have on our own if we had to worry about the logistics and it would not have been as enjoyable as it was with Francesco. His e-mail address is: info@francescomarrapese.com and his web-site is www.francescomarrapese.com. You can read his wonderful reviews on Trip Advisor as well.

We also used a private driver and tour guide for Pompeii and Herculaneum and agreed it was worth the money as well. There simply aren't many group tours along the AC or to Pompeii/Herculaneum so this was the only portion of our trip that we splurged on private drivers/guides but again we saw so much more than we would have on our own and it was worry-free and very enjoyable!