My husband and I are early 70-ish and fairly active. We like to hike and stroll but nothing difficult. We love the food, shopping (nothing high end) and some museums. We’ve been to Italy twice now and always stay 3 weeks for at least 3-4 nights per location. We’ve not been any further south than Florence and Tuscany area. We’re interested in the coastal communities all around Amalfi etc. Want to see Pompeii, Capri. Not crazy about the heat or massive crowds. Don’t care about swimming in the ocean, but love to be near it!
What month would you suggest? I always buy my flights first and then work out the details later.
Ideally, we want to also see the Dolomites, but I can’t figure out how to do both in one trip because of extremes in weather, crowds etc.
Thanks for any suggestions. Y’all are always the best!
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
Purely because of the length of the days, I'd prefer spring to fall. You can take a look at the monthly climate-summary charts found in the Wikipedia entries for most cities. I don't think monthly averages are terribly useful, but they can be helpful if you primarily want to compare one month to another.
The entry for Salerno (not too far from Amalfi) has temperature data but no info on precipitation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salerno
The entry for Sorrento (on the north side of the peninsula, not on the Amalfi Coast) adds rainfall statistics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrento
And the Naples entry has more data elements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples
As you can see, in all cases September is a lot warmer than May, on average. Hot days in the early part of the month will likely be quite a lot warmer than the averages shown in the charts. Based on the October precipitation data, it appears the risk of rain is likely to increase in the latter part of September.
If you want more-detailed information (how hot can it get?), take a look at the website timeanddate.com, which has actual, day-by-day, historical weather statistics for most places of tourist interest. Here's Amalfi in September of this year to get you started:
It's essential to check more than one year. I look at the most recent five years. Use the pull-down box just above the graph at the right to change the month and year displayed.
Use the Search box near the upper right to change the location.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2309 posts
I concur with everything acraven has said!
Posted by
Los Angeles by way of Providence and Rome
627 posts
If you are going to the Amalfi Coast, in either time it is going to be crowded. September will likely be hotter than early May though.
Posted by
OP
Indy
59 posts
Thank you all for your input. I’m narrowing it down to mid to late April for 3 weeks. Maybe Rome first (do the crazy on the front end), train to Naples for maybe a couple of nights then on to Salerno for maybe 6 nights with day trips, exploring the area, and time off for chilling. Is it easier to visit Pompei and Herculaneum from Naples or Salerno?
And then…still planning.
Any and all thoughts are appreciated.
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
Easier from Naples unless you want to go just to Pompeii and are willing to walk (not all that far) from the mainline train station in that city. Salerno is on the main rail line, not on the Circumvesuviana line, which has a stop right near the scavi as well as one convenient to Herculaneum (which is very close to Naples). The mainline train is more comfortable than the Circumvesuviana but somewhat more expensive.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
795 posts
I have done Herculaneum from Salerno twice, but it takes the UNBELIEVABLY SLOW regionale train that stops every 2 feet (like takes an hour or more) but hey, it even picks up from the not very used Salerno Duomo stop! I would go with doing it from Naples, the walk from the station is even easier from that side too. I was just lazy and didn't want to take a train to Naples to go backwards on another train to Herculaneum.
I went in 2019 from April 26-May 10th or something like that? We had not amazing weather in the north (Garda and Firenze were kinda gross and cold) but Campania and Roma were better.
I used to live in Salerno, so I'm a fan, but I had 5 nights there in 2019 and unless we had decided to do multiple days by ferry to the coast or wanted to take day trips to Naples/Caserta/Herculaneum/Pompeii (when the Naples, ruins, and even Caserta visits would have been easier to do from Naples)then we would have run out of day trips the next day. We did Paestum & Vietri, Capri, Amalfi/Path of the Gods, and Herculaneum on our 4 full days last trip. I would say to add a night or two to Naples to do the ruins and the archeological museum from there instead of Salerno.
Posted by
San Diego, California
5648 posts
The Sorrento/Amalfi Coast is a victim of its Instagram success- it's very crowded three seasons of the year, and shoulder season is no longer less traveled. Compound that with poor infrastructure, narrow roads, traffic congestion, and poor public transportation. There is no quick and efficient mode of travel, it's very different from areas north of Naples. The Circumvesuviana train doesn't always run on time, is pretty gritty, with no air conditioning. The Sika buses are extremely crowded and often skip stops if they have no space for additional passengers. The ferries are weather dependent.You need lots of patience- and time- to explore the area.
I believe the train to Salerno works well, but then you still need to move around that area .
Go in April, but after Easter break, maybe the second week of April. Have a great trip.
Safe travels.