Thoughts: Visit Positano or Capri?

Capri is a great visit and one day is perfect. Start early and u could have dinner in Positano as it is easily seen in a couple hrs. Be aware of bus , ferry schedules.

The hydro foil from Amalfi town stops in Positano on the way to Capri, so the suggestion to start early and touch both locations is quite feasible.

I'd visit both if possible. Both are a must, IMO, and it doesn't take long to visit them.

Both are must sees, would really have to know more about your plans to make sense of why you can only see 1.
If you have a full day you could squeeze them both into one day, depending on the time of year from Amalfi the quickest way to get to Capri may be the ferry from Positano anyway.
Amalfi the town you could skip in favor of these 2 for example.

If you plan is super rushed and this is truly the only day you have for the Amalfi Coast, I would do Positano I guess push come to shove, since that maybe your only time to see the coast itself as well since your plan is not defined.

Thanks for your responses. mreynolds, for insight, I want my travel these days to be "slow travel." I always felt I crammed too much activity into too little time when I worked and was strapped for time on vacations. Now, I want to really slow it down, sip on coffee in the parks, sketch for hours if the mood overtakes me, see one major sight per day and meander the rest of the day, hopefully getting lost and experiencing travel unplanned.

So, for this trip, I settled on 8 days in Florence (with 2 side trips - one a full day bike, in case you think "slow" means "slow moving"), 4 days in Amalfi town (with side trips to Pompeii, Vietri Sul Mare for major ceramics shopping, one free day for the beach, and one day for either Positano or Capri.) My hope is to explore and sketch and shoot pictures in one of those towns. I don't care to be rushed or having to plan transportation so that I am always watching the clock, which is why I want to do one or the other, not both. (My last 7 days will be spent perusing Rome.)

Hope this makes some sort of sense.
-Mary

Mary

Given your update, all I can suggest is flip a coin. Unless it stands on edge, you will win!

Mary Claire,
Both are beautiful so you will enjoy either.
As mentioned the quickest way to get to Capri (assuming the ferry is in season) is to literally go through Positano so you really cannot avoid Positano if you decide on Capri for the day.

My big point would be of your itinerary ; you really should tweak to include both, which would NOT be rushing
For example: your day at the beach ; well guess where the BEST beach is: Positano !
Amalfi town which I think is well behind both Positano and Capri you are giving too much time in this case and it does not have a nice beach. I would rate it also behind for photos / photography / painting / sketching
So make your beach day on Positano's beach and then your other day can be Capri and problem solved.
A full day doing nothing but Positano would be extremely laid back!!!
A full day in Capri is going to be fairly rushed due to ferries and it is whole island so much larger than any one town on the coast. You will need to watch the clocks since you will have scheduled ferries involved with Capri and the areas you will want to see are a walk from where the ferry drops off and picks up.
A full day in Capri is kind of the equal of 1 day for all of Positano, Amalfi and Ravello to put the plan into perspective.

Make sure you visit Ravello as well at some point (a short bus ride from Alamfi town). great restaurants there as well so you could go late afternoon / early evening watch the sunset and have a nice dinner.
The views from Ravello are incredible and like nothing else in the area (it is up much higher)

Thanks for your insights! It's nice going in with options. Regards, Mary.