Town of Amalfi has a homebase

If you are basing on both sides of the peninsula and are going to use those bases to their advantages for near places, then yes I agree that is a great idea! I MIGHT say do Positano from Amalfi though, as the journey will be less, either by boat or bus. I appreciate that many of the buses originate or terminate in Amalfi so you have a good chance of getting a seat or not missing out on your stop :) It's a great place to do hikes from as well as you can ferry to other towns (or bus, but that's not as fun haha). I was looking at the website for the ferries today for something else, https://www.travelmar.it/ and they have various stops along the coast. 5 years ago I was there around that time and the buses to go to Bomerano to start the Path of the God were JAMMED. I bet you could get up early and get on one before the masses descended on Amalfi and it would be really easy! (same for Ravello)

It does not make a lot of sense to use Sorrento as a base for Positano and then move closer to Positano. You can visit Pompeii and Capri from Naples OR Sorrento, and then move to Amalfi, from which you can visit Positano by a shorter ferry ride.

You could also do a few days in Naples, a few days in Sorrento, then a few days in Amalfi. Some like to stay in one place and do multiple day trips. I prefer changing bases. There is no one right answer.

Hi William
Maybe consider Minori?
I am done. the Sal

Amalfi is THE transport hub on the AC. It’s basically in the middle of the coast, and has a large bus station and ferry dock. You can get anywhere on the AC from here. Visiting Positano from Sorrento versus Amalfi does not make sense in your case. It’s really only logical if your time is limited to day trips. Sorrento mostly makes an efficient base for the Bay of Naples (Naples/Pompeii/Capri.) Since you’re staying in Naples already, Sorrento is even less necessary. A big part of why I suggest staying on the coast itself is there are TONS of people day tripping onto the coast in the morning, and then jamming the roads back in the evening. By starting your day’s exploration in a place like Amalfi, you’re generally moving against this traffic and on the move before the crowds truly get thick. So, it would be worth adjusting your plans for more days on the Amalfi Coast versus Sorrento if that’s your sightseeing priority.

Amalfi town is a busy, crowded town and maybe not the quaint, relaxing vibe you’re looking for. With the amount of time you have, you could justify staying in a smaller town for part of the trip. A place like Priano or Minori would be great for a few days of chill beach time, but more difficult to day trip from. Personally, I stayed in Atrani and loved it. Atrani is a short, if somewhat nervy, walk along (meaning, on) the coast road from Amalfi. It’s a surprisingly local feeling town with a sand beach. Atrani had the local vibe I enjoy, with the convenience of Amalfi’s transportation.

Capri is fairly close to Sorrento but if you take first ferry at 9 am you might only have 3 hours on island then return. Positano is much further. There is a bus from Sorrento to Positano but it was so crowded had to wait for the next bus. It was jarring with the hairpin turns. And it let us out way at the top and we had to walk about 50 stories of stairs to get to sea level. So take the ferry one way and stay - and pay the sky high prices double of Sorrento.

You can also take ferry from Positano to Salerno stopping in Amalfi. From Salerno high speed train.

Hotel Residence is quite reasonably priced for Amalfi and only steps from the ferry dock. The ferry is the best way to get around, as long as there is no inclement weather or rough seas. Then they don't run. Where do you go after Amalfi? That could come into play. Are you flying home from Rome or Naples after the coast or moving on elsewhere? That can make a lot of difference in recommendations.

Hi William,
I know that you are looking into Sorrento and/or Amalfi. But our TR below (almost as loooong as the coast itself) describes our having recently based in Minori. We also did many daytrips: Albori, Ravello, Torre, Amalfi/Atrani, Cetera, Herculaneum and more. One may need to scroll back to the beginning as this link below for some reason, seems to start at the halfway point.
*the part two to this overlong TR covers our subsequent stay on Ischia.

Note that over on Fodors forum I go by 'zebec'.
I am done. the end.
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/costa-damalfi-a-tr-1719110/page2/#post17517628

That is great information.
One more question, we certainly want to visit Ravello. Certainly you can take the bus, but does anyone know if it is easy/difficult to get a taxi, and how much that typically costs from Amalfi to Ravello ?
Thanks everybody.
BT

There are definitely taxis in Amalfi to get up to Ravello, but I don't know the price. Probably fewer taxis in Ravello, but they know that some people might not want to have to squeeze their way onto a bus (or not fit on a bus and then choose to take a taxi) so a few might be waiting around bus time up there.

Hopefully early May will not be too crazy, but I have heard of some exorbitant taxi prices when things get too busy. I would ask at the hotel about a driver. Sometimes people waiting for the bus can pool together for a taxi.
I walked down, but I cannot say it was my favorite part of my hike that day! (steep downhills are worse than going uphill to me)

My daughter and I stayed at Amalfi three nights (also Salerno for two). Amalfi is very handy to Positano - we took a ferry, to Ravello - we took the bus, and Salerno - we took the ferry.

Our efficient apartment I found on Booking.com in Amalfi, Arco della Rua, was nicely located over a formal restaurant, just past the archway over the main street. The furnishings were nice, including fun bathroom tile choices.

William, up to Ravello there is the regular SITA bus plus the open top red tour bus. The latter may be more expensive but only ever sells as many tickets as there are seats (ie no standing ever).
You ask about taxis. Yes there are numerous available but I cannot recall the normal fee. Btw, just this morn, our favored driver Patritzio Amato emailed us to say hello. We hired him many times and one may see his contact number in our TR. He also has a pair of email addresses that we'd be happy to pass along to anyone. We also show a second potential taxi driver there as well (see his portrait).
One takeaway for us as self-caterers: Minori is the best for that. Four great delis, a pasta-producer, a selection of restaurants, a greengrocer, the famed Sal de Riso plus a weekly farmers market. Amalfi has the larger 'Big Apple' grocery which is a short bus away from Minori. And Maiori has two such big supermarkets, equally easy-peazy to access.
Amalfi could be a fine home base but it will be busy, and never be as quiet as Minori. The latter will feel more like a residential town. We treated Amalfi as a daytrip (easily done at same time as Atrani) and loved it that way.
I am done. The homebase

One possible reason to stay in Amalfi could be that the east-west SITA busses (if you plan to use them) normally require a change in Amalfi. You may be overestimating the need to encyclopedically explore the AC. (I am guilty of encyclopedic tourism myself!)

Are you going to Paestum? Recommended UNESCO WHS.

William, general price of taxi, one-way, is here (click on "Tabella tariffe" to download the PDF sheet). It lists
€ 55,00 for a taxi carrying 1-4 people between Amalfi and Ravello.

https://comune.amalfi.sa.it/Vivere-il-comune/Luoghi/Stazione-Taxi

William, up to Ravello there is the regular SITA bus plus the open top
red tour bus. The latter may be more expensive but only ever sells as
many tickets as there are seats (ie no standing ever).

Gregg/Zebec, when was that trip when you took the open-top bus? If it was Citysightseeing/Coast-to-Coast bus, it hasn't run for a number of years now (that I'm aware of) and I can't find anything at all on an open-top tourist bus which does this route. If you have current info, can you provide the link please? :O)

Kathy/Inmate,
We never actually took that specific bus coz it seemed to not start til later in the spring.. I was merely relaying info that our original research had unearthed. When I emailed their company back then to ask about their seasonal re-opening date (ie when will you folks be running that red bus up to Ravello again?) their response had been oddly cryptic. I probably didn't 'get it' then, that they were trying to tell me they no longer operated that route out of Napoli.

So thanks to Kathy's good catch here, I'd urge William and others to get say, Turismo in their base town or perhaps their hotel front- desk or rental landlord/lady to confirm this for you.
FWIW, the SITA buses that come from Minori and go up there, transfer at a stop called 'Bivio', a pleasant seaside location with cafe or three.
We never had a single problem using the various SITA buses going eastbound (stop: directly in front of Sal de Riso pastry shop) or westbound towards Amalfi from Minori, from the stop in front of the ceramic house-tile producer near Sal de Riso's brother Alesandro's own twin cafe.

Even shoulder season, they ran with frequency. The Minori taxi stand btw, is right in front of Sal de Riso.
William, when in Vietre, maybe check out nearby tiny 'Albori' hamlet.

I am done. the good catch by Kathy

Me dear Zebec -
Dang, was kind of hoping for our OP that I was wrong about that bus but digging about didn't turn up anything to the contrary. The word awhile back seemed to be that it suspended service during the pandemic and is still missing in action. :O(

We stayed in Amalfi and agree it does make a good base. We took the bus up to Ravello (standing room o ly). It was pretty unpleasant and we decided to walk back. It was a lovely walk that went through the town of Atrani and through a tunnel back into Amalfi. I have since seen reports of people staying in Atrani. It might be something to also consider.

We liked Amalfi and it was a good transportation hub. It is very busy during the day.