Tuscany and Amalfi coast Trip Fall of 2022…Help

Just pulling up your previous posts for reference
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/help-in-planning-a-trip-to-the-amalfi-coast-and-tuscany

Is your best flight choice still RT Rome?

Counting your trip in nights works better for planning purposes so I am going to assume you have 12 NIGHTS in Italy.
if you do need to fly in /out of Rome then I'd split the time almost evenly but you'll need to spend your last night before departure in Rome
Flying home from Naples would really be ideal.

Arrive Rome- train to Florence.
Without a car Florence is your best choice for a base. You can do day trips as you like either on your own or with a group- (ToursbyRoberto.com is one)
Spend 5 nights in Florence with 2-3 days trips- depends how much of Florence you want to experience. (Getting to Montepulciano, Montalcino, etc without a car is complicated/time consuming- so a tour is your best best)

Train from Florence to Sorrento (via Naples then driver or train)
4 nights in Sorrento- 1 day Pompeii and maybe Naples, 1 day Capri, 1 day Amalfi coast towns via ferry, bus or driver (this could be "on your way" to Salerno.
Do leave some time to enjoy Sorrento itself
(Mondo Guides www.sharedtours.com- does tours of all these sights and they are really good

Ferry or driver to Salerno- 2 nights- visit Paestum on your 2nd day- it is fabulous.

Direct train to Rome spend 1 night before departure flight
That's 12 nights- if you an add a night or 2- definitely do- add as many as you can!

Another option could be to fly into Milan go directly to Florence, work your way south and fly out of Naples.

ETA- ferries normally run thru Oct but will not run in inclement weather

"Fall" is 3rd week of Sept to 3rd week of Dec. Depending when in that span your trip is, has a bearing on which order might be best

"12 days" --- How many nights in Italy? Are you including the days you fly?

Where to fly into/out of? How much of a concern is cost?

Thank you Christine for all the info. It truly helps because planning this trip is really overwhelming!

Joe… we were thinking the latter part of September first part of October. Not sure where to fly in and out of. 14 days total with 2 days travel. Thinking approximately $5,000/person + airfare

We can fly into Naples, Rome or Florence

If you can fly into Florence and out of Naples that would be ideal.
You can take a train from Rome to Florence and use Florence as your home base. A good day trip from Florence is Siena by bus (1h 15m). To see the rest of the surrounding area is when you want to hire a driver.
A good base to sleep along the Amalfi Coast is to take a direct train from Florence to Salerno (4h). You can then take ferries to Capri, Positano and Amalfi.

Don’t let the planning stress you out- you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Many of us on this forum have already been there/done that, some multiple times.
Planning is the fun part and you have more than a year.
You have a good start just by posting here and using RS books as your guide.

There are easy transportation methods for all of your locations and there are plenty of options for touring the countryside/Amalfi sights. All of that can come a bit later and you’ll find all the answers here as you go.
I always try to keep transits as simple as possible, no changes or few changes, driver when it makes more sense, etc.

I love to play around on this site:
www.rome2rio.com
to research transit options and travel time. Just use it as reference and go to the actual train/bus/ferry site for solid info and purchasing tix.

$5000 per person is way more than we would ever spend but maybe you want/need first class? We just spent about $1300 total for 2 of us to fly RT Milan- Rome but we are fine with economy and are flying direct from Newark ;)

Fly in to Florence, fly home from Naples. I only say that because Florence is an easy place to be on arrival, Naples probably not so much as your first entry into Italy.

Florence- at least 4 nights here with 1 day trip to Tuscany hill towns
Salerno- 2 nights, 2nd day visit Paestum- you won’t arrive til afternoon- enjoy the town first evening. It is charming and less touristy than anywhere else on your itinerary

Now there are few ways to get to Sorrento
- You could train direct to Naples then to Circumvesuviano or Campania Express
- You could hire a driver- probably about 200 euros (however this will not be a "scenic amalfi coast drive")
- You could ferry to Amalfi- spend a few hours then ferry or bus to Sorrento, etc
- If you don’t mind another stop- stay in Amalfi 2 or 3 nights then move on to Sorrento (visit Positano and Ravello while in Amalfi)
(Amalfi, Positano, Ravello are actually ON Amalfi Coast, Sorrento is not- however it is just lovely)

Sorrento- 3 nights minimum- 1 day for Pompeii, 1 day for Capri

Naples 1 night- depart next am

I ended up with 13 nights here, but just a suggestion:

Fly to Florence

Florence 4 nights

Salerno 2 nights (I’m assuming you do want to see Paestum- if not I’d say skip Salerno and give the time to Florence/Tuscany)

Amalfi 3 nights 1 day take bus to Positano, take ferry back to Amalfi. 1 day bus to Ravello spend the day. Evenings in Amalfi

Sorrento- 3 nights - 1 day Pompeii, 1 day Capri, evenings in Sorrento

Naples- 1 night by ferry or train or driver- visit the Archeological Museum

Fly home- airport is very close to center. Easy- but if your flight is later in the day (after 12noon at least) you don’t have to stay in Naples this night you can leave for airport from Sorrento (direct bus to airport, ferry/taxi, driver, etc- lots of options)

Wow! Thank you so much for all the information!! It really helps

With many trips to the areas you've mentioned, here's my take on the path of least resistance.

Day 1. Travel.

Day 2. Arrive Florence.
Private transfer from the airport to your lodging in Siena. 1:15. Cost around 2-300 euros. Sounds expensive, but with your group, the price per person is fairly reasonable, and will save time.

Day 3. Walking tour of Siena (2 hrs). Bus to either Montereggioni (18 m) or Castellina in Chianti (30 m).

Day 4. Tour or private driver to Pienza and Montepulciano.

Day 5. Day trip by bus to Certaldo (39m). Take the funicular up to this quaint old village.

Day 6. Siena- Florence from Piazza Gramsci.
Bus 131R (1:17m). Walking tour of city.

Day 7. Florence. Museums, make sure you prebook the busiest.

Day. 8. Train. Florence-Salerno (3:48m). Ferry, Salerno-Amalfi.

Day 9. Amalfi-Ravello. Bus (30m). Duomo & Cloisters on return.

Day 10. Ferry Amalfi-Positano. (20m). Late afternoon bus to Sorrento.

Day 11. Take the little bus down to the port. Ferry, Sorrento-Capri. (20m). Return (30m)

Day 12. Circumvesuvian train to Pompeii (38m)
Pompeii-Naples (37m). Archeological Museum. Option here is to take your luggage to Pompeii, there's a left luggage area located in the station downstairs between the platforms. This would save 2 more trips to/From Sorrento.

Day 13. Naples. Stroll the Centro Storico, visit Capella Sansevero.

Day. 14. Taxi to airport. Fixed rate around €23.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Just to throw another possibility into the pile.... :O)

I would agree that Naples (the city) would probably be a shock to the system on arrival day but the airport would be fine, and the coast might be a nice place to get over the jet lag and ease into how things work in The Boot. :O) So, you could fly into Naples and take the Curreri bus to Sorrento. It's a coach-type bus that is comfortable and inexpensive, easy-peasy. Depending on where your accommodations are, you may need a taxi from the drop-off point near Sorrento's station. With 4-6 people, you could also just hire a driver to take you all directly from airport to hotel; there's enough of you to make it cost-effective.

https://www.curreriviaggi.it/en/naples-airport-shuttle

There have been good suggestions above for your time in Sorrento - Pompeii, especially, is very easy from there by (battered but cheap) Circumvesuviana train, and Capri is just a 20-minute ferry ride - so plan to stay put however many days you see desired activities that can fill them. Minimum nights, yes, are 3 but 4 is better as arrival day could be a jet-lagged fog. Then work your way up the coast by ferry, bus or driver, maybe staying, as suggested, in Amalfi for a couple of nights and then ending up in Salerno to take a "fast" train to Florence. Both Trenitalia and Italo have trains that will get you to S.M. Novella (Florence's main train station) with no changes; more easy-peasy.

I'll second the suggestion above for Mondo shared tours; haven't taken one myself but they've been very highly spoken of by many RS posters who've done them!

Florence really does make a good base for a first-timer's look at Tuscany as it's a major transport hub for the region. It also offers a lot to see so don't scrimp on time you allocate for exploring the city, OK? Fly home from there. And yep, don't stress about transportation; as you're finding out, there's all sorts of great help here from folks who've been there, done that!