What to Book In Advance/ Itinerary? Rome/Amalfi/Pompeii/eastern Sicily?

Posted by nataliaportnoy on 08/15/17 04:49 PM

Hello Travel Friends!

We will be traveling to Italy on 2 week honeymoon in early September. We are looking for any advice in terms of itinerary and advance booking and restaurants. We have booked our hotels already.

Rome/Vatican City (staying near Fontana di Trevi)-4 full days
Amalfi/Pompeii/Capri (staying in Sorrento near Marina Piccola Sorrento)- 3 full days
Eastern Siciliy (stays near Giardini Naxos, Taormina & Fontane Bianche Beach & Ragusa)- 7 full days. We will rent a car here.

Any help would be appreciated. We are looking to spend a lot of time walking and exploring cities and historical sites, some museum time, and a lot of beach and nature time.

Thank you!!!

Posted by Connie S.

Atlanta Georgia

08/16/17 01:59 AM

20 posts

We did a Walks of Italy Pristine Sistine tour ( met at 7 am for this one and got in before opening to general public) and their VIP Colosseum tour for while we were in Rome . Booked online before we went, both tours were awesome. If wanting to do Pompeii , we used Gaetano Manfredi . A bit pricy but we stayed in Positano so it was our transfer to and from ( with an awesome driver Mario) private tour of Pompeii with Gaetano and a stop for lunch at a vineyard , then a hike up Mount Vesuvius. Gaetano was great also.

I would pay our driver Mario to be our personal tour guide himself when back in the Naples / Amalfi coast area. He was wonderful and still friends on Facebook with him. As for restaurants, we got so lucky by asking locals or the people who we rented our apartments from through Airbnb ,or people like our driver Mario and were guided to many incredible places to eat in Italy. Sometimes it's the unexpected moments like that which lead you to incredible places. Enjoy your trip!!!!!

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

08/16/17 07:45 AM

28453 posts

Is there a reason why you are splitting your time between Taormina and Giardini Naxos? G.N. is basically at the foot of the hill on which Taormina is built. Packing up and changing hotels to a spot that's fewer than 5 miles away seems like a big hassle.

Posted by Harold

New York, NY, USA

08/16/17 12:33 PM

11294 posts

If you want to see the Vatican Museums (where the Sistine Chapel is) or the Borghese Gallery, you'll want to book these in advance. For the Vatican Museums, many prefer seeing it either early in the morning or in the evening, when there are fewer people; the mobs during regular hours are unbelievable. To do this, there are options both from the Vatican itself and from other tour operators like Walks of Italy and Dark Rome.

For the Borghese Gallery, the numbers are strictly controlled, and you get a two hour visit. If you don't book in advance, you can be completely shut out (for the Vatican Museums, you may have to wait several hours, but it can't sell out; the Borghese can).

acraven is right about Taormina and Giardini Naxos; just pick one or the other.