Where is the best home base when touring the Amalfi coast?

We stayed at both Hotel Michelangelo (more expensive but complete) and La Magnolia B&B really nice but basic nice poeople too remembered us from previous trip when booking this year. (cost $530.00 for 7 days) in downtown at Tasso square Sorrento from there we could go to Positano, Amalfi, Capri, Pompeii, Naples and anywhere else in the area it was a nice home base for seven days. Bus and Metro was only a few blocks away. Hope this helps Cliff

I'd recommend Sorrento. Easily reached by the train from Naples, or ferry if you want to go by water. Central location that makes visiting the rest of the region easy.

Sorrento. Good transport connections.

sorrento, sorrento, sorrento Look no further. For a super conveneient location check out hotel sorrento city. A few blocks from train station, a few blocks from all the great shopping and restaurants, and nice clean rooms with a great staff. From this home base we easily used boats to capri and naples, bus to Amalfi, and train to Pompeii I used fitness center about six blocks away -it was very nice and recommended by staff at hotel sorrento city. I envy you Mike

Agree about Sorrento as homebase. I recommend Hotel Il Nido. It's outside the city center, quiet, clean, great view over the Bay of Naples, fantastic on-site restaurant, family-run, nice/helpful people. Most important reasonably priced. All rooms except singles have terraces overlooking the Bay. No pool however. They have a very reliable, free shuttle bus to/from center of town. Last one back to hotel about 10:30 or 11 pm. You can make reservations on line, which can be canceled up to a day before w/o cost. Look at ilnido.it for more into.

Sorrento makes a great place to stay! We stayed here 4 nights at Hotel Settimo Cielo (means 7th heaven)which is located on Via Capo. We had a balcony with fabulous views of the Bay of Naples! I think mostof the rooms here have balconies. There is a lovely rooftop pool with views of the bay too. Would stay here again. We had a car and they also had car parking for us. Buon Viaggio!

Sorrento. In fact this may be the one question that has a near unanimous answer on this forum. Sorrento has more restaurant and hotel options than other towns in the area, yet it still maintains the small town feel. It is also the transportation hub for the area; rail, bus, and boat. Sorrento is awesome.

Completely agree.. Sorrento. It's my favorite place in all of Italy. We've stayed at La Tonnarella 3 times and love it. Lots of terraces, beautiful flowers, on the cliff overlooking the bay, good beds, great restaurant, new computer with internet access in every room, private beach with lounge chairs & umbrellas, friendly, great location. Sorrento is the perfect base and a wonderful town in itself.

Sorrento. Think of it as the hub of a bicycle wheel.

Given that everyone has recommended Sorrento, I'm going to offer the town of Amalfi as an alternative. Smaller, less "roudy" and more intimate, it's also better situated to get to Paestum and Salerno (but worse off for Pompei and Naples).

Ditto on Sorrento.

Joining the clamor for Sorrento here, and my pick for hotel would be Il Roseto. Cheap rates (I think I paid something like 70 euros/night) for a really nice hotel [INVALID] clean, beautiful views of Mt. Vesuvius, really friendly owners, absolutely gorgeous breakfast spread that you eat in their garden. Only downside is that it's slightly out of the center, which means a 10- to 15-minute walk or 5-minute bus ride, if you grab one coming past.

And the Amalfi coast is beautiful - just be prepared for LOTS of crowds... I couldn't believe how many other tourists there were!

www.revealedrome.com

We have just booked our rooms in Sorrento for our trip this November having heard the same raves about abundant hotel and restaurant choices. We also heard that is it a great transportation hub as suggested by several other postings here.

If I could add a question to the veteran travelors. . . does the 3 day pass with Unico Costiera include the Naples to Sorrento Circumvesuviana train?

Jill,

I agree with the others - Sorrento is absolutely the best choice for a "home base". It has a good range of Hotels and some great restaurants, and convenient transportation to the other places you want to visit.

If you have a "generous" travel budget, I'd recommend dinner at L'Antica Trattoria (listed in the Guidebook).

Happy travels!

We stayed in at Marina Grande Sorrento in mid-June. Nice hotel, good food, 100 €/night. 1 block from the waterfront (actually it's directly behind the hotel but the walk is 1 block). It's quiet & relaxing, with the shops a bus ride or walk up the hill into town. Perfectly OK walk for anyone in good health.
Hotel Del Mare
Via Del Mare 30
Sorrento , 80067
Phone: +390818783310

I stayed in Amalfi my last trip, and I found that it was too out of the way to effectively use as a base of operations. It was early May and ferries going to/from Positano/Capri were very limited. It takes too long to get anywhere from Amalfi, and parking was atrocious (rented a car). If you are not driving yourself, then you are at the mercy of the public transportation schedules. Once you've seen Amalfi, there is little else to do there and you find yourself needing to travel to see something else.

To answer J.K.'s query above, YES, the UNICO CAMPANIA 3T Tourist ticket does cover the Circumvesuviana train between Sorrento and Pompei/Naples.! The UNICO CAMPANIA website lists all operators covered by their tickets and by their UNICO CAMPANIA 3T Tourist ticket (valid for three consecutive days). This 3-day ticket is a great value for people using a lot of public transportation in the Campania Region. NOTE ALSO that the CAMPANIA ARTECARD-tutta la regione for 3 days ALSO gives you the UNICO CAMPANIA 3T Tourist ticket as part of the scheme (so don't purchase both at the same time!!!).

GAC- Thanks for sharing your Campania knowledge. Yes, we will certainly take advantage of the three day pass and will be careful to purchase the UNICO CAMPANIA or the CAMPANIA ARTECARD, but not both.

Jill - This sounds like a money saver for you when you travel next June.

Beware... While we were on the terrace having breakfast at La Magnolia B&B in Sorrento, our room was entered by someone, who must have had a key, and our cash and jewelry were stolen. The 'management' was NOT helpful.