# Car in Italy



## Blues (Aug 13, 2018)

I'm planning 2 1/2 to 3 weeks in Italy next May/June.  Roughly, I'm figuring 3 days in Rome, a week in Tuscany (HGVC Borgo al Vigne), in which we'll tour Tuscany, Florence and Cinque Terre, and a week or so on the Amalfi coast.

I know I don't want a car in Rome.  I know that I do want a car for Borgo al Vigne, as the timeshare is isolated, away from public transportation.

What I don't know is whether I want a car on the Amalfi coast.  I'm thinking of staying somewhere like Positano or Amalfi.  The B&B's and hotels around there appear to be on rugged hilly terrain, not conducive to automobiles.  On the other hand, we'd really like to drive the coast, and also visit sites like Pompeii, Herculaneum, and possibly even a day trip to Capri.  It seems like a car would be beneficial.  Or are there good ways to take public transport and tours to those areas.

Thanks.


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## Talent312 (Aug 13, 2018)

When I was young+foolish, we used a rental car on the Amalfi Coast...
It was very convenient. Just make sure your hotel offers parking.
That said, these days I'd prolly try public transit & take tours, first.
.


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## buzglyd (Aug 13, 2018)

I visited the Amalfi coast a long time ago but there is a bus that runs between Sorrento and Salerno. I took the train from Rome to Naples and then connected on another train down to Sorrento. I got on a bus for the curvy ride. It's very curvy and very narrow. The bus driver honks around every corner. I stayed at a BnB in the town of Amalfi.


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## Blues (Aug 13, 2018)

Thanks for your replies, Talent and Buzz.  If I opt for buses and tours, will the towns of Amalfi or Positano have sufficient connections?  Or should I opt for Sorrento, which seems to be more connected and has the boat tours to Capri?  (Not sure whether we want Capri or not).  Amalfi and Positano (or Ravello) appear to be more picturesque, but I'm worried about getting anywhere from those towns.  Thanks again.


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## vacationtime1 (Aug 13, 2018)

Blues said:


> Thanks for your replies, Talent and Buzz.  If I opt for buses and tours, will the towns of Amalfi or Positano have sufficient connections?  Or should I opt for Sorrento, which seems to be more connected and has the boat tours to Capri?  (Not sure whether we want Capri or not).  Amalfi and Positano (or Ravello) appear to be more picturesque, but I'm worried about getting anywhere from those towns.  Thanks again.



We visited Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, Positano two months ago.  Stayed in Naples, Sorrento, Ravello, and Positano.

I would _never _rent a car there; the roads are terrifying (and I have driven around Chianti, Istria, Provence, medieval villages in Portugal and Spain, etc.).

Base yourself in Naples for Pompeii/Herculaneum and Sorrento for the Amalfi coast and Capri.

The public bus works, although you can hire a driver or do a tour for the Amalfi villages.  The connections are easy; it is set up for tourists.


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## mjm1 (Aug 13, 2018)

We are currently in Sorrento after two nights in Naples. Our primary goal of staying in Naples was for a day trip to Pompei, which we did. Great visit to the ruins. Personally, we didn’t care for Naples, but that may be because we stayed in Garibaldi Square where the central train station is located. Great location for access to the train system, but not a nice area. I will say that it looked worse than it was and we didn’t have any problems. Several good restaurants close by. Having now transferred to Sorrento, I think I would rather come straight to Sorrento from wherever you will be and make a short day trip by train to Pompei.

We just completed a small van tour of the Amalfi Coast. We went to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, plus had lunch in a little town right next to Ravello (Scala I think) and we had a beautiful view of Ravello from the restaurant. I would not drive here. The scenery is beautiful and it is better to leave the driving to someone else, so you can enjoy it. We found “Amalfi Coast Tour by Minivan” on TripAdvisor Vittor and the tour was done by Sorrento Select Travel Tours. English speaking local was very good. I think it cost approximately $168 for two of us. We usually like to do our own thing, but this tour was worth it. Given the size of your family you could hire a private tour in a Mercedes for 300 Euros. We didn’t want to do that for the two of us, but for 4 I would consider it.

From Rome you can take an express train to Naples (1 hour 7-10 minutes) for as little as 64 Euros. Then catch a train from Naples to Rome. I highly recommend taking the Capagnia Express rather than the Circumvesuviana train. It makes less stops, is not crowded and is air conditioned. It costs 8 Euros instead of 3.45 EU but it is well worth the difference. They only run that train about 4 times each day, so you would have to coordinate the schedule with your train from Rome. We are doing the reverse routing as we head to Rome from here on Friday.

Sorrento is a lovely town and is very walkable. A friend of ours recommended it as a base for seeing the coast and going to Capri. We also scheduled a boat cruise to the island for Wednesday, so hope the weather cooperates. They are projecting possible thunderstorms, so we will see what happens. Another tour we are doing to to Paestum (Greek ruins south of Salerno) and Salerno.

Happy planning.

Best regards.

Mike


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## Jimster (Aug 13, 2018)

You can take the train from Naples and get off at Pompei and walk across the street to the entrance.  Herculaneum is about the same thing.   Get off the train and walk down a steep hill- you’re there.  You can see the coast on the train.  I always advise against a car but maybe ok in Tuscany although trains and buses will get you anywhere you want to go.


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## Blues (Aug 13, 2018)

Thanks everyone.  OK, so I'm leaning toward no car on Amalfi coast.  But I'm still stuck on where to stay.  I've seen some terrific-looking B&B's and hotels in Positano and Amalfi.  But everyone seems to be saying that it's better to stay in Sorrento due to transportation.  Frankly, the surroundings for Sorrento don't look as spectacular to me.  Do I settle for that, or do I accept that if I want to stay in Positano, it will take longer to get around?  A lot longer?

And I hadn't thought of staying in Naples for the Pompeii and Herculaneum sightseeing.  But perhaps it would make sense.  It sounds like taking day trips there from Positano/Amalfi might involve long travel delays?

ETA - wife and I hate unpacking/packing too many times on a trip.  Prefer to stay put for a week at a time.


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## Jimster (Aug 13, 2018)

FYI.  The isle of Capri is in Naples harbor.  I think it is costly to travel back and forth from the mainland but it would provide many options of places to stay.  I did not stay there so you may get further input from someone that did.


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## CanuckTravlr (Aug 13, 2018)

I have driven the Amalfi coast road from Castellammare to Salerno...but the last time we were there we deliberately booked in late October/early November.  It was a thrilling drive (on more than one day), but I am an enthusiast who loves those types of roads and I am very comfortable driving in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.  Being truly off-season, some of the tourist places, restaurants and hotels were closing for the season.  But the weather ended up being relatively sunny and warm (15 to 20C) with little or no rain.

The tour buses were gone, the kamikaze kids on their scooters and motorbikes were back at school, the line-ups for restaurants were non-existent and most of the people we met were locals. There were no problems finding a place to park in Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi or Ravello, and we had no problem finding a place to pull over along the coastal road at the many vista points.  In short, we loved it.  It was very relaxing.

We also prefer to stay in one place for a while and use it as a base for exploring the area.  Because we had a car we chose to stay at what was then the Crowne Plaza Towers Hotel between Castellammare di Stabia and Vico Equense on the road to Sorrento.  We picked it because it had a parking garage built into the mountain and beautiful views of Mount Vesuvius across the Bay of Naples.  Because it was off-season we were able to stay in a large suite in a 4-star hotel for what we would pay for a small hotel room in a 2- or 3-star hotel in July or August.  From there it was easy to do trips to Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and Pompeii.  However, we could not go into the water and some tourist sites were closed, such as the boat tours in Capri.

Since you will be going in May or June, it will be more crowded, but with gorgeous weather and everything will be open.  However, it should not have the intense crowds or heat of July and August.  The coast road will be busy, so I do not recommend driving a car.  I agree with those suggesting taking the train from Rome.  We have travelled by train in Italy a lot and enjoy it.  The tour buses will be operating on the coast road, so that will be a much safer and more relaxing way to take in the beautiful scenery of the Amalfi coast.  Sorrento is the biggest town on the Amalfi coast, with lots of restaurants within walking distance, but the views from some of the hotels in Positano and Amalfi itself cannot be beat, but you will pay for that in peak season.

If you wish to tour around Tuscany later, then take the train to Florence and pick up a rental car there.  Or use Florence as a base and just rent a car for the day to do day trips into the Tuscan countryside, although much of it is accessible by tour bus, too.  You could also just take the train back to Rome from Sorrento and pick up a rental car in Rome and drive to Borgo al Vigne.  And then return the car to Rome at the end of your trip.  Just be aware of the ZTL (Zona a Traffico Limitato) zones in the centre of many Italian towns and cities.  The fines are hefty if you enter them, particularly in a rental car.  Enjoy your trip!!


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## Kim R (Aug 22, 2018)

Blues said:


> I'm planning 2 1/2 to 3 weeks in Italy next May/June.  Roughly, I'm figuring 3 days in Rome, a week in Tuscany (HGVC Borgo al Vigne), in which we'll tour Tuscany, Florence and Cinque Terre, and a week or so on the Amalfi coast.
> 
> I know I don't want a car in Rome.  I know that I do want a car for Borgo al Vigne, as the timeshare is isolated, away from public transportation.
> 
> ...



Hubby and I traveled to the Amalfi coast 10 years ago. We took the train from Rome to Naples, then another slower train to Sorrento. We had booked a B&B on the hillside above Sorrento and the view was spectacular. The bus system worked well for us, although we rented a car to return to Rome and had no issues. We saw visited Positano and Amalfi via a boat tour that left from Nerrano, I believe. There was also a tour available to Capri. It was arranged by our hotel, and a shuttle picked us up and returned us there. 
I second the person that suggested not to stay in Naples - just make Pompeii a day trip from the coast area.


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## Laurie (Aug 23, 2018)

Kim R said:


> We had booked a B&B on the hillside above Sorrento and the view was spectacular. ... I second the person that suggested not to stay in Naples - just make Pompeii a day trip from the coast area.


We also did just that 18 years ago, a b&b above Sorrento - gorgeous view over the lemon groves towards Mt. Vesuvius! Loved loved loved. I third the suggestion to skip Naples. We did have a car (our b&b had parking) and used it to drive and visit towns along the Amalfi coast; took the train from Sorrento to Pompeii and Herculaneum (easy); and boat to Capri. We really liked Sorrento town, fabulous restaurants (much more reasonable than Positano) and we enjoyed walking around. The drive into Sorrento thru Castellammare di Stabia was nerve-wracking, I'll admit, and we had to back up for a bus while driving up to Ravello. If you don't want to drive, you can just take the train to Sorrento, and use the bus on the Amalfi coast. 

We'd checked out early from a timeshare we didn't care for (Pianeta Maratea) to spend extra nights in/above Sorrento, and were so glad we did. We only had 4 nights there - not enough. A week isn't too much time.


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## gresmi (Feb 8, 2019)

You have been given a lot of good advice. We opted for no car on the Amalfi Coast. We flew into Rome, spent one night at the Hotel Sonya, one of Rick Steves' favorites. Then, got up early in the morning and took the train from Termini station (a short walk from Hotel Sonya) down to Sorrento. At Sorrento, we switched to the buses that run back and forth across the Amalfi Coast.

We stayed in a rental called La Sirena, on the west end of town, near where the fisherman repair their Nets and boats. We had a nice view of the water and it was somewhat private. Also it was right across the street from the boardwalk for Amalfi town.

You can take the fairies to and from the other towns on the Amalfi Coast, including Positano and Ravello. Buses and taxis are available if you want to go somewhere else. We did not go out to Capri while we were there because the weather was not conducive to that and the fairies were not running out there.

Amalfi is a wonderful little town and we enjoyed it immensely. However, you could stay in Positano or Ravello, if you so chose. I think Positano might be a little more expensive, though. We were only there for day trips, though, so don't really know for sure.

All of us on that trip are excellent cooks, so we made very good use of the excellent markets in Amalfi. We cooked dinner at the house every night and it was always outstanding with all the fresh goods we got in town that morning.

Have a great time!


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## jehb2 (Feb 14, 2019)

When we stayed at HGVC Borgo al Vigne we rented a car at the Pisa airport.  Pisa is closer to the timeshare than Florence.

You definitely want a car when staying HGVC Borgo al Vigne.  Driving around Tuscany was very nice.  Once we got near the outskirts of Florence people drove like bats out of hell.  For Florence and Cinque Terre we ended up parking at a town closer to the timeshare and taking the train to those 2 towns.  We did drive to Venice and back.

On the Europe Through the Back Door Amalfi coast episode Rick Steve’s recommends hiring a car and driver.


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## nomoretslt (Feb 16, 2019)

I'm marking my spot here.  We are planning an early September trip and are trying to decide between doing a tour group or going it alone (except will definitely do a tour in Rome).  Going to order the Rick Steve's book.  Lots of knowledge here.  Thanks!


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## jojobebe (Mar 23, 2019)

We spent a week on the Amalfi coast.  Highly recommend staying in Priano at the Hotel Margherita.  Beautiful place overlooking the Mediterranean, fantastic breakfast.  Priano is a nice small Italian town.  Restaurants are great, many will pick you up and bring you back.  Margherita also provides shuttle service locally. Bus stop outside the front door will take you to Positano, Amalfi, Ravello and Sorrento.  You can catch the shuttle to Capri from Positano.


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