Rome and Amalfi Coast

If you drive, stop at Pompeii on your way. You won't regret it. And definitely turn the car in once you get to Rome.
Personally, I'd figure out a way to avoid driving altogether.

We went to Rome & Amalfi last month. Took train from Rome to Salerno, then ferry to Amalfi. Don’t rent a car because there’s not many places to park it once you’re in Amalfi. We stayed in a great Airbnb that was less than a 2 min walk from the ferry.

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Did you reserve your rooms in advance (2-3) weeks our just the day before or a few days in advance?

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We booked about a month in advance.

We took the train between Rome and Naples and got a driver from transferelax.com to take us to and from our hotel in Positano. From Positano we got to the other place on the Amalfi Coast by ferry. That worked out just fine.

We made hotel reservations well in advance.

We arranged the transportation before the trip.

Definitely don’t drive, the locals drive like lunatics. Also, get a private car service that has car seats for the kid. Lastly, there are area for the stroller but Almafi coast is built into the side of clips/mountains so there are tons of stairs and steps….plan on carrying your child or at least don’t envision long multi-hour strolls or you may be miserable.

We drove several years ago and it was rough but finding parking was worse. If you’re a confident driver, you will be fine. We booked last minute in Sorrento at the Grand Hotel Royal. We had an amazing time. Used Sorrento as home base to explore Amalfi, Capri, and Pompei. Return flight to US was from Naples. Enjoy!

Just got back from two weeks in Italy on July 9th.

We spent the first week near Amalfi. You do not want to drive. Absolutely not and we weren't even on that side of the Sorrentine Peninsula. We stayed in a villa near Masa Lubrense overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and had a direct view of Capri. It was amazing.

If you're flying into Rome, you want to take a train to Naples and get a transfer to wherever you're staying. Then book a private driver/s for when you're there. Getting through Sorrento to where we were was a madhouse on the roads. It's probably worse near Positano/Amalfi. Even out in Masa Lubrense, where it was significantly quieter than Sorrento, it's like driving mountain roads, but with about 1/2 the width of the road, cars tailgaiting, motorcycles/scooters flying by you, etc. I actually was pretty impressed by the Italian drivers. As insane as it was, it just kind of worked and I never once saw anyone get in a wreck.

You definitely want to reserve train tickets and drivers before you go. I'm not sure what time of year, but our drivers told us that they're getting way more tourists post-covid almost all year round now.

fwiw, our airbnb host was amazing. He organized all our excursions(Pompeii/Vesuvius, private boat up the Amalfi coast, lemoncello/mozzarella farm) and a driver was included and scheduled our transfers from and back to the Naples train station. It's a straight shot from Rome to Naples on the train. Highly recommended you take a train instead of a car.

We rented a car in Perugia for the next week in Umbria/Tuscany, but that's a much more car friendly part of Italy.

What is a good website to book train and private driver?

We bought Eurail passes, it was cheaper for us that way. We also used them in Switzerland and France.