6 days at Amalfi Coast-train stops between Naples and Florence

Whew, I don’t know if I’d do six days on the Amalfi Coast and only 2in Rome or 3in Florence. The coast area is lovely, but aside from looking at the view, eating, hiking, a boat ride, shopping, it’s not exactly a hive of “things to do”. You might find concerts in Ravello, or a cooking class or two....but Italians go there to chill out. Sorrento is larger, with more choices of bars, restaurants, nightlife, etc.

That said, look for the excellent da Riso pastry shop and cafe in Minori, which also has an excavated first century Roman villa with mosaics. Amalfi has a paper manufactory, and Vietri is known for ceramics. Some of the ceramics shops have artisans on site hand painting wares. Cetara is known for the fermented fish sauce condiment called colatura, so if you’re interested in food/traditional products, seek it out.

Naples: get down into the old decumani (original city grid) along the via Tribunali....narrow streets, overhanging balconies w laundry on lines, real people going about their daily lives. Buy a pizza folded into quarters (or a ham and cheese croquette) for a few euro, go to the Santa Chiara cloisters and marvel at the majolica decorations, visit caffe Mexico for an espresso, have a sit down pizza at da Michele, il Sorbillo, or Presidente. Go up to the museum at Capo diMonte to see monumental Roman sculpture and to the national archaeological museum as well....the best stuff from Pompeii and Herculaneum is there.

Ah, a free week in Posi is an entirely different story! What a great gift. Rent a kayak or a boat and go to the Grotto Smeralda (green grotto), and explore along the coast....also, hike the so-called Pathway of the Gods (though it’s pretty high, so you’ve got to like heights). One way is downhill, I can’t remember which end point is the uphill end (you could get a taxi to that end).

The champagne bar at the SIreneuse hotel is quite lovely.

We spent a week in Positano at Easter 2014. It was a wonderful vacation and we can't wait to do it again. The Amalfi Coast is beautiful and Positano is a great base. The other towns are easily accessible by several modes of transportation. We mostly used the ferries. We day tripped to Capri, Ravello and the Town of Amalfi.

Orvieto is a great place to stop between Rome and Florence. The Classico white wine there is quite good.

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But everyone I have ever seen says do NOT bother spending a night in Naples if you can avoid it.

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I do not say that. Naples is fascinating and has tons of good food and culture to see. Herculaneum is practically in the city. The National Archeological Museum with the Pompeii and Herculaneum artifacts is alone a good reason to go there. It has some of the best tailors in the world. It has day trip options, too. We took a rental boat out to Ischia last summer for the day and had a blast.

Spent 4 days on the Amalfi Coast for my honeymoon this past summer. Ravello is great. Small, quiet and doesn’t have the constant ferries that arrive in Positano.

We chartered a private boat for 8 hours, we went up the coast and stopped at all the towns and then went around the isle of Capri. It was my favorite part of the trip. We used a group called blue star boat tours.