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gargamel · 05-17-2010, 07:12 AM

I was over there for my honeymoon last August and I loved it. We didn't spend much time in Naples, but we were less than impressed while we were there. Don't let me scare you off from it if you were hoping to spend some time there because I'm sure there are nice areas of the city, but we didn't see them.

Amalfi was great though. The whole coast is somewhat touristy, but it's beautiful enough that you won't care. We stayed in Furore and drove around from there. The views are amazing from Furore, but you'll have to drive 20 minutes to get to good restaurants and hike down 1000 steps (literally) to get to the beach. The beach is tiny, but it's a lot nicer than the beaches in the town. If you aren't renting a car though, Atrani would be a better base. Like simmer said, it's a short walk from Amalfi town (though you want nothing to do with that place when the cruise ships are in town), but it's a lot nicer. The beach isn't quite as crowded there (though it's still crowded) and the restaurants are better.

As for whether or not to rent a car, that's a tough call. Most of the roads in Italy aren't that scary, but the roads along the coast have barriers along the sides and you'll be within inches of scraping them anytime another car comes by. So if you do rent a car, get the smallest one that you can fit into.

If you end up in Ravello, you have to go to Cumpa Cosimo for at least one meal. The old lady who runs the place is great and the food is amazing.

We did Capri for a few hours and thought that was plenty of time. It was really pretty, but like Amalfi town when the cruise ships are there, it's overrun with tourists. If you decide to take a private boat over there, your hotel will try to set you up with an overpriced package. If you just walk into town around noon on the day that you want to go and bargain with the guys with the boats, you should be able to get well over half off of the pre-booking rate.

I haven't been to the bottom of the boot, but if you have the time to make that drive, I'd seriously consider driving up to Florence for a day or 2 instead. Don't even try to do Rome on a short visit though because you wouldn't do the city justice (not that you can do Florence justice in 2 days either, but I think it's more managable in that timeframe).

05-17-2010, 07:12 AM	#11
gargamel First Line Centre Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Cambodia Exp:	I was over there for my honeymoon last August and I loved it. We didn't spend much time in Naples, but we were less than impressed while we were there. Don't let me scare you off from it if you were hoping to spend some time there because I'm sure there are nice areas of the city, but we didn't see them. Amalfi was great though. The whole coast is somewhat touristy, but it's beautiful enough that you won't care. We stayed in Furore and drove around from there. The views are amazing from Furore, but you'll have to drive 20 minutes to get to good restaurants and hike down 1000 steps (literally) to get to the beach. The beach is tiny, but it's a lot nicer than the beaches in the town. If you aren't renting a car though, Atrani would be a better base. Like simmer said, it's a short walk from Amalfi town (though you want nothing to do with that place when the cruise ships are in town), but it's a lot nicer. The beach isn't quite as crowded there (though it's still crowded) and the restaurants are better. As for whether or not to rent a car, that's a tough call. Most of the roads in Italy aren't that scary, but the roads along the coast have barriers along the sides and you'll be within inches of scraping them anytime another car comes by. So if you do rent a car, get the smallest one that you can fit into. If you end up in Ravello, you have to go to Cumpa Cosimo for at least one meal. The old lady who runs the place is great and the food is amazing. We did Capri for a few hours and thought that was plenty of time. It was really pretty, but like Amalfi town when the cruise ships are there, it's overrun with tourists. If you decide to take a private boat over there, your hotel will try to set you up with an overpriced package. If you just walk into town around noon on the day that you want to go and bargain with the guys with the boats, you should be able to get well over half off of the pre-booking rate. I haven't been to the bottom of the boot, but if you have the time to make that drive, I'd seriously consider driving up to Florence for a day or 2 instead. Don't even try to do Rome on a short visit though because you wouldn't do the city justice (not that you can do Florence justice in 2 days either, but I think it's more managable in that timeframe). Last edited by gargamel; 05-17-2010 at 07:15 AM.