Hi all - I am getting married in May 2015, in Boston, with our honeymoon to follow in Italy. We are looking to kick the honeymoon off with a relaxing week in Positano then another week in the Italian hills of Tuscany/Umbria. We are looking to make this a truly relaxing and enjoyable trip filled with great wine, food and scenery.
We can really use your advise and guidance in finding a great place to stay in Positano and any thoughts on a town in the Tuscany area. I am looking to do some day trips from both locations, so please feel free to provide some of the great experiences you had, including restaurants and wineries.
Also, any comments or recommendations you have on logistics, such as car rental agencies, taxi service, best airports for arrival/departure, etc. are greatly appreciated.
Congratulations. You will love Italy. Iām no help with Tuscany. However, if you conduct a search on this forum for Positano, Amalfi Coast, etc., you will find many restaurant recommendations, and a few winery recommendations. Most wineries in that area are unheralded, but quite goodāespecially around Furore and Amalfi. In May, the water should be calm enough that you can take a ferry to Capri for a day trip. Also, Pompeii is a must for a day trip. Paestum, if you like Greek ruins.
If you are interested in non-hotel accommodations, Iāve found rentvillas.com to have some wonderful properties in Italy.
If you can fly into Naples, do that. Then take a train to Sorrento, rent a car there, and drive to Positano. If you end up considering other villages besides Positano, and end up in Amalfi or east of there, then take the train from Naples to Salerno. You will find major U.S. car rental companies in Sorrento or Salerno. However, driving the coast road is an adventure. If you donāt want to deal with that, bus service is pretty frequent, decent, and reliable along the coast.
For a honeymoon - I would look at Ravello if finances allow. Positano is beautiful as is the entire coast. Ravello is more romantic IMO. We rented a beautiful villa right on the water in Praiano that was just wonderful. Driving is a challenge and even short distances can take a long time.
Here are two incredible hotels but very pricey so it depends on budget - one outside of Positano and one on the coast in Tuscany (maybe for a night or two instead of further in land for the whole time in Tuscany). I stayed at both on a trip in 1999 and they are (at least were) honeymoon worthy.
I posted elsewhere some recent comments on a different thread on a trip we just took in July to Tuscany but we stayed on Florence and not in the countryside.
If you donāt mind a bit rustic and are interested in a get away in Tuscany, we stayed here in Radda for two weeks on our honeymoon 20+ years ago. (great jumping off point for Florence, Sienna and the hill towns)
Itās run by an American ex-pat woman who has established a world class cashmere goat breeding herd and consulting business on the property. It looks like there are period in May when she will be giving seminars on the property, so you probably really want to miss that.
Weāve always rented villas on the Amalfi, so Iām not that well versed in Positano hotels other than the big boys (Sirenuse, Miramare and San Pietro). I agree with George that Ravello is a great choice for a honeymoon (unparalleled vistas), but the driving is a downside (it can take a while, and you better be fearless). My coworker just returned from his honeymoon in Ravello and they loved the Pallazo Avino (which Iāve not been to). I do like lunch on the outdoor terrace at the Villa Maria, though.
Iād absolutely support this view and it doesnāt need to be uber-expensive. If you fancy an apartment then local agency lāaltracostiera have a listing online (albeit you have to ask for prices). Otherwise some of the smaller hotels arenāt badly priced and IIRC Hotel Parsifal even had a pool. The views are truly stunning here, and relaxation is very much the point of the place, though Cumpa Cosimo seemed to maintain itās āvery good trattoriaā approach even as Netta took a back seat.
There are some good walks in the excellent Julian Tippett walking book, which Iām told can be downloaded online now. To be honest Iād buy the book anyway as itās pocket sized and cheap. One that isnāt listed goes straight out the top of the village (up via Roma IIRC) that gently winds through cooling woodland and without the otherwise ubiquitous steps. Path, woodland, no people, peace and tranquillity.
The walks down to Atrani and Minori are pleasant, the latter slightly less steep so a good starter. Atrani has an excellent seafood restaurant called AāParanza, and the village is an intriguing contrast to the rest of the coast, almost cut off from the light by the steep hills and viaduct to the front, with houses seemingly carved into that viaduct. It is a top place on a stinking hot day!
Another great walk is the valley of the mills, which you could start from Ravello as we did. Itās another going through peaceful woodland before crossing the stream and slowly encountering the disused paper mills (Amalfi was a European centre of paper production) before the inhabited slowly blends in, bringing you back to reality as you emerge into the top end of town in Amalfi.
If you do stay in Positano, it has itās own charm with the pastel colours, and theyāre best seen on a boat returning from a day trip (e.g. Amalfi or Capri).
Driving really isnāt needed, nor indeed desirable unless you want to venture out to Paestum, Pompeii and maybe Agerola or Furore - if you want to do one of these there are organised trips (see LāAltacostiera again - no connections etc.) or public transport.
Finally Andrea Pansa near the Duomo in Amalfi. Cakes. Do it. They really are good.
Since George started it, I will now pile on and try and persuade you to consider Ravello as well (my wife and I rented a villa in the tiny, tiny town of Torello, about 400 stair steps below Ravello). Ravello itself has the Hotel Palumbo, where JFK once stayed, if that does anything for you. But one thing Ravello does not have is a beach. So if that is important to you, stick with Positano.
Also, everytime you wish to leave Ravello, it means driving down (then back up upon your return) a narrow, winding road. On one trip uphill, I had to back up to allow a bus coming downhill to round a curve. I thought my wife was going to have a panic attack.
Edited to add, based on Ianās post. The walk to Minori is beautiful. Walk downhill, but take the bus back. On that walk, youāll come across people selling limoncello out of their garages. Buy this stuff and not the stuff in fancy bottles in the town shops.
Montepulciano has a lovely feel to it, but might feel like the last straw if you walk a lot on the Amalfi Coast - by god itās steep in places. The Politian apartments are very good, just lacking a TV as the owner thinks Italian TV is rubbish! I applaud his statement (even if I donāt think I could survive an Italian holiday without lāeridita).
There is wine that I think is undervalued in the landscape of Tuscan wines, some decent restaurants and being mostly pedestrianized, is easy to stroll around.
Siena didnāt do it for me, but others may disagree. I found it emotionally colder than other Italian cities, but maybe that was preconception of what this ābanking cityā would be like.
Pisa between the two stations and the field of miracles is grim - the worst kind of overpriced tourist tat / ripoff. If you daytrip there then keep your head down and donāt buy anything except the entrance fee(s). However stroll 10 mins east to the real city, and it is bizarrely undamaged by tourism and has very good food priced very fairly. I found it really quite charming.
Although we didnāt stay Colle val dāElsa was really nice as well, and were we to go back, I think this is where we might go back to.
Indeed, Montepulciano is lovelyā¦and steep! There are some good restaurants and a few wineries in town. We stayed at the quaint Meuble Il Riccio hotel on the piazza.
However, the highlight of our last trip to Tuscany was three days in Lucca. I highly recommend that you consider a stop there.
Like Ian said, You have to see the Amalfi Coast from the sea. We did a day trip to Capri and it was one of the best parts of our trip. I HIGHLY recommend. http://www.barbarapositano.it Wonderful lady with perfect English and a beautiful boat.
Multiple times and still spelling it wrong I am bias but Siena is the best choice if you are looking for a smaller size town. Otherwise Florence is a good choice as well. If you are looking for a smaller village you have plenty of options
Brad, George, Dan, David, Ian, Chris, Barry, M. Kaplan and Riccardo - thank you very much for your recommendations. I will be looking into all of them.
Outside of those already listed, do you have any secrets on the best methods to book this trip? I can go to the hotel/rental websites directly, call up the driving services and search for one off excursions as the day comes closer, but I wasnāt sure if there was some website or or travel service that pools all the logistically options for an Italian honeymoon/vacation in one place.
I will definitely visit other threads as some have recommended.
A few of you have mentioned a day trip to Capri (which we are definitely going to do). Would you recommend staying a night or two on the island, or was the day trip enough?
Thanks again for your assistance. I am really looking forward to this trip and trying to make it as special as possible, and with your help, it will be.
Hi Mike
The first time I went was through a travel agent (Magic of Italy), and that was my first trip to Italy in c. 1990. Self-organised travel was pretty rare in those pre-internet days, and Magic of Italy was certainly a cut above the pack of package tour operators. The apartment was good with a great pool (now a post-operative recovery centre I think). We even went with them again with a bespoke transfer involved for a later trip.
However these days itās always self-organised, from flights to accommodation, transport, winery visits, festivals etc. If Iām honest itās partly down to getting some enjoyment from the planning, partly through preferring the space of an apartment (often twice the floorspace for the same price or less as a hotel room). It may cost a little less, or a little more, but we get to go where we want to, for as long as we want to. I would encourage this, but if a first visit to Italy, then it might be daunting. Iām sure we can help though if you choose to go this route, and if you do Iād also recommend the clued up forumites at Slowtrav, especially the logistics guru GAC.
Capri makes for a fun day trip, experiencing the coastal views along the way. When we went there were 6 of us, so hiring a driver of one of the wonderful old charabang taxis (that tout at the port) for the day was really not too much of a splurge. Otherwise there is a cable car up to the town. Those that stay overnight say it has a special charm without the day tripping tourists, that I assume is somewhat similar to the peaceful feel you get in Ravello of a morning/evening, though Ravello has never been overrun by tourists when weāve been there. Impress the locals by pronouncing it KAH-pree rolling the ārā. Logistically Iād be tempted to stay overnight only if I had an apartment elsewhere I felt I could happily waste a night of by not being there. Thus going to Capri with just an overnight bag, and returning to the apartment afterwards. I would always avoid having to ship the full bag over there and back again unless I was staying for min 4 nights, and I think many would find 4 nights too long.
For travel, flights into Napoli ideally, but Rome can work. From both airports there are occasional coaches DIRECT to Sorrento/Amalfi (see GACs posts on Slow trav or trawl the airport sites). Sorrento to Positano is a short bus or taxi ride away. Amalfi to Ravello is 30 mins bus ride or 15-20 min taxi. Taxi from Napoli airport is also worth a look as it should be ~ 100-110 Euro one way. With bags this is an attractive option.
p.s. May can be a brilliant time to visit - definitely warm/maybe even hot, but even in late may the spring flowers should still be out. Wisteria and Bougainvillea fill the air with sweet perfume.
I canāt recommend the Amalfi Coast more highly. We stayed last year in Ravello (at Palazzo Avino, formerly Palazzo Sasso, which is excellent), and it was really spectacular. We did Capri for a day, which was totally doable, although there is enough to do there to spend another afternoon at least. We spent 5 days on the Amalfi Coast and easily could have spent double that or more if we did more hikes and exploring. I was sad to leave and want to return ASAP.
I adore Ravello ā itās super charming and the views are unparalleled ā and Iād also love to stay in Positano sometime. Only downside of Ravello is that it takes a while to get to Positano or Capri (Positano itself is the most central of the cities, but itās also probably the most expensive for what you get), but not that long. And the hike down from Ravello to Amalfi is glorious. I think Amalfi itself is highly underrated, as is Sorrento (although in Sorrento youāre a little removed from the most charming parts of the coast).
Perhaps the highlight for us was renting a small power boat and just cruising up and down the coast for the better part of the day, getting out for a while at various spots (most notably at the Sirenuse islands off of Positano) to swim and sun. We rented the boat from one of the stands on the beach in Positano, and it was surprisingly inexpensive. Iām sure your hotel could arrange something but it would likely be more expensive.
Except for the Piedmont region, Iāve been to nearly every tourist destination in Italy and in my view Amalfi is the cream of the crop (with the obvious caveat that nothing can really rival the cultural/historical aspects of Rome/Florence/etc.)
We typically book all of our trips ourselves without the help of an agency, just through hotel websites, concierges, etc.
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I am bias but Siena is the best choice if you are looking for a smaller size town. Otherwise Florence is a good choice as well. If you are looking for a smaller village you have plenty of options