Positano

[travbee]

Our ship offers a small tour (called Elite sampler or something) while we are in Naples one day. It does Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi coast with about 6 people in the group. All day tour and pretty expensive. However, I would love to visit Positano and wondered has anyone done this tour, either with ship or on own, and is it worth it. Thanks,

[cberge]

Our ship offers a small tour (called Elite sampler or something) while we are in Naples one day. It does Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi coast with about 6 people in the group. All day tour and pretty expensive. However, I would love to visit Positano and wondered has anyone done this tour, either with ship or on own, and is it worth it. Thanks,

 

This is a hard one for me to answer,but here goes..we just did a criuse,and while we docked in Sorrento we chose to do a ship's tour that did Sorrento,the Amalfi coast,and Positano.It was a small group and the tour was expensive(but not that bad as someone had a private driver and paid a lot more and saw less),and although we go to Italy enough we had never been in this area so decided to do this. We were there on a Sunday which was fine as I thought it would not be a crowded...boy was I wrong.I am glad we(I) did see this area,drive the A.coast,and see Positano as it is really pretty,but I would not go back to stay in the area.Positano was packed,and it is hard to get around,but once you make it down to the beach area it is pretty to see.There are lots of shops,and as mentioned the drive is breathtaking.We did not see much of Sorrento as we chose to go back to the ship upon return from the tour.It really is a nice area and I know there are those that just love,but we like other area of Italy better,but it was a fun to explore the coast and see the small towns,and fugure out how they drive those busses on that road!!!^ would be a nice number for a gruop,but if there are other places in the area you really want to see it may be a hard choice.

[Lisa G.]

Just returned from a cruise with a port stop in maples. The best excursion we planned on the entire trip was to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Positano, Ravello and Herculaneum. We had the best driver who spoke perfect english and kept us on time. His name was Francesco Marrapese - http://www.francescomarrapese.com/. His rates were very fair and he was a pleasure. Check out his website and send him an e-mail. It's much cheaper than planning an excursion thru the ship. There were 6 of us on our excursion.

[travbee]

Cberge, were you on a Princess cruise when you did that tour? How many were on your tour and what type of vehicle? I have been to Naples and Capri but thought I would like to see Positano, especially since I loved the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun"!

 

Lisa, do you remember how much you paid for your tour with Francesco? There are four of us and does his rate include lunch or what?

 

Thanks,

Barbara

[cberge]

Cberge, were you on a Princess cruise when you did that tour? How many were on your tour and what type of vehicle? I have been to Naples and Capri but thought I would like to see Positano, especially since I loved the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun"!

 

 

Thanks,

Barbara

 

No, I was not on the Princess cruise sorry.I was on Silverseas..we had to change from a regular bus to a smaller bus for part of the trip and then back to a regular bus..there were about 12 of us.

[usavvy2]

we used Benvenuto tours for 8 of us (in a van). We did Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and Pompeii. We had planned to include Sorrento but there was a horrific accident which delayed our departure by an hour from the port so we cut that out. Also, we were going to do Pompeii in the morning but the locals decided to have a labor strike so it was closed for the morning so our itinerary was juggled around to do the Amalfi coast drive first.

 

It was WONDERFUL! One of the 2 highlights of our 12 day med cruise on X last month. Didn't have a lot of time in any one town but just seeing them was fabulous. (We also saw a bus pulled up from over a cliff - now that was SCARY!)

 

We were so glad we did it in a small group as we heard that the bus cause motionsickness b'c of all the winding roads.

[Gypsy76]

Our tour of Amalfi, Positano, Ravello and Pompeii with 6 people was Euro 400 for the minivan for 9 hours, l found that was the average price so l booked with Alberto www.aptours.it. Wonderful day, Alberto is absolutely charming and speaks great english. We also had traffic tailing back from an accident on the road, but Alberto knew a short cut from Pompeii to the port so we missed all the heavy traffic.

[Breezey]

Most absolutely go to Positano and Sorrento. We also had a private tour. Drive Amalfi and Adriano was our driver. It was a full yet hurried day as we started in Pompeii to find it was opening late that day. So we drove through the Amalfi Coast with stops in Sorrento, Amalfi and Ravello and drive through Positano. Last stop was Pompeii.

 

The best thing about doing the private tour is that Adriano was very flexible, took us to stop for our much needed capuccinos and we had a shorter lunch stop so we could see more of the coast.

The cost was about 500E for 4 of us in a small mercedes van. It was the best day of the entire cruise. And while I loved Pompeii it was packed and I would have been happy just to stay in Sorrento and Positano longer.

[KruzinAl]

We just returned from the Galaxy Eastern Med, yesterday. Booked all private tours. Never book the ship tours. We also used Benvento Limos. Giovanni and his father have the company. Giovanni was fantastic and would highly recommend them to anyone.

http://www.benvenutolimos.com/

If you contact them, tell them Al says hello.

We had 6 people in a superclean Mercedes minivan. They have larger vehicles as well. We also had the morning strike thing, so went to Amalfi coast first. Make sure you get going before the ship tours start, We had 3 ships in dock and the big buses get backlogged. Also they stop at various factory kick-back places, ie inlaid wood, cameo shops, tiles, leather and carpets elsewhere. With your guide, you tell him where you wish to go. We paid $625 euros for 6 including a guide in Pompei. We started from Naples driving toward Sorrento. I would recommend avoiding Sorrento (tons or tourist stores and very busy) and beat the onslaught of ship tours on the Amalfi coast, started the coast trip, outstanding view on the right side of the van, stopped at Positano, sure a lot of shops, but you have this all over Italy. the beach is nice, you could eat lunch by the water, then on the Amalfi, another smaller but also interesting town on the coast. SOme amazing hotels build into the rock on the ocean. We asked for lunch in Ravello, up from Amalfi with great ocean views, A fantastic place of local food, much cheaper than Positano. THen on the back roads past lemon groves (try the lemoncello liquer for sure) and olive trees to Pompei. It started raining there, but still interesting. It is someone's opinion whether they like the ruins or history or not. We enjoyed it. If you go in the am ask for the baths tour area, only open in the am. It is a huge site and a guide is highly recommended. We had Roberta.

I also heard that driveamalfi is good, but we were very pleased with Giovanni Benvenuto and would take him again.

Herculaneum is also interesting I understand, smaller and better preserved than Pompei actually, but hard to do both or else you miss the Amalfi coast. Also you can drive up to Vesuvio and look inside, another time. Don't miss the Amalfi Coast.

 

Al

[Breezey]

So many opinions. We had only 40 minutes in Sorrento and wished we had more, so dont miss Sorrento if you are interested in buying some gifts to take home. Sure there are tons of stores but it is Lemoncello city galore and we bought some lovely gifts to take home that we didnt see in Rome when we stayed there afterwards. Also, we bought some lovely leather purses which were more expensive in Rome. We chose not to spend time at a restaurant and had fantastic pizza in Amalfi.

 

Bottom line is, hiring a private driver makes so much sense. We did this in Athens and Kusadasi as well and was the best decision we made rather than using the cruise's excursions.

 

But as the previous poster mentioned, do not miss the Amalfi Coast. We so fell in love with it, that's our choice for our next vacation (land not cruise)

[Degas]

I just got back last night from a Millie 12 day Vencie-Barcelona cruise.

We also used Francesco and were thrilled with him. We had so much fun and paid 400euros for 6 people and he was worth every penny !!!!

We saw so much and had so much fun ...it was hard to say goodbye !!!