Car hire....Almalfi Coast?

[daisylou71]

Hi,

 

I really want to see the Almalfi coast, the trips both private and organised ships tours are quite pricey and as yet I have no-one to share a private tour with. So I am wondering if anyone has hired a car for the day and enjoyed the Almalfi Coast this way.

 

I would appreciate any input, thanks.

 

Louise :D

[English_in_Spain]

Unless you are used to driving on twisty mountain roads, I would not recommend a hire car on the Amalfi coast. The way the other drivers drive along there will turn your hair white :eek:

 

I also see you are from the UK so you have the added disadvantage of being on the opposite side of the road to what you are used to.

 

We are used to Eurpoean driving and we have pretty twisty roads here in Spain but I would not attempt driving on those roads, even if I were in my own, familiar car.

[texancruzer]

Agree ! The roads are small, narrow and twisty ! And the views are stunning ! So you will want to be looking at that and not the road :eek:

 

Bite the bullet - hire a private driver. They can get their cars/small vans into many areas the ships tour buses cannot. In many cases the buses must park quite a ways from the area you want to visit and you must walk even more than necessary.

 

I assume you have posted on your roll call for a tour share since you said you can't get anyone to join you......keep trying. We booked both of our Med cruises very late and joined a share even then.

 

Check out APTours as they have recently dropped their prices (economy I guess). We used them and they were great !

[daisylou71]

Thanks for the replys.

 

We live between UK and Spain so hubby is used to driving on the other side of the road and we often drive down through the Ronda roads to the coast so I think he would be fine.

 

I do prefer the private tour, I will check out AP tours, thanks. I have asked on our roll call but it's very quiet although I have found a couple to join us on a tour of Rome :) and maybe more people will sign up before we sail.

 

Thanks again

 

Louise :D

[CintiPam]

I am a big proponent of rental cars, having just rented for days in both Katakolon (for Olympia) and Santorini. But the Amalfi Coast is one place where I really would opt for a private tour because I simply could not both drive there and enjoy the views. The roads are among the twistiest I have ever come across.

 

If you are there outside of prime tourist season, you could take the SITA bus.

[awatt]

The traffic can be horrible, you wouldn't want to chance being late for the ship. A private driver will be aware of this and find another route if necessary. We were on a land tour of the area and driving back from Amalfi to Positano we were delayed over an hour. A motorcycle was parked sticking out into the road and cars/buses could not pass in both directions. Our bus driver got out and with another man moved the motorcycle to ease the traffic jam. Noone could have anticipated this delay. Two weeks before our trip there were wildfires in the area that lead to road closures.

 

I'd suggest allarounditaly.net. We found his prices a little better than some of the competition, and Fabrizio was a wonderful guide

[daisylou71]

Thank you both....they are good points, I shall look at allarounditaly :)

[Gypsyfeet]

My husband and I hired Giuseppe de Toro of http://www.sorrento-limousines.com

 

I can't even begin to sing his praises highly enough! We had such fun, including a fabulous lunch. Giuseppe was professional,knowledgeable and funny.

 

Although it was last October, we still remember that day as the best of our 2 week trip.

 

Have fun!:)

[daisylou71]

Thank you Gypsy feet, I shall check it out :)

[MiladyD]

My best friend and I used Amafi Drive, www.amalfi-drive.com for our tour of the Amalfi Coast. Fabrizio was fabulous!

[Travel to Ports]

We did the Amalfi coast, then Pompeii (with private guide) on 1 June. As interest grew a couple of months before the cruise, we expanded to two 8-passenger vans. Driving period is an issue, I was amazed how our driver was able to drive into spaces with just inches to spare until I found out that he was a driving instructor during the winter months!

I would advise you to contract with a specific driver (not just a touring company) and look for a driver who lives in the area in which you will be touring (i.e. don't hire a resident of Rome for the Amalfi coast).

As our time in Italy essentially tracked the Italian unification 4-day holiday with cool weather, we were fortunate to locate drivers who understood all of the driving options out of each of our three western Italian ports. Our driver out of Naples was Mariano Fiorentino (info@pleasantravel.com). He was mature and responsible and took a personal interest in seeing that we enjoyed all of our experiences and we were never concerned about time demands and return to ship.

Good luck in your planning,

David

[boiledham]

Just got back July 18th and we used www.ItalyLimousine.com and Mario was fabulous. He took us all the way down to Ravella and then to Pompei where Vincent was our guide. Both were fabulous and the price was split between 7. Van was very nice and everyone seemed to love it! Mario took us to place for lunch and it was delicious. If you do a search on CC there are several other referrals and where I found out about them. They ran a special in March and I booked early for all three ports in Italy for another discount. Have a great time!

[Hlitner]

Louise, Since we are now relieved that your hubby knows how to drive on the "proper" side of the road, a rental car is certainly an option. We have driven the Amalfi Coast several dozen times (we have spent two extended vacations on the coast in Praiano) and really have no problems driving the road. In fact, the most difficult area is trying to get through the Sorrento area and finding the Amalfi Drive without getting lost (a GPS can be helpful). But, the biggest problem when driving on the Amalfi Coast is parking,,,,expecially in Positano. Many park along the Amalfi Drive when visiting Positano, but, it is not unusal to park a good mile from the entry road. There is a large parking lot in the town of Amalfi right on the water, but during the busy tourist months this lot can fill by 10 am (we once waited more than an hour for a parking space at 11 am). For those reasons, we do not normally recommend using a rental car during a port day.

 

Hank

[daisylou71]

Thank you all for your advice. There are certainly plenty of companies offering trips and all come with recommendations. If I can get some more people together then we are going to use tourofitaly which was recommended to me.

 

Do you think it would be possible to find some fellow tour buddies once on board?

 

Louise :D

[threeofus]

We used this service and it was great.

The Amalfi coast can be a tricky drive and you want to be the right driver. Francesco is both friendly and professional, and more importantly a very calm and careful driver.

I would not hesitate to go with him again.

 

http://www.francescomarrapese.com/mycar.htm

[texancruzer]

Do you think it would be possible to find some fellow tour buddies once on board?

 

Louise

 

Maybe. But why wait ? Go join your roll call and hook up with some folks now. One less thing to worry about. You will probably meet them at the Meet and Mingle party once onboard. We have found that buy "meeting" them online first we feel we are old friends by the time we get on the ship :D

[daisylou71]

Thanks Texancruiser......I am already on the roll call, it is very quiet with not a lot of interest in tour sharing although we have managed to team up with another couple for a tour of Rome :D Now that we only have 4 weeks until the cruise maybe we shall get more people signing up.

 

Louise :)

[neverenoughtime]

We did the Amalfi coast, then Pompeii (with private guide) on 1 June. As interest grew a couple of months before the cruise, we expanded to two 8-passenger vans. Driving period is an issue, I was amazed how our driver was able to drive into spaces with just inches to spare until I found out that he was a driving instructor during the winter months!

I would advise you to contract with a specific driver (not just a touring company) and look for a driver who lives in the area in which you will be touring (i.e. don't hire a resident of Rome for the Amalfi coast).

As our time in Italy essentially tracked the Italian unification 4-day holiday with cool weather, we were fortunate to locate drivers who understood all of the driving options out of each of our three western Italian ports. Our driver out of Naples was Mariano Fiorentino (info@pleasantravel.com). He was mature and responsible and took a personal interest in seeing that we enjoyed all of our experiences and we were never concerned about time demands and return to ship.

Good luck in your planning,

David

 

DAvid,

Could you expand your info on Mr Fiorntino please? How was his knowledge of the sites?. Did he have a great sense of humor? We're looking for someone who really knows history and is enteraining but takes us off the beaten path. Is this the guy for us??

SMG

[SandG]

I'll second the recommendation for AP Tours. Our driver lived in Sorrento, very knowledgeable in the area and arranged our tour to ensure that we would get the most out of our trip. We took the option to take the ferry from Sorrento back to the ship which gave us more time to explore the coast. This was a good choice because I heard later that there was a large traffic jam south of Naples and some of the excursions got back to the ship at the last minute. (We did the combo Pompeii / Sorrento / Positano tour.)

 

Another possibility is to take the ferry to Sorrento and back and you'll be able to experience that city at least. Perhaps you could secure a taxi in Sorrento to drive you down the coast and back (it's a quick drive between Sorrento and Positano).

 

Sue

[Travel to Ports]

DAvid,

Could you expand your info on Mr Fiorntino please? How was his knowledge of the sites?. Did he have a great sense of humor? We're looking for someone who really knows history and is enteraining but takes us off the beaten path. Is this the guy for us??

SMG

 

Mariano is sufficiently talkative and friendly, but more importantly, it was very clear that he understood time issues and was most concerned that we were doing what we wanted to. His driving ability was amazing as was his Italian ability to deal with "problem" drivers. On our day the traffic on the Amalfi coast was amazing. After our walking experience in Positano, I ended up spending considerable time in Amalfi just using my camera. My impression of the Amalfi coast was the absolute lack of room on the road, where two lanes of cars, motorcycles that drove between cars (at least one was hit as we drove and then the ambulance) and then pedestrians! My impression after driving from Athens to Cape Sounion was I really appreciated the wide roads (and beautiful blue Aegian).

 

Suffice it to say, I would return to Mariano for the port of Naples.

David

[lton]

We are a group of 6 with 2 teenagers, 2 elders, myself & DH. We have used Ap Tours at info@aptours.it in Naples & Alberto was our driver. He was so wonderful that I have no complains at the end of the day from the kids(For your info., the kids have complained for most of the time when we were in the Malta on our own with the sightseeing double decker tour). In Rome; Pisa & Florence, we used

allarounditaly.net with Fabrizio. He has another associate & a good friend of his (Peppe), an older gentleman that's so knowledgeable with Rome's arts & cultures,he has fascinated the 2 youngsters for the whole day. They were so amazing that the kids cannot stop talking about the wonderful time they had in Italy when we got home. Believe me, those are 2 high demanded kids. These two companies have better prices for our group. I have found it all depends on how many people are taking the tour. some combination of group numbers might be cheaper/expensive with different companies. I thought we were going to spend more than the ship excursions with the private tours, but we didn't. The bus drivers have recommended places to eat....that's so much better in prices & have more local favor as our requested than the tourist stuffs. Happy travelling!