Five Stars

Italy | Feb 28 - Mar 4, 2024

Elena did a wonderful job from car rentals, food tour, Pompei visit, restaurant recommendations, things to see in each respective place and booking the hotels in Naples and Sorrento. My husband and I really appreciate the arrangements, scheduling of the whole trip.

Upon arrival at Rome airport, we headed to Hertz to get the rental car. We visited Tivoli (Villa D 'Este and Hadrian's Villa) before heading to our Naples hotel Napoli Tree B&B. They suggested parking down the street but note that the parking entrance is really narrow. I contacted Elena and she replied right away regarding where to park. The elevator up to the B&B requires 10 cents to use (they have a bowl of 10 centavos in the reception). The building has a lot of B&B's. The location of the B&B is nice , because the room has a seaview, near the boardwalk and walking distance (36 minute walk) to the food tour meeting place Piazza del Gesu Nuovo. It would have been better to have a hotel nearer the oldb historical area though. But during the walk to the old historical center, we walked through Galleria Umberto (1887 shopping building), Plebiscito Square and more.

Our food Tour guide is Giovanna (Compania Guide) was on time, informative and very cheerful. She walked us through coffee/hot chocolate, buffalo mozarella, wallet pizzas (yum), pastries like baba rum cake which we love, gelato, and walked through Naples' Nativity Street where she showed us the different 'Presepe'. We didn't have limoncello though. She gave us suggested places to go after our food tour which is up to the Funicolare di Montesanto to see the view the Castel dell Ovo and Napoli Sotteranea (underground tour). She even gave us list of restaurants in Naples and Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano and Ravello because we mentioned heading there after Naples.

The visit to Pompei was fulfillment of my bucket list. We arrived quite early at the parking at Camping Spartacus and thankfully our guide, Enza started earlier than planned. Exploring Pompeii with Enza our guide where she touched the highlight of the vast ancient city was like stepping back in time. She was informative, knowledgeable and the whole experience was well worth it. During our visit,the weather at first, was cold, then it rained a little then became hot. We had lunch at La Delizie (really good pizzas and caprese salad, croquettes) then had baba Napoletano at a nearby pastry shop across the street.

Driving to our Sorrento hotel, we were told that there is a valet to park our our to a parking structure. We didn't need the car to go to Amalfi, Positano and Ravello because we took the bus which is near the train station (10 minute walk from hotel). Driving in the Amalfi coast is very hard due to narrow winding roads. We got a little carsick from the drive so it is a good idea to take motion sickness medicine in the bus ride. The boats are still not operating /going there (Amalfi Coast) due to high waves. There is a ferry to Capri Island though. Our hotel La Piazzetta Guesthouse is new and location is very nice. The only drawback is that on Saturday night the restaurant below had loud music till very late. Christina of La Piazzetta Guesthouse was very accommodating and welcoming. Since the season will only start in April, a lot of hotels and restaurants are still close. We were the first guest of La Piazetta this early March 2024.

Our fist bus stop is to Positano. we went down the beach and looked up at the houses in the cliffside, bought some souvenirs along the way and Assumption church. Next bus stop, we went to Amalfi, went to visit the St. Andrew cathedral. We had lunch at Pizzeria Donna Stella and had a limoncello gelato along the way back to the bus stop. We took the bus to Ravello using the same bus ticket but different bus, which is good for 24 hours. Upon arrival in Ravello, we visited Villa Rufolo then did some souvenir shopping then headed back to catch the bus back to Amalfi. Upon arrival in Amalfi, we took the bus that heads back to Positano and Sorrento. The next day we had a leisurely day at Sorrento.

Over all, this tailor made, Italian experience was five stars.