Your First Trip

When to go, how long to stay, and a classic ten days through Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Capri.

St Peter’s and the Tiber, Rome · Photo: PhotoHound / Unsplash

When to go

Late spring or early autumn

For a first trip, go from late May to the end of June, or in September and early October. The sea is warm, the hotels, beach clubs and boats are all open, and the coasts are far calmer than in July and August, when Europe takes its own holidays and the heat in Rome and Athens is at its height.

In winter the cities, Rome, Florence, Venice, Seville and Istanbul above all, are at their quietest and most beautiful, but most island and beach hotels close from late autumn to spring. See when to go for each destination month by month, and the off season for winter.

How long

Ten days, three places

Ten days is the right length for a first trip: long enough to recover from the flight and to settle in, short enough to stay in no more than three places. Every move costs half a day, so choose three bases, not six, and let the boat, the driver and the helicopter do the rest.

Fly nonstop if you can; see nonstop flights from the USA. Flying into one city and home from another saves a day of backtracking.

A classic route

Ten days: Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Capri

Days 1 to 3: RomeThree nights
Arrive in Rome and stay at the heart of the old city, near the Spanish Steps or Piazza Navona. Give a morning each to the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum and Forum with a private guide, and leave the afternoons for the piazzas, the churches and long lunches.
Rome guide · The finest hotels
Piazza di Spagna and Via dei Condotti from the Spanish Steps, Rome · Photo: Falk2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Days 4 to 7: the Amalfi CoastFour nights
The high-speed train from Rome to Naples takes about an hour and ten minutes in first class; a driver meets you for the drive along the coast, about an hour and a quarter to Positano. Stay at Le Sirenuse or Il San Pietro, take the private boat along the coast to Amalfi and Ravello, and lunch at a beach club reached only by sea.
Positano and the Amalfi Coast · First-class rail
Positano and the Spiaggia Grande, Amalfi Coast · Photo: Simon Burchell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Days 8 to 9: CapriTwo nights
Cross to Capri by private boat. Stay the night, which is when the island is at its best: the day visitors leave, and the Piazzetta belongs to the hotels. Swim at La Fontelina below the Faraglioni and take a boat around the island and its grottoes.
Capri guide
The Faraglioni through the pines, Capri · Photo: Berthold Werner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Day 10: homeFrom Naples
Under an hour by boat back to Naples, and about twenty minutes by car to the airport. Delta flies nonstop from Naples to New York JFK and Atlanta in season; otherwise connect through Rome.
Naples guide

Other first trips

Two more classic ten days

The RivieraFrance and Monaco
Fly into Nice. Stay on Cap Ferrat, take the seven-minute helicopter to Monaco for a day, and finish with three nights in Saint-Tropez, an hour and a half by car or about twenty minutes by helicopter from Nice.
Cap Ferrat · Monaco · Saint-Tropez
Èze with Cap Ferrat beyond, from the Grande Corniche · Photo: Tobi 87 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Greek islandsGreece
Fly into Athens for two nights on the Athens Riviera and a morning at the Acropolis, then fly or take the helicopter to Mykonos and on to Santorini for the caldera.
Athens · Mykonos · Santorini

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The Mediterranean Season Letter

Where to be, every season

Four letters a year, one for each season: the Mediterranean from spring to autumn, and Beyond the Mediterranean, into the Alps, in winter. The one best hotel to book, and the events worth crossing a sea for.