chgeeb

Hello,
I'll be heading to Italy (and Europe) for the first time...we will be based in Amalfi Coast area for a few weeks. However, 2 of us plan to take some side trips. I'm looking for advice/help on the trains.... We're fairly close to Naples, so I'm assuming that will be our main "hub". So if we wanted to take a trip to Venice for a night, or Florence, or Rome for a day - what is the easiest way to do this? (And cheapest)?
Should we book online now? Is it easy enough to do while we're there?
Any help is appreciated!

Thank you!

nytraveler

Venice is too far for a day trip and IMHO so is Florence. Rome is possible but you would have little time to see anything.

Not sure where you are staying - but while there are high speed trains from Naples that will get you to all those places (but not THAT fast) - it will take you about 1.5 hours for get from Amalfi or Positano just to Naples and another 1.5 hours from Naples at the end of the day. And that late public transit will likely be finished and you may well have to take a cab at 100 euros plus.

So while Rome to Naples is only 1:10 - from Amalfi or Positano to Rome is going to be about 3 hours in each direction - or 6 hours total on the train - IMHO too far for a day trip. And Florence would be more than 8 or 9 hours to do round trip in one day.

Frankly I believe you really need to rethink this plan - unless you will be stay in IN Naples.

Dukey1

By the fastest train timing it would take 1 hr 20 minutes to Rome; 3 hrs to Florence and slightly more than 5 hours to Venice. That would probably be the most expensive rail option (the fast services). However you can book tickets 90 days ahead and doing so would give you the cheapest fares.

You could fly from Naples to Venice on the budget airline EasyJet in 1 hr and 5 minutes.

chgeeb

Thank you! I'm sorry I didn't clarify...if I went to Venice or Florence, I'd stay the night one night as well! I was just wasn't sure if I should book in advance online, or do it while there in person?

bvlenci

Dukey is giving travel times from Naples. As NYtraveler says, it takes at least as long again to get to Naples from the Amalfi Coast, which isn't served by trains. You'd have to take a bus to Sorrento (time depending on the departure point) and then the Circumvesuviana line to Naples (1 hour). You'd have at least three connections to make.

Depending on exactly where you're staying, it might be quicker to go to Salerno (by bus) and take a train from there, and, if you can get a direct bus and a direct train to Rome, you'd avoid one connection.

It takes about 5 1/2 hours from Naples to Venice, and about 3 1/2 hours from Naples to Florence. It takes about an hour longer from Salerno, but the trip to Salerno would be shorter from some parts of the Amalfi Coast. So your total trip time would be about 7-8 hours each way, and you'd have very little time in Venice. A trip to Florence would be about 5-6 hours each way, and I don't think that would be worthwhile, either. It would be like taking an overnight trip from a small town in Massachusetts to Washington DC, but with more changes of train.

A day trip to Rome would take at least three hours each way.

chgeeb

Thank you for all of the help and advice! Would taking EasyJet be simple enough from Naples? Isn't it difficult to get from Venice airport to the city?

Dreamgoddess

Is your location for the 2 weeks set in stone for Amalfi Coast? Unfortunately it is a bit awkward area for jaunting around easily.

Man_in_seat_61

Naples to Venice takes as little as 4h58 with 1 change from 29 euros each way using www.trenitalia.com, indeed there's an 08:15 direct Naples-Venice taking 4h45 at www.italotreno.it.

A 'one-hour' easyjet flight means 4 hours in total with airport transfers and security hassle.

But yes, you have the added transfer to Amalfi to add.

annhig

if you could stretch to 2 nights in Venice, it might be worth doing, and you could take in Rome with an overnight there on the way back to the Amalfi.

an alternative approach, if you have a FEW weeks [or is it TWO weeks as another poster says?] in the Amalfi is to lop a few days/a week off at either/both ends and to use that time to explore a little of the rest of Italy. I'm all in favour of Slow Travel but in this case, if you have weeks at your disposal, spending it all in an area which has difficult communications with the rest of the country seems a bit of a waste.