Hello - I was wondering if the Amalfi experts on the board could help me. We have 4 nights booked in Sorrento and 4 nights in Praiano. I was thinking of moving 1 night over to Praiano as the more I read about the area, the more I think I would like to do some walking, kayaking, etc. We mainly want to use Sorrento as a base for Pompeii and as our last stop before we fly out of Naples. Does anyone have an opinion either way? Thanks!

Hi E,

For what you say you want to do, I suggest Praiano.

Will you be visiting Paestum?

Hi, I've been there a few times and think it's not a bad idea-there are some good walks around Praiano and you can access some of the smaller villages up in the hills. You can also get to the Sentieri degli Dei (Path of the Gods) from Agerola, and it's easy to find maps locally in Praiano. Or here's a link with pictures that will help:
http://digilander.libero.it/Anfie/page1.html
It's in Italian but clicking on the map (carta) at the upper right corner will gives you a larger version. It's a general map.
A poster here named Gerardo is a local (think he lives up around Ravello. Do a search for his name, then Try this thread:
Hiking in Amalfi Coast
which has some excellent tips for books like "The Sunflower Guide" for hikes you can take.
I've never done any kayaking, but you might inquire around the Marina Praia- there are some fellows there who might know.
I always have a good time staying around Praiano, it's so far away in feeling from where I live in NYC!
Good luck!
Bellastarr

Hi both, thank you so much for your responses. Ira, I hadn't planned on visiting Paestum - do you think we should? Have you and was it easy to get to?

Bellastar - thank you for advice! Definitely made my decision easier. I think we will move the extra day over to Praiano as I really want to do the hiking. The map is completely excellent!

hi endless, glad you liked the link!
I'm not ira, but Paestum is an Amazing site of Greethat you can reach from Salerno. Here's a good link for it.

http://www.paestum.de/en/indexen.htm

It would be an excellent way to spend on of your days.
Happy travels to you!

OOPS, I meant Greek Temples. My typing is sinfully poor!

Hi E,


As bella says, Paestum is worth a day. It is the site of the oldest Greek ruins outside Greece.

We took the Orange bus to the Positano docks, the ferry to Salerno and the train to Paestum.

The ruins are about 0.2 km from the train station.

There is a nice cafe just as you arrive at the ruins.

There is a nice, small museum worth a look.

There is a good gelato shop.

We then took the train back to Salerno and the SITA bus to Praiano via Amalfi.

Lovely ride along the coast with the moon shining on the water.

For Ferry schedules Positano – Amalfi - Salerno (P.zza della Concordia):
See http://tinyurl.com/j4ufa

Enjoy your day.

Ira gives good advice on Paestum particulars, I can only add that depending on where you're staying, you may wish to take a SITA bus to Amalfi and ferry from there, since Positano might be backtracking from Praiano.

Hi B,

Praiano is 6 km E of Positano.

The reason I suggested the ferry from Positano instead of Amalfi is that it is a very lovely ride along the coast.

Thanks both - I have pasted your info into my itinerary. I even Googlemap'd Paestum and, my god, doesn't it look interesting from the sky? You can see the outline of the roads, etc. I am definitely going - this is just my thing. I guess I figured it was a bit out of the way but now I see it's a good day trip!

Hi Endless,

I visited Paestum from Praiano and it was definitely worth it! Beautiful and amazing.

Important: if you take the train from Salerno to Paestum, be sure to buy your return train ticket AT THE BAR IN PAESTUM. The train station doesn't sell tickets - it's really small....

Be sure to have dinner at Il Brace in Praiano. Excellent!
Buon viaggio!

Dayle can you give me an idea of how long it took to travel to Paestum from Praiano...please.

I thought I remembered reading that the trip took over two hours each way..can that be true?

(This is Paestum related, i'm a new user, is it ok to reply with a question?)
Are any of you who have been to Paestum able to relate any information about how to find BUFFALO MOZZARELLA (in stores or farms) in this area? I know practically everyone serves it, but from what I've been reading, Paestum and Seliano are the home of all those buffalo who make the cheese. Have any of you eaten the cheese in situ (farm, etc.) in that area?
Thanks! Leigh

Ask away!! From what I have read, it is easy to find mozzarella along the roads in these places. One farm I know about is Agriturismo Selliano where you can rent rooms, take cooking classes, eat, etc, but it does not get very nice reviews on TA.

THANKS! That's the one i've heard of too, but the website is woefully uninformative. Well, maybe we'll just visit Paestum and start walking and see what happens.
By the way, do you have any travel experience in Avellino? L.

There are basically two entrances to the Paestum archeological site, which runs parallel to the coast. one on the main drag of the town, facing a series of gift shops, the museum, some restaurants and a few houses and civic buildings- and the other at the "end" . At the latter entrance or exit whatever ( there are a couple of restaurants, one actually on the site, the other Nettuno across the road which has receieved some good writeups. On the same side of the road as Nettuno is the entrance to a farm which has water buffalos and makes and sells the cheese. I made my husband drive down there so I could see the water buffaloes, but sadly we were stuffed from lunch as well as concerned to reach our hotel in Ravello before dark, so we didnt stop to sample the product.

I didnt notice other farms going up toward the train stop, but there may be places to buy (there was an Antichi Sapori place that might have had it.)

Im hardly surprised its a two hour trip from Praiano with transfers from bus to boat to train and waiting time for each- it took almost that long to drive up to Ravello from there esp since we decided to go straight through Salerno.

Paestum is an amazing site on a plain going down to the sea (though you cant see the sea from there) and with the Cilento mountains in the background. In addition to the beautiful temples there are the very intersting remains of the Roman/Greek town as well. The interpretive signs are better than many places in Italy. A great day trip.

I have been reading this thread with interest and am now convinced that a day trip to Paestum is a must. We will be staying just outside of Sorrento for 6 nights in October and plan to have a car part of that time so that we can explore some places that might not be easily accessible using public transportation. We would love to visit Paestum. So my question is...should we drive to Paestum or patch together bus, ferry, train from Sorrento to Salerno to Paestum? We are not as young as we would like to be so I am a bit concerned that we'll be all worn out from the traveling and changing of bus-ferry-train. Will driving there be too difficult?

Just another thought. We are planning on taking an organized tour with Sunland Tours to Paestum. We're not usually tour people but the convenience of this one sounded good. We are going in June and they will pick us up in Positano. I know they pick up in other towns too. I'm not sure about from Sorrento though. Just another option.

Thanks bayareamama but it looks like Sorrento is only one of their destinations. Does anyone have an opinion on whether to drive or take public transport between Sorrento and Praiano?

Does anyone have an opinion? There are enough opinions on that subject to keep you reading here all day. Put some names in the little search section.

(in the end it boils down to bus, car or ferry)