manlygirl

Was thinking of getting a taxi from Amalfi to Salerno in Italy instead of the bus, to ensure I make the train that leaves about 9am on a Saturday. Any advice on prices, what to look out for etc.?

ekscrunchy

I would begin by asking your hotel to recommend a driver....

We hired Dino Tofelleti for a daytrip from Amalfi, at the recommendation of the owner of our hotel, the Floridiana. We were very pleased with him. His contact info is in my trip report; see entry for May 7:



http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-naples.cfm


Keep in mind that you may get the best price from someone based in Amalfi, Salerno or nearby, not someone based in Sorrento...

ekscrunchy

So you do not have to wade through the entire report, here is the clip with his info; this is from 2008, so some things may have changed:


"The next morning we were up early for our long-awaited excursion with a hired car and driver to Paestum and the mozzarella heartland outside Battipaglia.

We had originally received price quotes (by e-mail before departure) of 300 Euro for this trip, but when I advised Agnese at the Hotel Floridiana of our plans, she suggested that the quoted price sounded high. An important tip when contemplating a hired driver for an Amalfi coast-area excursion is to consider the home base of the driver. A driver who is based near Sorrento will probably ask a higher price to travel to Paestum than one who is based further east, regardless of your hotel location, because the Sorrento driver will have a much longer route to travel. Likewise, for a trip to Pompeii, a driver living in the Sorrento area might be willing to accept a lower fee than one who has to begin in Amalfi.

Based on Agnese’s recommendation, we arrived at a price of 180 Euro which would include a trip to Paestum with waiting time, a stop at a mozzarella caseficio, and delivery to Cetara where we would have lunch. We would then return to Amalfi by bus, thus sparing the driver the waiting time and therefore keeping the price down. We were very pleased with how our day worked out and I recommend our driver, Dino Toffoletto. Dino is a cautious driver and shared his love for the area (he lives in Maiori) with us in a mix of English and Italian. He understands basic English but is not fluent. He is most willing to discuss food and life on the Campanian coast.

[email protected] "

GAC

Did you know that there are SITA buses from Amalfi at 5:15, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 and 7:15 which get to the Salerno train station in about 75 minutes? It takes two minutes to walk from the bus stop to the front entrance of the station. One-way fare is 3.60 Euros.

A private car will cost about 100 Euros.

www.sitabus.it

greg

The taxi and private car prices vary tremendously. Ask for quotes from several sources. When I was there in the spring, the highest prices were internet prearrange deals, then the hotel arranged deal, then directly asking a taxi driver for a quote.

ekscrunchy

I had a similar experience. I know I've mentioned this before, but when I told the hotel owner the price that I was due to pay the driver (recommended on this forum), she was so horrified that she insisted we look elsewhere. I cancelled the first driver with a few days notice (this was not high season) and went with the driver recommended by the hotel, whose name I posted above.

I should also mention that the first driver, when told that we were cancelling, responded in an extremely aggressive way and was so rude, insulting and distasteful to both myself and the hotel owner that I would never recommend him to anyone, even apart from price..

manlygirl

Thank you everyone, all your replies are extremely helpful. I was worried about the bus not coming and missing the train.