Backpacking Amalfi Coast - HELP!
 

Hi all, after much searching on the internet and not finding much helpful I have turned to you for help!

My boyfriend are spending 3 weeks backpacking in Western Europe (April19-May11). We have pretty much everything planned, I'm just a little confused about how to do the Amalfi Coast. Right now we have planned for 3 days there. The plan is to start in Sorrento and possibly end up in Salerno?

Here's my question, do we just pick a hostal early on day 1 in Sorrento, bus around the coast all day, and then end up back in Sorrento for the night? Obviously we can't haul our huge backpacks with us all day. Do we bus to a different city for night 2?

Any possible 3 day itineraries for the Amalfi Coast would be appreciated! A little background, we will be taking the train from Florence to Sorrento to begin our Amalfi experience; and taking the train from Salerno to Rome to end our Amalfi experience. That is the tentative plan at least (completely open to better suggestions). Three total nights on the coast.

Thank you so much!

Alyson

Alyson, with only 3 nights I would pick one city as a base and then do daytrips from there. At this late date, hostel availability may determine which town you stay in. Although Sorrento is close to the Amalfi Coast, it is not on the Amalfi Coast.

Hi Alyson,
Yes you can stay in Sorrento the whole three days and just take the bus each day to Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, and Salerno and return with it back to Sorrento. It is very convenient and you can also take the hydrofoils to these places from Sorrento (except Ravello which you can take a bus or walk up from Amalfi). You can also take the hydrofoil from Sorrento to Capri and Naples. There is a hostel near the Circumvesuviana station in Sorrento called Ostello Le Sirene but there are also some really cheap hotels there as well. It is convenient to catch the SITA bus from the Circumvesuviana station and also the local bus stops there and takes you to the port if you want the ferry. You can catch the Circumvesuviana and travel to Pompeii and Naples easy too, so it is a very convenient location. That way you can catch the train coming from Florence to Naples, take the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento and also take it back to Naples to catch a train to Rome. You can also take the
Curreri bus from Sorrento to Rome for 16 euro if you are leaving very early.

Why do you want to go back to Rome via Salerno (ie vs Sorrento)?

Why not do your first two nights in Sorrento - and use it as a base for whichever of Pompei, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Vesuvius or Capri and such of the nearer towns and villages on the Amalfi Coast as you want to see?

You could then move on to see the rest, and spend the last night somewhere quieter and smaller at the further end of the AC - completing your circuit and handier for departing from Salerno?

Although the distances aren't great, some of the travel times are surprisingly long..
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/image/132567370

You'll find photos of many of those places here....
http://www.pbase.com/isolaverde/tele

And it may be worth having a look through the useful 'Travel Directory' to the Sorrento Peninsula and Amalfi Coast that can be downloaded from the official tourism website, here...
http://www.costiera.it/weben/index.htm

High time that was updated, so be sure to crosscheck any times, prices etc! And if the link won't work, try...
http://www.costiera.it/images/pdf/Tr...rectory_En.pdf

Peter

Could anyone tell me the days that the markets are held in the various towns please.

The Amalfi weekly market is held on Wednesday.

Ravello: Tuesday.

Sorrento: Tuesday.

Maiori: Friday.

Vico: Saturday.

Why is a website flogging handbags & jewellery relevant to the question about going back to Rome from Salerno ?

But anyway, as the OP presumably knows, you can get a direct train from Salerno to Rome, it's the easiest way and avoids changing stations in Naples.

Alyson, personally I don't like Sorrento, I think it's pretty tacky (popular for British package tours) and as another poster has pointed out, it's not actually on the Amalfi Coast. So if the Amalfi Coast is what you want to see, I'd base myself somewhere in the middle of the Amalfi Coast. Mind you, your choice of location may be constrained by your wanting to stay in a hostel - it's not really a hostel type of place. So given that, I would start with finding out where there are actually hostels.

Am I cracking up?

Could have sworn I too saw a post with a "website flogging handbags & jewellery" - but it's not there (here?) now!

Peter

A note: you don't have to change stations in Naples to switch from the Circumvesuviana local train (the train to and from Sorrento). Its station is in the basement of Naples Centrale. So the main train station is just up a few steps.

By name at least you do, even if actually they're stacked on top of one another!

Trenitalia's timetables etc refer to their groundlevel part of the station as "Napoli Centrale"

... but then call the subterranean platforms used by their Metro services as "Napoli P.za Garibaldi"

...while the Circumvesuviana railway prefers that their platforms - on the lowest level of all - should be "NAPOLI GARIBALDI (STAZIONE CENTRALE F.S.)"

Peter

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE! you have all been a valuable resource :) i really appreciate it