I am loking for a hotel near the train station. Three star or less. Is this a good area?

DH and I took a night train that departed from Salerno around midnight in May 2005. We walked around the train station area for a few hours prior to the train's departure. The area right around the train station certainly isn't terrible... but it isn't pretty or charming or anything like that. There is a pedestrian-only shopping street a few blocks away that was nicer. We saw several hotels but I didn't note any names since we were not staying in Salerno. The train station is about 10 blocks from the harbor where the ferries to/from Amalfi, Positano, etc. disembark. There are also hotels near there, and at least you'd have a view. Out of curiousity, why stay in Salerno? It isn't a bad town or anything... just not where I'd choose to base in Campania.

You might consider the Hotel Plaza. As TexasAggie suggests, the area immediately by the train station isn't particularly charming, but it isn't bad. I certainly felt safe there. It's only a few blocks from lovely seafront of Salerno. And I believe there are 2 docks for ferries to Amalfi etc., one of which is just a few minutes walk from the train station. Hope that helps!

I liked Salerno too, it was a real city, a little gritty but lively.

To TexasAggie:
The reason that we are staying in Salerno is that we are dropping a rental car off there and taking the train back to Rome for our last night in Italy.