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Help with the Amalfi
A group of four of us will be travelling throughout Italy using a rental car. For the Amalfi we propose to leave our car at the bed and breakfast in Salerno and use either local public transportation to get around or hire a driver to take us where we wish to visit.
Does anyone have a good contact for driving us around privately? Does anyone have any suggestions regarding the use of the public system in that area? Thanks in advance for your advice. |
In season ferries link Salerno and key Amalfi towns as do slow-going buses. I'd suggest just driving yourselves to a town and park the car at same cost parking in Salerno would be I suppose. It's an exciting drive for folks who like that along the sinuous cliffside narrow road. Then you could drive out via Sorrento and hit Pompeii and Heraculaneum (sp>) en route to Naples.
The Amalfi Coast Road is world-famous and it is not as hair-raising as would seem since lots of traffic often slows folks down. |
SITA bus is the other public transportation option. Here is their link: https://www.positano.com/en/bus-schedule
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Public transportation is convenient and you have options for buses or ferries -- and, from Salerno, trains for Paestum, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Naples.
Check rome2rio.com for your options, and be sure to click through to the underlying links, as the main web pages are not sensitive to seasonal variation in schedules. |
I used a private driver for three legs of a trip in May 2015 that included Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, and Paestum. From my trip report: Car services: After getting at least half a dozen quotes from different agencies, I chose Sorrento Cars/Leonardo Travel, www.sorrentocars.com, to get me from Fiumicino to Sorrento (€300), Sorrento to Amalfi (€70), and Amalfi to Paestum (€100). Ugo answered all of my emails quickly and his rates were the least expensive for each leg of the journey. His drivers were always early and were careful and courteous. The vehicles were Mercedes, mini-vans from Rome-Sorrento and Amalfi-Paestum and a small wagon from Sorrento-Amalfi. They were comfortable if not luxurious. I was impressed that all three drivers spontaneously spoke very highly of their boss. Ugo’s preference was to be paid in cash but it was no problem to swing by his office on the way to Sorrento so that I could pay for the first leg by credit card. |
Any reason you decided on Salerno as your base? Sorrento is a better choice, IMO. It is so lovely and has excellent train connections to Naples, Pompeii and Ercolano, (Circumvesuviana train and Campania Express; the latter is more expensive but more comfortable), ferries to Naples, Capri, Ischia, Amalfi. We loved the hop-on/hop-off sightseeing bus from Sorrento to Amalfivis Positano. Beautiful air conditioned bus with provided audio guide certainly has huge advantages over insanely crowded, suffocating SITA buses and it is very reasonably priced. We had taken it three times in 14 days and enjoyed the gorgeous coastline without driving. https://city-sightseeing.com/en/60/sorrento |
FWIW, I think Salerno is a vastly underrated city. It has train and ferry connections that are at least as good as Sorrento -- better for some things; is actually on the Amalfi Coast (with a gorgeous lungomare); and has some treasures of its own that are, IMO, well worth seeing.
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Thanks everyone for the very useful information.
Actually KJA has hit the nail on its head. We are staying in Salerno because we are headed south for a week after the Amalfi. We have been to Naples, Pompeii and Sorento before on a tour of Italy which also included Capri. I think that I like the combination of the ferry and local bus. |
If you have any interest, the ambos in Salerno's cathedral are truly stunning. :)
And Paestum is easily reached from Salerno. Not only are the temples extraordinary, the small museum there holds some unique items, well worth an hour IMO. |
Now I am feeling seriously tempted to return to the Amalfi Coast, kja! We wanted to make in to Paestum but ran out of time - two weeks were not enough. We spent some serious time hiking on the Amalfi Coast and had to sacrifice so many things... |
What month are you going? Suggest the ferries from Sorrento to points along AC but you must check schedule. Used them just in September, service is dependable and prices not high (check website, I dont recall what we paid). Dont recommend SITA bus, it's cheap, but runs on it's very own schedule -- when it feels like it! Our experience with it from Positano-Sorrento had us waiting about 1 1/2 hrs and that was in mid-April!
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Stayed in Sorrento several days and compared to Amalfi towns it is much less pretty IMO - though on sea views of sea from most of town are nil due to tall buildings - I guess hotels on that side would have good views from rooms but views from the town in general suck. But is utilitarian if going to Heraculaneum and Pompeii and Naples.
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The OP is not staying in Sorrento. Lodging is in Salerno.
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Thanks again guys, for all the tips. All four of us have visited Sorento, staying one evening. We loved it.
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