Salerno as a base to visit Amalfi Coast

Old Jul 7th, 2015, 11:44 PM
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Salerno as a base to visit Amalfi Coast

Hello everyone!

I have been searching around the site to see if this question has been asked before. I did stumble upon it in a different form and it seems like the general idea is that Sorrento is a better base than Salerno for touring the Amalfi coast. Problem is, I've already booked my lodging in Salerno (before I really researched everything).

So I'm wondering... did I make an awful decision? Will it be possible to take day trips from Salerno to other parts of the Amalfi Coast? I know I definitely want to visit Capri and Sorrento but I'm not sure where else.

I'm up for any suggestions and am obviously still looking forward to my time in the area!
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 01:01 AM
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I personally find Amalfi is the best place to explore the Amalfi Coast.

But if you have already booked your accomodation, Salerno is fine. You can take either the coastal boat from Salerno that sails along the coast to Capri and stops in each town along the coast, allowing you to stroll a bit - the favourite places are Amalfi, Positano and Capri. Or you take the bus.

Or you rent a car for a day - driving the winding coastal road is an experience in itsself. Or even better: rent a scooter for a day.
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 02:45 AM
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Hey traveller thank you for the reply. I was wondering what you thought about using a scooter in the amalfi area? I've heard mixed reviews of the experience.

And taking a boat around the coast sounds perfect. I will definitely travel to one of the cities that way. Do you think each city needs their own day trip?
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 02:51 AM
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OK - these are not cities. Along the AC Amalfi and Positano are small towns. Sorrento is a larger town - but is not really a place to tour but to use as a base for going other places (since it has the best ferry/hydrofoil service to other places).

So you might take a ferry to Capri one day and another to amalfi and positano by bus another day. With ferries be sure you understand the schedules. From Salerno I believe there are only a couple of ferries per day and they often do not run after late afternoon - definitely not at night.

Are you not planning to go to Pompeii (IMHO just not missable) or Naples (for the archeological museum)?

As for a scooter - there is no way I would rent one in that area - way too dangerous (and I'm used to traffic in NYC).
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 03:11 AM
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Hello deztwotone,

I feel compelled to leap to the defense of Salerno! Salerno IS TRULY "a place to tour" IMHO. It shares the ancient history of the other villages and towns along this coast--Roman, Moorish, Norman, then layers of various invaders. Marvellous old centro, narrow winding streets, an ancient dialect in the oldest neighborhoods which you will hear but not understand even if you are fluent in Italian, the restored medieval gardens of the famous Salerno medical school (the first in Europe apparently), a beautiful Norman cathedral with semi-Moorish bits which you will also find in other places on the coast such as Amalfi and Ravello.

Paestum with its astonishing Greek temples is only one hour by train (we stayed one night in Paestum, highly recommend this). Rome is a little less than two hours (no change of trains)--the train goes around the back of Vesuvius. The ferry from Salerno goes north along the Amalfi coast, to Amalfi and several other villages and then to Capri (double check on the specific stops, they vary the schedules every year).

The seafront of Salerno is beautiful, with a wide, tree-lined boulevard most of the way and an attractive, lots of cafes, an active harbor full of ferries and yachts and sailboats.

Food: Salerno has all of the Amalfi coast delights, especially fresh seafood and pasta. We basically told the waiter at dinner to just bring us whatever fresh seafood they had caught that morning. Excellent white wines of the region.

An advantage of using Salerno as a base instead of Sorrento: you will be avoiding the flow of tourist traffic along the coast. I mean this: most visitors start out from Naples or Sorrento in the morning and take the bus south toward Amalfi, or take ferries. The visitors end up in Amalfi in mid-afternoon, in an enormous Times Square-type crowd, and pack the buses going north, back to Sorrento in late afternoon. From Salerno, you avoid this--you hop the ferry (I prefer the ferry, magnificent views of the coast, fresh breezes, smell the Mediterranean waves) or hop the bus and go north in the morning, then mid or late afternoon you will be going south back to Salerno while the mobs are struggling to find a spot on the bus returning north to Sorrento. Look at a map, you'll get the picture.

We stayed two nights in Salerno. I would return. (Full disclosure: I receive no payments from the Salerno tourist office!!)

Here's my trip report from last June:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

The coast is magnificent. Enjoy your trip!
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 04:40 AM
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Where is your hotel in Salerno? There are some hotels outside of the center where having a car (or using taxis a lot) improves the experience.

If you are a skilled motorcyclist and are going in dry weather, there would be a lot of advantages to having a car or scooter along the coast if you are based in Salerno. But for motorcycles, you do need to be a serious biker, not a weekender, and I would not recommend taking it to Naples. Take the train instead. Also make sure you have maximum insurance coverage if you opt for renting a scooter.

I don't think it is easy to visit Sorrento from Salerno unless you have your own wheels. If you take a ferry from Salerno to Capri, you can take a return ferry to Amalfi and get a bus or taxi from there to Salerno.

Salerno has its own take on pizza -- slightly different than Napoli, but I prefer it -- and it is much closer to Italy's mozzerella production area, so that is a plus.
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 06:16 AM
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Wow,I want to thank everyone for such great responses! The Fodor's community is truly the best!

nytraveler - Do you think there isn't really any need to specifically visit Sorrento? The favored towns to visit in the region are Amalfi and Positano and those can both be visited in a day? But Capri should have its own day? And I'm sorry I forgot to mention how we are still choosing between Pompeii and Naples. So far, Pompeii looks like the favorite.

EYWandBTV - I actually stumbled upon your excellent trip report when I was looking for information on Salerno. After reading it I may have to add Paestrum to the itinerary as well. I really enjoyed your tale of Salerno, gave me a little sneak peek to my trip and some background information I will certainly need while there. I didn't know Salerno had a bit of an off day on Mondays, I will plan accordingly. I'm really looking forward to my time on the coast and will spend as much time as I can traveling by ferry. Thank you for the well wishes

Sandralist - We are staying near Piazza San Agostino, I'm not sure how close this is to the City Center. Thank you for the advice on how to return to Salerno from Capri, I was a little confused by that. I would love to rent a scooter along the coast but I fear I've never ridden one and am not exactly known for my coordination I guess we will see. I will certainly try some pizza during my stay
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 07:20 AM
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Don't rent a scooter to drive in Italy if you have never driven one. Very, very bad idea, especially on the cliffs of the Amalfi. Nix it.

Piazza S.Agostino is right in the heart of Salerno, so you can walk to the train station and the port. You don't need a car and having one would just be a parking nightmare. Loads of good restaurants and pizzeria in Salerno.

You can also take a ferry from Capri back to Salerno itself, I believe, but if the timing doesn't work right, you do have the other option of going back to the Amalfi and getting land transporation from there. But you need to pay attention to when the last bus leaves to avoid the high cost of a taxi. (Another option is to take the ferry from Capri back to Naples, and then the train from there to Salerno. Might be nice if you want to have dinner in Naples. A great restaurant -- Mimi Alla Ferrovia is right near the train station. Or you could try some Neapolitan pizza. But again, be sure you know when the last train to Salerno leaves.)
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 08:07 AM
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Great choice to stay in Salerno! How many days will you have there?

For the ferry schedules to Positano and Amalfi, see www.coopsantadrea.com and www.travelmar.it. Those ferries leave from the dock closest to the train station (Concordia) For the ferry schedules to Capri (which leave from the Manfredi dock where the cruise ships dock), see www.capri.net

Whether or not you should see Positano and Amalfi both in one day depends on how many days you have. If you have enough time, I would split it up into 2 days. One day in Positano, and one day in Amalfi/Ravello.

I HIGHLY recommend seeing Paestum - the temples are amazing and the museum is very good. Easy to get to from Salerno via train or bus. If you visit via train, be sure to purchase your return ticket while in Salerno, as the station in Paestum is unmanned (last I read).

It is only a 30-minute train ride from Salerno to Naples.

Assuming you are traveling between now and the end of October (while the ferries are running), absolutely no need for a car and driving a scooter is a death wish.
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 08:09 AM
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And I would only visit Sorrento if you are staying for a week and have already visited Capri, Positano, Amalfi, Salerno, Paestum, Naples and Vietri Sul Mare (famous for ceramics and a 5-minute train ride from Salerno).

Sandra's idea of taking the return ferry from Capri to Naples and stopping for dinner, then taking the fast train from Naples back to Salerno is a good one!
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 08:53 AM
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How to choose between Naples and Pompeii....hmm, that's a really tough philsophical question

Two very different places, but with most of the same historical roots.

Pompeii: huge archeological site. Don't rush it. You don't need much imagination to make the place come alive, it is a very vivid experience to walk through the streets, see the shop fronts, the theater, etc. And of course the casts of the vaporized bodies of the unfortunate people and dogs who perished.

Naples is sort of a living archeological site. You can go down below the surface of the present city, down below the Roman layer to the Greek layer of the original Neapolis. And the top layer we see today is a wonderful mosh pit of Baroque and other architecture and tumble bumble buildings in various stages of gentle decay, all of this in a noisy, scooter-intensive environment. The people and food are fabulous. The Naples archeological museum has a huge amount of treasure from Pompeii. But a small proviso: if you like Geneva and places like that, stay away!

Can you squeeze two nights in Naples and one long day in Pompeii into your schedule?

BTW, from Naples, you could catch the train to Paestum, visit (and perhaps stay overnight), then train again to Salerno. Be sure to double check information about the train station in Paestum. Last year, it was still unmanned, so you have to have purchased your ticket for the following leg (from Paestum to Salerno in your case) before you leave Naples because you cannot buy tickets at the Paestum station (unless there is now a ticket agent--again, be sure to check onthis). Also, if you do this, before you board the train from Paestum onward to Salerno, BE SURE TO VALIDATE ("CONVALIDARE") YOUR TICKET. There is a validation kiosk machine (I think in sort of green and gray) in the little station and a sign that says something like "Convalidare i biglietti".

There are no wrong choices here, the whole region is wonderful.
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 09:18 AM
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Sorrento does not really have any major sights - it's just a larger town with a million hotels and restaurants - and has great connections for transit. No need to go there just for itself.

You can;t do Capri the same day as the towns on the AC. Capri takes a whole day if you want to see anything and not sure how often the ferries run from Salerno.

You really need to look at those ferry schedules now so you can plan days to see things. If there are only 3 ferries a day you need to organize around their schedule.
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 09:41 AM
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Salerno would make an excellent place from which to tour the coast. And to visit to Cilento area as well. Salerno is more interesting than Sorrento, in my limited experience. The entire area is charming.


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ar-paestum.cfm
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 10:09 AM
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Hey dez,

> I was wondering what you thought about using a scooter in the amalfi area?

Only if you have a death wish.

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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 11:03 AM
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Wow, again thank you very much for all of the great resources and information! Right now we are only set up to spend 4 full days in the region, then it's off to Florence. And I'm getting a clear picture that a scooter is a no no at this point, thanks for helping me avoid the hassle

Right now, the debate about Naples vs Pompeii is mainly due to my travel companion. He's already been to Naples but never to Pompeii. I think this is why we've been swaying towards Pompeii. Thank you for the information EYWandBTC, I will be sure to relay it to him.

In regards to the comment about train travel for Paestum-Salerno and back, I'm a little confused about train travel in general in Italy. All tickets I have purchased so far say that it is paperless travel and all I need is the ticket reference number. Will I need to validate tickets such as those for Italia or Frecciarossa?

When looking at the ferry schedule, getting back to Salerno from Capri might cause me the most trouble. Not too much, but I will need to combine ferry and bus/train and definitely keep my eye on the time! I will look into the stopover in Naples, so I can at least get a glimpse of the city while I'm there.

And thank you ekscrunchy for your travel report as well! I love reading them and getting a feel for what my own travels will be like.

Thank you to everyone again for all the help, I really appreciate it
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 11:31 AM
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Re paperless ticket for the Frecciarossa train (= high speed train), I believe that you just need your PRN e-ticket number to show the conductor. The trains from Paestum to Salerno are only regional trains, I don't think there are any high-speed trains on that bit of rail. So for regional trains you do need to stick your ticket into the "convalidare" kiosk machine; it stamps the date and time on the end of your ticket.
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 11:37 AM
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Ok thank you for clearing that up for me EYWandBTV!
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 12:34 PM
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The train between Salerno and Paestum is a Regionale, so you will need to purchase both tickets in Salerno (including your return ticket), and then validate the ticket right before you get on the train.

According to the current schedule, the last ferry to Salerno leaves Capri at 5:30, arriving in Salerno at 7:40. That is a heck of a 2 hour and 10 minute ferry ride. If I took the ferry over to Capri, I would be tempted to take the 5:30 or 6:10 ferry to Naples (45 minute ride), walk around, get some pizza for dinner, then hop the 9:22 direct train to Salerno (37 minute ride).
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 02:38 PM
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You could also take the world-famous dramatic Amalfi Coast buses along the Amalfi to places like Amalfi, Ravello or Positano for starters - but buses can be slow but dirt cheap and nerve-wracking for Nervous Nellies. Boats probably much quicker but I loved the buses.

https://www.google.com/search?q=AMAL...=1600&bih=1075
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Old Jul 8th, 2015, 04:10 PM
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Another fan of Salerno here -- I thought it vastly underrated! It's cathedral holds some incredible treasures, as does the diocesan museum, and the lungomare is truly a delight IMO.

Enjoy!
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