6 night Amalfi Coast itinerary

We stayed in Salerno for two nights and then Amalfi for three nights. When we left Amalfi, we took the ferry back to Salerno and walked a few blocks up to the train station to head to Rome.

During our second day in Salerno, we took the 30-minute train over to Paestum. It’s an easy walk from that stop to see the amazing Greek temples.

During our days in Amalfi, we took the ferry over to Positano one afternoon. Another day, we took the early bus up to Ravello to go through the gorgeous garden. Since we entered when they opened, we enjoyed it leisurely without any crowd.

Ferry: Amalfi to Positano - 15 minutes
Ferry: Amalfi to Salerno - 30 minutes
Bus: Amalfi to Ravello - 20 minutes

Try to see Ravello.

I don't mean to sound annoying, but it's important to observe that Sorrento is NOT on the Amalfi Coast. That's only important to say because Sorrento is MUCH more accessible, and good for daytripping, than any place actually on the Amalfi Coast. It's a different kettle of fish to be sleeping in a high-end place like Positano or Ravello, or in a more rural inland village.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-2-weeks-of-day-trips-from-sorrento

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-september-transportation-issues

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/getting-around-amalfi-coast

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/naples-to-sorrento-train-or-private-driver

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-for-7-nights-itinerary-help

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/herculaneum-and-pompeii-questions

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-and-vesuvius-69e8366c-1e75-4a14-a0bc-0677269492d1

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-for-5-days-where-to-set-base-from

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/one-week-on-the-amalfi-coast

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/how-do-i-get-from-pompeii-to-positano-is-there-a-direct-route

Thank you Jean and Suki! So is Ravello best visited from Amalfi? Would it make sense then to travel through Positano for a half day visit on day 4 and end up in Amalfi for two nights?

Tim, thank you, not annoying at all, we kept referring to this part of our trip as Amalfi Coast but when researching found that Sorrento would be more convenient for day trips. After Sorrento we just couldn’t decide what made sense logistically for our other two nights. I appreciate your links and will take the time to read them all!

Good idea to stay in Sorrento to visit places on the north end of the AC. You can then take the ferry to Amalfi and stay there for your two nights, and from Amalfi visit Ravello, Positano, Vietri, etc.

Amalfi is the transportation hub for the southern coast. The bus from Amalfi to Ravello takes 25 minutes or so. You can take the ferry or the bus to Positano.

Given the length of your stay in the Naples/Amalfi areas, you might benefit significantly from the Campania ArteCard, which covers a lot of sights in Naples and (I think) all the excavations in the area. There are additional sights for which you receive a discount; I think the discount is 50% but am not sure.

The 365 Gold Card is valid for a full year and costs only 50 euros. It seems to allow two visits to each sight.

New since my early 2023 visit is the 365 Lite Card, which allows one visit to each sight and costs only 26 euros--an almost unbelievable bargain. I haven't compared the lists of sights covered by the two cards to see whether they are identical, but I didn't notice any obvious omissions from the 365 Lite list.

The Campania ArteCards are notoriously difficult to purchase in person. Warned of lines at the Napoli Centrale office purportedly selling them, I went to two other locations and came away empty-handed. Some of the participating sights probably sell the Napoli versions of the card, but apparently not the 365 Gold Card and 365 Lite Card that include sights outside the city. I ended up buying the Gold card via the app, which was very easy. If you do that, it's important to make note of any confirmation and/or card numbers appearing during that process. If the app (which requires data access--screenshots of your smartcode aren't accepted) doesn't work when you get to the entry point of a sight, you can show your confirmation/card number and get inside that way. I had to do that at least twice; I suspect the issue was with the ArteCard server rather than my smartphone, but I'm not sure.

If you are prepared to commit to the card before leaving home, you might be able to buy it easily on the website and print something out that shows your smartcode. I haven't tried to do that.

Last year I was able to download a brochure that conveniently listed everything covered by the various ArteCards. I can't find that online at this point, but they've enhanced the website to make the list of covered attractions easy to see.

https://www.campaniartecard.it/365-abbonamento-gold/?lang=en

https://www.campaniartecard.it/365-lite/?lang=en

If you want to have a more relaxing town, we stayed in Minori and really liked it. There were boats and buses to other towns, if desired, you can also take a bus down to Salerno to catch a train back to Naples.

Thank you Rachele, acraven and Becky! I had not thought of Minori, I will look in to it!

Tim, still reading the posts, I had done some searching before posting but did not come up with all of these helpful threads so I appreciate that you compiled them. I suppose my question is a common one, thanks to all of the dedicated posters that keep answering similar questions!

You could stop at Positano on the way to Amalfi, but I don’t know what you would do with your luggage. Positano is steep and crowded, so you couldn’t walk through it easily with a suitcase or large backpack. Since those two are just a 15-minute ferry, I would check into your Amalfi lodging, have lunch and then head to Positano.

Thanks Jean, that is helpful and sounds like a good plan!