Planning a trip to Italy in late November and early December. I was looking to spend a week on the Amalfi Coast and will be traveling alone with a base in Sorrento or Amalfi. Haven't decided yet! Does everything really shut down in the winter? From what I understand there is no ferry service during those months (will not have a car). Have you been to the Amalfi Coast in the winter? Where did you stay and what was your experience? Were there restaurants opened? I love the idea of less tourists but don't necessarily want a ghost town either!
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11641 posts
We spent a week in mid-Dec in Sorrento one year, no car. We had perfect clear skies, chilly mornings, one thunderstorm. Pompeii was delightfully empty, Naples was nuts with holiday shopping.
We daytripped as far as Amalfi/Atrani (Rick Steve’s book has a cool walk between them), went to Naples for the archeological museum and city walk, toured Pompeii with Gaetano !amfredi (also a RS recommendation), ate well in Sorrento. Some hotels were closed as well as a few restaurants, but the city was Christmas festive. There was a jazz festival going on so we attended two evenings.
Posted by
OP
Oceanside, CA, United States
19 posts
Thank you Laurel for sharing this. This makes me very happy to hear! Just curious, did you take the bus when you day tripped to the towns in Amalfi? Or was there a ferry at that time in December?
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3250 posts
I was in Amalfi in the first week of December. I stayed at the Villa Annalara which, like many lodgings, was reopening for the Christmas/New Year holiday. Most restaurants were open, Christmas decorations were up and there were few tourists. It was a great time to visit! If you try to make hotel reservations on line, you might not find it easy to do so because of various re-opening dates. Send an email directly to the hotel if that happens. Easy to catch buses from Amalfi to order cities on the coast. Fly into Naples and take the train to Salerno and the bus to Amalfi. Or rent a car because the roads are not crowded at that time of year.
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
6997 posts
Daveen
Ferry info here and much more
Ferries run thru October
https://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/t/amalfi/salerno
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11641 posts
We took the bus to Amalfi, train to Pompeii and Naples. I think the ferry runs because people live full time on those islands, but it is not dependable. It can be cancelled for bad weather.