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Car needed on Amalfi Coast?

We are traveling to Italy late June w/our 3 children (18,15,11), the last part of our trip we are going from Rome to AirBB in Furore (between Positano & Ravello), staying 4 nights here. Had planned to rent car in Rome on our way out, drive to Pompei, then to our rental. We are interested in day trips to Positano, Ravello, possibly Capri. Do we need a car during this time? There is parking near our rental. We plan to drive back to Rome on the 5th day to stay near airport for our flight the next morning but perhaps we train it back to Rome instead of drive? Thank you for any comments/suggestions!

Posted by
3586 posts

With 5 people, a car with parking provided, may make sense; but for getting around the AC, I would rely on public transport.

Posted by
870 posts

Horror story re driving on the AC:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187779-i161-k11500341-Driving_the_Amalfi_Coast_advice-Amalfi_Coast_Province_of_Salerno_Campania.html#91428089

Use buses and ferries to get around:

https://www.sitasudtrasporti.it/

http://www.travelmar.it/downloads/orari_travelmar.pdf

You could travel to Pompeii by trains--Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale [70 minutes]; downstairs for the local train to Pompeii Scavi. Have a driver lined up from Sorrentocars to drive you to Furore after your visit.

Posted by
13 posts

We've done two vacations to the Amalfi coast & would not recommend driving there. As well-documented in Rick Steves books, it is easy to access the coast from either Sorento or Salerno; in your case probably taking the train to Naples, switching to the local train to Sorento downstairs (from which you can also visit Pompei or Herculeum). In Sorento you can take a bus down the coast to your destination with very affordable ticket prices (much cheaper than car rental & insurance). We have traveled by bus & ferry from both the Sorento & Salerno ends & the info in Steve's book is accurate for how to do it. In the peak summer months the ONE road is packed, there is NO place to park. For going to Furore, you may need to take the bus to Amalfi which has the ONLY big parking lot on the coast which is also the bus transfer lot & transfer to a bus going to Furore. Pompei & Ravello definitely worth a visit. Positano also nice, but trendy & more expensive of the towns along the coast. We have overnighted in both Amalfi & Ravello which were nice. Amalfi is less steep to walk around than Positano & somewhat less touristy than Positano & also has some great restaurants. Ravello is very beautiful & relaxing, especially later in the day when the day tourists leave, although I'm sure Furore is similar in that respect.

Posted by
62 posts

We vacationed in Italy at the end of February, beginning of March 2019, so it is not the same time of year, but we stayed in both Rome and Furore. We chose not to have a car, but if we did, we would have used it to travel on the road between Furore and Agerola, and NOT on the Amalfi Coast. The bus runs regularly between the towns of Amalfi and Agerola and stops many places along the way through the town of Furore. Maps we found online did not show all the "Fermata" bus stops. We were surprised there was a stop near the apartment we rented even though we didn't see it online. We are extremely thankful we left the driving to the skilled bus drivers! We didn't understand it until we experienced it. If you plan to take the bus, you can stand near the bus stop sign and hold out your arm when the bus approaches going in the desired direction. Assuming the bus has room for you, you get on, validate your ticket in the machine and find a place to sit (or stand). When you want to get off the bus, other than the "end of the line," you find a button to push which alerts the driver to stop at the next stop, or be a local and yell, "FERMATA" which we had to do once when we couldn't locate a button. The stores in Furore had limited off season hours when we were there, so we did grocery shopping in Amalfi town (bring your own reusable bags). Enjoy! The views from Furore are phenomenal!

Posted by
50 posts

I would absolutely not want to be driving a car on the Amalfi Coast in June. I would avoid it during the off season. I cannot imagine how difficult and stressful it would be in the middle of summer.

Posted by
15560 posts

My first thought was that you do NOT want to drive anywhere on the AC in late June because of the traffic congestion and the very limited parking. There is a bus from Furore (SITA #3080) that has a few buses a day to Amalfi, it's a 25 minute ride per the schedule. There must be taxis available too. To get back to Rome, taxi to Amalfi, ferry to Salerno, fast train to Rome. Or taxi all the way to Salerno - might be fastest if you leave early before the tourist traffic clogs the road.

Look into a private transfer from Rome to Furore with a long stop in Pompeii. That way someone's guarding your luggage while you tour the site.

Posted by
7181 posts

It sounds like Furore may be situated like Ravello, with no coastline and perhaps fewer busses than even Ravello (which requires two busses to get anywhere.) You will need a car for five-person sightseeing, but driving in stop and go traffic, and non-existent parking (including few, tiny but full, garages) will be a miserable frustration. I judge this to be a good sleeping situation for staying put, but a poor one for daily daytrips to major sights.

My opinion is based on watching our Mercedes five-person sedan driver during a nine-hour private tour of the AC from Sorrento. We saw the garages where he played cards with his buddies, and saw the eight parking spaces at each beach during our free time without him.

Edit:typo punctuation

Edit 2: To put that another way, I noticed that the highest-luxury resorts in Ravello (we only toured there with the driver, didn't sleep there) have a guest-shuttle to a beach. I would prefer that to having to get places without a car. But clearly, staying in hotels out of fashion, despite the services they may have available.

Posted by
2462 posts

We went to the Amalfi coast in July and used buses and ferries. I remember sitting at breakfast and a young couple coming in still recounting the horrors of driving the coast.

Posted by
62 posts

Just a few more thoughts....
We absolutely loved Furore which is basically situated on a hill side with switchback roads that we dared to walk in the daytime. There are many stairs that connect the roads - but keep in mind the stairs are steep! If you rely on the bus, it takes you to the hub in Amalfi and then you transfer to anywhere else along the coast. If you look at a map, there is a well traveled road that connects Furore over the top of the hill to Agerola and beyond - in the direction of Naples. If you rent a car to drive yourself, you can drive through Agerola to Furore and not even hit the Amalfi Coast. We learned that a taxi from Furore to Amalfi could cost as much as 50 euros and 100 euros to Salerno. We took an early morning bus for a few euros to Salerno to catch the train. It was easy in MARCH but still took almost 2 hours.