Day trip from Rome to Amalfi Coast

It's possible but will be a very long day spent looking out of train and ferry windows. Train to Naples. Change to Circumvesuviana commuter train to Sorrento. To get to and from Amalfi or Positano take a ferry. Reverse to return, OR take the ferry from Amalfi to Salerno and train from Salerno to Rome.

Is it possible to do a day trip from Rome to Amalfi Coast or Sorrento or Positano? It depends on how you define possible. Ya. it is possible but why would you do it? It is all travel with 30 minutes on the ground. I would not do it. If it is that important to you then cancel two days in Rome and spend it on the coast. Or save it for your next trip and spend three or four days in the area.

Fast Train to Salerno 3 hr
Ferry to Amalfi ( town) 40 min?
(Port is 10 min walk from station)

That would be fastest (almost 4 hours each way) most direct route to AC
Ferries will be canceled if inclement weather
Then you’d take a bus to Amalfi of hire a driver

Forget Sorrento which is not on the Amalfi Coast and is a bit of a pain to get to

Forget Positano. Not worth the trouble and time it takes to get there

Would I do it?
NO

Have you read this recent post on such a trip?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/private-day-tours-from-rome-to-amalfi

It is logistically possible to travel to/from in a day, but questionable if it would be enjoyable.

With only 6 days in Italy, you can use your limited time much better than spending most of a day 'riding' to/from somewhere

From the thread linked above- this is a very good suggestion. If seeing the AC is of such great importance then budget the cost of a cheap hotel in Salerno and head down the night before,

Posted by Marco Miami 05/13/24 09:52 AM 307 posts Report

A day trip from Rome doesn’t work, but this may. The night before take
a late train to from Rome to Salerno and spend the night in an
affordable hotel (don’t check out of your Rome hotel). Take the 8am
ferry to Positano. Spend about 6 hours in Positano, Amalfi and
Ravello. At about 4pm return to Salerno and take the train back to
Rome. You would get the great coastal views from the ferry and a good
amount of time in the towns.

Just fyi, there IS a train station in Vietri, but I have searched recently and it is not particularly in operation that I can see.....and even if it were, the train to get there would be slow beyond all reason (I have taken that train in the past to and from Herculaneum and Pompeii), so no need for it....

otherwise, the folks here have it.....it's not that much worth it.....even from Salerno a visit to Amalfi/Ravello is all I want to do that day before going "home" and doing "nothing"......it wouldn't be fun at all from Rome....

If money is no object, you can hire a car : Silverstar Sorrento recommended by RS. We used them to drive us from Sorrento to Rome one way. They were excellent. We also used them for a day to drive us along the Amalfi Coast.

One aspect to consider is how much money you want to spend per person-say $50 or $150 or $200? It may be helpful to look at Google Maps; This is not a good way to plan specific travel purchases, but it does give a good idea of actual distances, and modes of travel. Do you want to see Pompeii, or just the Amalfi Coast? Do you live in an American coastal area, which probably has better beaches and warmer water?

But even with Google Maps, it's hard to see that, starting at your hotel, it's at least "three seats" on public transportation just to get to Sorrento at the lowest possible cost. And that's not even "on the Amalfi Coast" yet. From at least May to September, more people line up for the bus in Sorrento for Positano or Amalfi (town) than will fit on the NEXT half-hourly bus! The cheapest and slowest train takes three hours to get from Rome just to Naples, as does a car - even a luxury private tour car. Then you change to the hot, crowded, gritty Circumvesuviana commuter train for an hour to Sorrento. The high-speed train from Rome to Naples (not to Sorrento) is just over an hour, but it's more expensive, and advance-purchase discounts mean no changes, no refunds, purchased departure time only.

Even some organized tours use that Frecciarossa special train service, because a car or bus takes sooo long to get there. Are you willing to spend a minimum of four hours to get to Positano? It seems to me like you have better things to do with 6 days in Italy. But it is your decision. We did not see Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast until a later trip to Italy.

It is possible to take a train from Rome to Salerno (not to Vietri sul Mare), but this is the far end of the Amalfi Coast, and not the reputedly "glamorous" part, like Positano, Amalfi, or Ravello. In summer, alas, those three towns are crowded and hard to get around in, or even, to get to. There is only a single two-lane road, curvy and slow-moving. If you want to take the (very cheap) bus from Salerno to Positano, it takes a long time, and you have to change busses in Amalfi.

This next link is actually about Pompeii, which is not as far as the Amalfi Coast is from Rome:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/pompeii-day-trip-from-rome-2c38f926-9036-480d-95fd-403dd7694e4a

Possible, but rushed. For context, we stayed in Sorrento for 2 weeks in Aprill 2022. One of the days we did a small group tour by car. In that 9 hour trip, 4.5 hours were in the vehicle. Transportation and traffic in the region is slow and unreliable. If you do it on your own I would recommend taking a train to Salerno and then check out the Travelmar ferry schedule to the Amalfi Coast areas you want to see. Better yet, consider a train to Naples and a ferry to Capri. We thought Capri was much better than the AC and the views were just as spectacular.

I agree with Tim, Salerno would be the way to go.....ditch any thought of Sorrento as it would just make your journey more difficult and it's not on the Amalfi Coast anyway.....fast train to Salerno, ferry to Amalfi (and you could then take another to Positano if you wanted), then ferry back to Salerno, fast train back to Rome....

I wouldn't think it was that fun with all the travel, but if you want to.....

The views are the best from the water anyway and the ferries are less stress than the buses :)

Consider taking the train from Rome to Salerno, spend one night in Salerno, and charter a boat for a trip up the Amalfi Coast to Positano and back to Salerno. Then take the train back to Salerno. My friends did this in June 2023. They kept their Air B&B in Rome, and found a hotel in Salerno for one night. As I recall, they made arrangements with the boat charter company for a ride to the train station.

Salerno is a lovely town with a beautiful lungomare.

https://www.blumediterraneosas.com/

I think you could accomplish this in one day.

Can you do it? Technically yes. Should you do it? No.

You can’t see everything. Enjoy what you have, which is a full day in or around Rome. This would be an incredible amount of time, effort and/or money to look at the ocean for a couple hours. Save it for another time.