Driving from Amalfi Coast to Venice

well, I wouldn't choose to do that, but since you will have a lot of luggage it may work out for you.....I know it will be long....

but with that amount of luggage, I would hire a car to Salerno (since it is the largest close place to the coast) and pick up a rental car or the train....both are very central.....

Sorrento or Palermo would be the best options to hire a car (both are just outside Amalfi Coast). It is a bit under a 800 kilometer, 9 to 10 hour drive mainly on the autostrada. It will cost you 54Euro in tolls, plus around 90Euro in fuel, plus car hire.

Do you intend to return the car in Venice? If not you will also pay a hefty parking fee there.

www.viamichelin is an excellent resource for car trip planning in Italy.

It takes 9h-10h driving, realistically. It is an all-toll highway trip. Highways are in excellent conditions, but tolls are high.

The fastest train connections between Salerno and Venezia S. Lucia take 6h15 with one transfer in Roma or Bologna, depending on your specific schedule.

Thank you for the information. We will be on a tour of Venice, Florence and Rome in Sept 2016. Due to sheduling issues we can't visit Amalfi at the end of our trip that ends in Rome unfortunately. Not knowing when we will get back to Italy I'm contemplating flying in to Rome and going to the Amalfi coast for 3-4 days on the front end of our trip then making the trek to Venice to begin our tour on Sept 11, 2016. I certainly understand its not ideal but I do believe it is doable for us.

bc,

If you can get to one of the towns with a rail station, using trains would be MUCH quicker (and a more efficient use of your expensive holiday time). For example, if you travelled from Salerno, there's a departure at 09:12 arriving Venezia Santa Lucia at 15:35 (time 6H:23M, one change at Roma Termini). Both legs of that trip are via Freccia high speed trains which travel at up to 300 kmH, and NO car can match that.

If you can commit to specific train, date and departure time, you can pre-book tickets online. With the Super Economy tickets, you'll save a lot so this would also be the least expensive option.

Driving will certainly be doable.
Although I would opt for a train for the reasons Ken gives. How do you propose to get to the Amalfi from Rome? If luggage is an issue for you in terms of catching the train are you intending to drive that leg as well?

The reason I ask is that if you have a car while on the Amalfi Coast, make sure you have access to parking at your hotel and be prepared for busy, narrow roads that less confident drivers sometimes find stressful.

Rather than flying into Rome, use a Multi city flight. Fly directly into Naples, fly home from your last city.

Take the Curreri Viaggi bus to Sorrento. Airport in Naples is very small, bus is right outside terminal. Time to Naples 1H15min.
Cost for trip E10. While Sorrento is not the AC, busses, ferries and trains make it easily accessible.
If you plan to drive, there are rental agencies in Sorrento. Fairly easy 20-30min. access to freeway.
Use Kemwel or Auto Europe for rentals. The other option, would be a car hire...VERY expensive!
Is there any way you could do 2 carryons and 1 large suitcase.

Thanks to all for the information. Gerri, I think I will take your advice and fly in to Naples instead of round trip to Rome. Have a good bit of time to work out the details.

Don't know what I was thinking the other night, easiest way for you to make your way to Venice would be to take the Curreri Viaggi bus back to the airport, then fly Easyjet to Venice. Flight takes 1H15m.

Any chance you could cut down on the luggage and make it easier on yourself? I don't know your situation, but lots of us here on this site do 4-6 week trips with one carryon. It seem strange but is actually quite doable.

Gerri
Thanks for confirming what dawned on me this morning. We will fly into Naples the go hack to Naples after amalfi and fly to Venice.

James, thanks your your comments. We are flying business class and my thoughts mirror yours. I admire all those reading and commenting that they can travel light and I know Rick Steves would be terribly disappointed in my wife and I lol. But we enjoy how we travel

I always check my bags because I just don't want to have to deal with bags in airports, but for this trip coming up I am trying to strategize how I can get the most easily manageable bags and the most space (for the San Eustachio that I will be taking home, among other things).....but I really think it is simpler and less stressful if you only take as many bags as you have hands (excepting maybe a messenger bag or the like that you could swing).....I am taking the most reasonable bag possible and a LARGE timbuk2 messenger bag....

When I moved to Italy for 2 years, I had 2 suitcases and my carryon, and came back with 3 suitcases and a backpack....getting between my house and the airport (and the 6 hour crisis I had in the airport) must have been amusing for somebody to watch, buses, trains, and even those luggage carts! whew!

Bcstivers,

We will be on a tour of Venice, Florence and Rome in Sept 2016.
I believe we will have two large suitcases and possible 1-2 roller carryon bags

Make sure you confirm with tour company & airline (Naples to Venice) regarding your luggage limit/capacity.

If you are still contemplating a car rental (and I realize that you seem to have decided to take the train or fly), be SURE you rent a car large enough to hold all of your luggage in the trunk, so it can be out of sight when you make stops. The car rental websites show how much each size is rated to hold; take this seriously, and err on the side of caution (getting a car one size larger) if in doubt. Otherwise, you'll have luggage visible in the back seat. For my recent trip to Sicily, my friend and I rented a car that was much larger in the passenger compartment than we needed, but the trunk space was just enough for our two carry-ons, two checked bags (24 inches), his CPAP machine, etc.

Thanks again for all the helpful comments. I believe plane, train, or rental car can work for us so I now have some specific directions thanks to your input to decide which will best suit our needs based on our finalized itinerary.

Just make sure you learn how to speed only between the cameras.

This is terrible advice for driving in Italy. It is the recipe for hundreds or maybe a few thousand Euro in fines waiting for your some months after your trip ended!

Italy is the European country with the most widespread network of section speed control, meaning they use two sets of cameras, 1 to 10km apart, with OCR capabilities. Camera 1 reads your plate, camera 2 reads your plate again some minutes later, a computer calculate your average speed over the sector and you get a ticket if your average speed on the controlled sector exceeded the limit.

Most tolled autostrade these days actually have this system in place. It is called TUTOR.

Speed limits in Italian highways are quite generous. The blank limit is 130km/h, and many sectors with a decent number of curves or grades still have 110km/h limits.