May 2022 Amalfi Coast suggested itinerary for 7-12 days using public transportation

Pre-covid, it was important to give the month of the year for any questions about the AC. Since places like the UK are still delivering large numbers of visitors to the AC, you can assume crowding in high seasons. We also need to know what you want to do with the car. Are you visiting beaches every day? Where are you before and after the AC? Are you going to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Capri, or other places for daytrips? Are you likely to rent a car anyway? Do you want to eat dinner in a different town than you are sleeping? Have you ever used public transportation in your life and travel?

Do you understand that most of the top AC towns are connected by a single, two-lane road? The road is also used by busses that can't make all the turns without slowing or stopping at the worst curves. Stoppages are also caused by drivers who believed that their fine skills would permit them to enjoy the views while driving, but discovered that (aside from Instagram ... ) that was not quite true.

Typically no, not recommended
Free parking shouldn’t be the reason either
Parking anywhere else on the coast will be difficult

Time of year, plans while there, driving experience in Italy are all important things to know

We need to know time of year and your plans while in the area, but in general, no.
EDITED: Above response was to original question about driving on the AC. The question has been revised.
Ronipride, do you want to stay at the same hotel in Vietri, or did that just inspire the trip?
Are you flying into Naples?
If I had seven days, I'd spend 2-3 on Capri and the rest on the Amalfi Coast, with time in Naples at the end.
With 12, I'd just spend longer in each place.
You can travel among the villages by ferry and bus. RE Pompeii and Herculaneum, you can visit from Sorrento or Naples, or you can get there reasonably easy if you stay in one of the mainland-end Amalfi Coast villages, like Vietri. Paestum is best visited likewise from the mainland end villages or from Salerno or Naples.

While we’ve driven it in April and October, I don’t recommend it at other times. As mentioned above, congestion on this road will not save any time as you can’t go any faster then the busses. Parking can also be difficult.

Here are the two means of transport.

Busses run 6:30am-10pm.
There are two main hubs. Sorrento and Amalfi.

https://www.positano.com/en/bus-schedule?
timetableroute=sorrentopositano_amalfi

Ferry. Again 2 main hubs. Shorter schedule.
To lengthen you’re travel day, take the ferry there and the bus on return to your lodging.

https://www.travelmar.it/_download/orari-travelmar-settembre-2021.pdf

Not knowing how long you plan on being there and where you wish to stay makes it hard to recommend an itinerary.

Ah! So you have seen the light as far as driving is concerned.

I am sure Vietri sul Mare is lovely but it does not have ferry service.
https://www.positano.com/en/ferry-schedule

It does have bus service
https://www.positano.com/en/bus-schedule?timetable_route=amalfi_maiori_salerno#section-schedule-result

It's very close to Salerno so your best bet is probably a bus or cab to Salerno to pick up ferry there to other points on the coast.

Where will you be flying in to and out of?
If Naples or Rome- take direct train to Salerno then cab or bus to your lodgings.

You will want to be IN the city you are departing from the night before your departure flight.

Might be easier to chose a different more accessible place to stay- I'd recommend Sorrento for a few days then move to a coast town- Amalfi (transportation hub) for a few days.

While in Sorrento visit Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum
While in Amalfi- visit Positano, Ravello

Do your overnight in Capri in between those stays.

Paestum is easiest from Salerno- local train- so maybe a night or 2 there at beginning or end of your trip.

We split our 9 days like this:
Sorrento 4
Amalfi 2
Ravello 1
Salerno 2

Yes Christine, I’m good at taking advice! Thanks to you and all who responded! Thanks also for the itinerary! We are just in first stages and appreciate your recommendation for staying in other locations!

Vietri does have ferry, but it is likely more limited:
https://www.travelmar.it/en/index
It also has a train station--that was how we traveled to Pompeii, but we stayed in the smaller village of Cetara.

Thanks Tim, Gerri and Valedelphia for your help!
I appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge, experiences and the transportation links! We are not set on a city or hotel so this is all great info!

Oh! thanks valadelphia

If you can fly into Naples then do it, if not fly into Rome. I would take a train to Salerno and sleep there a couple nights and make Salerno your base to see Paestum for the day (30-minutes by direct train). I would then take a ferry to Positano and sleep there to explore the coast.

Amalfi has better transportation connections than Positano. We stayed in both and preferred Amalfi.

(After Topic was revised on OP)

Your desire is reasonable, but you need to understand that taking day trips on the AC is not like taking daytrips from Berlin or even from Venice. I'm going to omit consideration of more than one hotel, but there are (IMHO, mistaken) travelers who want to change hotels more than is technically necessary. BTW, some hotels in Positano are hundreds of stair steps from the nearest road.

Even in high season, many busses on the AC run only half-hourly. Unless you are experienced with public transportation, you may find this frustrating. SITA, the public agency, basically runs a route from Sorrento to Amalfi, and another one from Amalfi to Salerno. So the full trip requires a change of bus. Our host, Rick, points out in high season that the many people returning to Sorrento from a day in Positano can be unpleasantly shocked when their bus fails to stop in Positano because it was already full to the gills when it left Amalfi.

Ferries are another solution, but they are less frequent, subject to weather cancellations, and can fill up and leave you without transportation. I have had trouble downloading full schedules in advance of a trip. Remember that this is SOUTHERN Italy, and .... infrastructure ... can sometimes be sketchy.

If you have never lived in a city,you may be unfamiliar with "two seats rides." If you sleep in Amalfi, Pompeii or Herculaneum are "two seat rides." You have to go to the tobacconist, buy bus tickets and (maybe in Amalfi, I don't know) CIrcumvesuviana tickets (certainly in Sorrento) and change from the bus to the train in Sorrento. (This can also be done via Salerno, but it's a different train company, and the Pompeii stop is much farther from the actual excavation site.) Ravello is always a two-seat bus ride, unless you are already in Amalfi.

I am not in favor of your buying the alumni trip, but this is a case where the local transportation provided may be of substantial value. Not $$$$$ value, but convenience, planning, and comfort value. Just a thought, not a prescription. I once bought an expensive alumni trip for several 2017 art festivals in different cities. I don't have any financial stringencies, but I thought I got what I paid for. I would also observe that many places (like Capri and Ravello) are highly pedestrianized. It's worth something if the college trip provide the closest possible mini-bus to things you want to see. We were only in Ravello briefly, but I would have been interested to see the landmark architecture Concert Hall built for their annual music festival. I doubt that it's hard to get into the Villa Cimbrone gardens (paid admission), but if you're doing it on your own, you need to check on "timed tickets" (???) before you go there.

OTOH, Capri is SO pedestrianized that if you can walk unlimited distances, it can be more convenient to do it on your own. It's easy to walk 5-10 miles in a full day visit to Capri. Just worth noting, our (late May) ferries to and from Sorrento/Capri were absolutely full, with hundreds of passengers. There was zero on-deck/open-air seating or standing. And our return ferry left from a dock 1/4 mile from the dock where we arrived. So check that before you walk back to same spot you departed from.

If you ferry to Capri from Sorrento, your ferry company will pressure you to buy the timed return ticket in advance. I recommend that you do so, to assure a spot on the boat. Also, one ferry company will not tell you that you could leave Sorrento 45 minutes sooner if you went to the competition's ticket office! The Sorrento marina is either a substantial walk (a nice one) or a bus ride from the Cirvumvesuviana stop.

ronipride-

Once you settle on your itinerary and decide where you'd like stay we can help you sort out all of your transportation options of which there are many- bus, ferry, train, taxi, private driver.
We used a combination of all of those- except for taxi.

If you haven't yet- do get the RS Italy guide, there is a lot of info in there about visiting the Amalfi coast area. I believe there is also a pocket version specifically for Naples/Sorrento/Amalfi.

Good info here as well:
https://www.sorrentoinsider.com