Matera-->Salerno-->Amalfi town-->Naples: Does this sound okay?

You don't mention a month or time of year but assuming you're talking about off season in Amalfi this should okay.

Do Paestum from Salerno, Herculaneum from Naples and Pompeii from either. Schedulewise it would make more sense from Salerno since you have one more day there than Naples.

Ferry (or bus) to Amalfi from Salerno and then ferry (or bus) back and train to Naples or do AC > Sorrento > Naples if you want to do ground transportation through Sorrento. I think the coast is best seen from the water so I would always recommend the ferry although you need to consider luggage - especially in high season.

The ferry dock is just a few minutes down from the train station in Salerno. So you will be taking the train or a ferry every day so stay within easy distance of the train station. The 1km pedestrian street Corso Vittorio Emanuele heads north from the train station and ends in the old town with all the restaurants. Stay within this area and you'll be fine.

You're planning a lot so you will be busy every day under this plan but if that's what you want you're okay. Don't miss the Naples National Archaeological Museum while you're there.

Have a great - if very busy - trip,
=Tod

So sorry. Around May 10-16. Thanks.

If it were me, I'd delete the stay in Amalfi and add 1 night each to Salerno and Naples. You can get around the Amalfi Coast easily from Salerno by bus and ferry. There are more (and better) restaurants in Salerno and Naples than in Amalfi. Although I highly recommend allotting an hour or so for to-die-for pastries at Sal de Riso in Minori. It's an easy train ride from Salerno to Naples, no point wasting time going with luggage to and from Amalfi. Go to Paestum by train or bus (I had a car). I believe the bus stops closer to the temples than the train. Another option is to hire a driver for the day and stop at Vannulo buffalo farm for fresh mozzarella and wonderful gelati and cannoli on the way. The archaeology museum in Paestum is worth visiting. The temples are expecially lovely as the sun sets and then they gradually uplit as it gets dark. Better on a weekday, check when the museum is open. Visit Pompeii and Herculeum from Naples. If you are only there for 2 nights you may not have time for both. I found I wanted a lot of time at Pompeii and it could eat up an hour or more going from one to the other (the local Circumvesuviani "train" - metro really) can be crowded and delayed. IMO the archaeology museum in Naples is a must-see (doesn't matter before or after visiting the ruins themselves). If you have time, the RS walking tour of Naples is quite good, begins across the street from the museum. I'd recommend staying within walking distance of the central train station or close to a metro station for easy access to the ruins and the metro to get to the museum and/or other sights in Naples.

You didn't precisely say that you are flying home from Naples and not from Rome. Is that correct?

Note that Herculaneum is a 10-15 minute downhill walk from the Circumvesuviana, while Pompeii is right at the Circumvesuviana stop, and perhaps 1/2 mile from the Trenitalia (... Salerno) station. Pompeii has hot food inside, Herculaneum has no food inside. You cannot exit and re-enter either of them.

Having been there the last week in May, I would expect everything to be hot and crowded by the 15th of May. When we walked by the Sorrento bus stop for Positano/Amafli, there were always more people waiting than would fit on the next, half-hourly bus. So I presume the ferries are also crowded. We only took a ferry to Capri. We hired a car and driver for 8 hours on the AC, from Sorrento. Auto traffic is very slow on the two-lane road along the AC.

Thank you for all the good info. Yes we are flying home from Naples.
I think the suggestion to just stay in Salerno and Naples sounds like a great plan.
Yes, I think the entire 6 1/2 weeks I have planned will be pretty busy but I have learned how to take time and just relax at a cafe and people watch. One of my favorite things in all of Europe is the cafe society.
Thanks again. I am sure I will have more questions as the plans come together further. Regina

Leaving April 1 and ready to go! Per suggestions here we are spending our last 7 days with 5 in Salerno and 2 in Naples. Flying out of Naples. Its going to be a crazy several weeks but we can adjust as needed. Thanks for all the help. Regina

With such little time in Naples, I would see Pompeii from Salerno, which just requires a longer walk from the train station. Since Herculaneum is smaller and closer, I’d consider that a toss up as to whether to visit from Naples or Salerno. That gives you almost a full day in Naples to see what you want to see there.
You’ll need to look up how to do the path of the gods hike from Salerno the most efficiently (unless someone here chimes in). An easier one is to take bus or ferry to Minori/Maiaori and you can walk all the way to Ravello from there (and beyond—path of lemons plus). You can also ferry to Amalfi and do a few hikes roundtrip from there.
Paestum is a snap from Salerno.

I suspect there are many excellent variants on 7 nights from Matera to flying home from Naples that work.

In 2024, we took that trek with 6 nights. We spent two nights in Pisciotta (by car, from Lecce via Matera to Naples and immediately dropping the car) …followed by 4 nights in Naples, with day trips to Pompeii and Ischia.

Whether your priorities are historic sights, spectacular scenery, quiet towns, off-shore islands, thermal springs, or food - you can organize the many variants, accordingly. Crowd avoidance may or may not be important to you, though some “musts” (for you) may make crowd avoidance impossible, e.g., Pompeii.

We chose Pisciotta on the Cilento coast as a quiet alternative to the more crowded and probably more spectacular Amalfi coast. Between Pisciotta and dropping the car drop-off just before our first night in Naples, we visited the Tenuta Vannulo buffalo cheese farm and Paestum. (The farm is just 4 miles or so from Paestum and should be visited in the early morning) Both were great. Our final full day was a lovely day trip to Ischia.

To help our 2024 planning, I found the Lonely Planet pocket guide to Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast - which also covers Salerno, Paestum and the entire Cilento region as well as the Bay of Naples islands - was very useful. So was https://www.italia.it/en/campania

We also received a number of good ideas from this forum at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/naples-and-environs-suggestions-per-favore. Take a look.

If we had one more day, it could have been well spent with (a) a longer visit to the Cilento region for hiking or (b) a two-day/one-night stay on Ischia. And, in hindsight, I would have spent more than four hours at Pompeii (at least if the weather had been nicer). Also, in retrospect, I would have visited other sights in Naples than the Capodimonte Museum. We were both VERY glad we went to the Archaeology Museum in Naples before we toured Pompeii. And we were quite comfortable with the decision to use the spendy Gaetano as our guide to Pompeii. My frugal wife felt the money was well spent.

Private message me if you’d like our trip report.

LATE NOTE. We actually had some cool and wet weather in late April, though the gods smiled on us for our last day at the end of April - 72 degrees and sunny for our day on Ischia.