We (3 adults) will be traveling from Ravello to Florence next month by train. I'm not sure which station, and/or which town we would depart from. We want the quickest route possible. Also, would it be less expensive if we bought our tickets on-line prior to our trip (in Oct.) or purchase them at the train station?
Thank you!
The closest train station is in Salerno. There are a couple of direct high speed trains from Salerno to Florence each day and many more options with changes, generally in Naples. The base fare from Salerno to Florence is 69 euro, slightly higher if you must take a second train from Salerno to Naples. You may be able to purchase a 29 euro super economy fare or a 39 euro economy fare on the TrenItalia website. Be sure you can get from Ravello to Salerno in time for the train you book, as your refund and exchange options on the discounted tickets will be either none or very limited.
To get from Ravello to Salerno, you can take a local bus or taxi to the bus station in Amalfi and take the train to Salerno. This means you will be traveling south in order to eventually go north. Otherwise you can take the local bus or taxi to the bus station in Amalfi, take the bus from Amalfi to Sorrento, take the Circumvesuviana to Napoli Centrale and then the train to Florence. A third alternative would be to take the local bus from Ravello to the Amalfi ferry dock and take the ferry to Napoli (and the the train to Florence) but this would take more time and the port in Napoli is rather far from the train station.
The town of Amalfi does not have rail service. As Frank said, the closest train station is Salerno. To get to Salerno from Ravello, you'd take a local bus (or taxi) from Ravello down the hill to Amalfi (25 minutes), and then catch a SITA bus from Amalfi to Salerno (1 hour 15 minutes). The SITA bus stop in Salerno is next to the train station. Going via Naples would be far more complicated and time-consuming than going via Salerno.