Rome to Almalfi City

When are you traveling? If you are traveling in the summer, you can take a fast train to Salerno, then catch the ferry right there and it will take you to Amalfi. That is what we are doing, but our destination is Positano. We are taking the Italo train out of tiburtina no termini, as the train gets in earlier, and we can catch the 11:40 ferry. The ferris stop running sometime in October. I guess it's beautiful, seeing the Amalfi Coast from the sea!

Both Italarail and Italo trains have english. I find Italo website much easier to navigate.

Trenitalia has a language choice option at the top of the page, click on the British flag. Train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale is 1.25 hours, then go downstairs to the Circumvesuviana station for the train to Sorrento, then outside the Sorrento train station are buses to Amalfi. Or, take the train to Salerno and ferry or bus back to Amalfi. The Circumvesuviana runs every 30 or 40 minutes, takes a little more than an hour to get to Sorrento. On the bus (leaves every hour or half hour depending on time of day), sit on the right hand side. Amalfi is the last stop. Be sure to visit Ravello.

Italo probably has English language option as well, and now has some trains leaving from Roma Termini.

Trenitalia has a version in English as well. The only thing you have to remember is to enter the to/from destinations in their Italian names - although if you start typing in the boxes, a drop-down appears to choose the one you want. Rome's central station is Roma Termini; Naples is Napoli Centrale; Salerno is just Salerno, etc.

So you'd want a train from Roma Centrale to Salerno:

http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD

Ferry times from there to Amalfi are here:
http://www.coopsantandrea.com/en/servizidilinea/servizi_b.asp?id=1

Alicost also has a coupe of ferry runs:
http://www.alicost.it/?page_id=202&lang=en

If for some reason you can't use the ferries (wrong time of year/bad weather) you can take a SITA bus from Salerno:

http://www.sitasudtrasporti.it/archivio/Download/corse/sitasud/Campania/Salerno/3b678683-ef88-41b8-af55-b6baa88fe17c_QUADROXV_2015_ESTATE_B.pdf/0

Pompeii on the way to Naples is a little tougher. I'd like to send you on a ferry to Sorrento but can't find service from Amalfi before 11:35 AM (arriving Sorrento 12:50) and from there you'd need to take go to the train station and take the local Circumvesuviana to Pompeii. That train will not be found on the Trenitalia site: I've included the schedule near the bottom of this post.

http://www.alicost.it/?page_id=202&lang=en

To leave earlier, you could take the SITA bus to Sorrento, and the train from there:

http://www.sitasudtrasporti.it/archivio/Download/corse/sitasud/Campania/Salerno/29b6e52b-5251-48a7-bca2-68048bbf2b19_5070_ESTATE.pdf/0

The Circumvesuviana schedule is below: you want to get off at Pompei S. Villa Misteri - which is right in front of the entrance to the ruins. There is a left-luggage office near that entrance.

http://www.eavsrl.it/web/sites/default/files/allegati/Orario%20Napoli%20Sorrento%20con%20Pozzano%20e%20Scraio%20e%20viceversa.pdf

From there, you get back on the same train to Napoli Garibaldi station. Tickets for that train are inexpensive, as are tickets for the bus. The ferries will be more expensive.

Do you suggest purchasing ferry tickets beforehand? We want to get on the 11:40 ferry and the next one after that doesn't leave for 3 hours later. Our train gets in at 10:50. I know it's just a short walk from the train station, but it will still be high season in the middle of September. I don't see where you can purchase at the first link though. I tried emailing them months ago with another question and no response. Other ferry sites have a purchase option.

Wish I had a good answer for you, Lulu. We didn't make reservations when we used the jetboats when there in the fall (October). It doesn't look like Coop Sant'Andrea sells advance tickets online - and maybe because they really aren't needed - but If you're nervous, you could try calling them at +39 089 873190?

I think there is an alicost service around the same time. They can be booked online.

Alicost runs posted are sort of sketchy. The one possible late-morning run they show from Salerno at 11:05 has an asterisk, which, on the ITALIAN version translates to "Changed to Amalfi". Without a lot more information about exactly what that means, I wouldn't necessarily bank on that one.