Sorrento or Salerno

Sorrento is the best base in my opinion. I have made it mine 2x.
Perched on a hill overlooking the med sea with great connections by ferry to Capri, and stops along amalfi coast and Ravello. And if u just want to enjoy Sorrento and the evening stroll u are home. The ambiance of Sorrento is amazing.

We love Sorrento, too. And it's so easy to day trip to Naples, Pompeii, and Capri.

I think it depends on which villages you wish to visit.

Keep in mind Salerno is a city of over 100,000. It has a very nice midieval center, and good transport options, train, bus,and ferry. But, if your primary goal is to visit Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, or Capri you'll spend more of your 3 days getting around.

Bus and ferry schedules here.

http://www.positano.com

For trains use Trenitalia.com

The plus is you have great connections by train to Paestum, Pompeii, Ercolano, and Naples.

My vote would be for Sorrento. I fell in love with the town and could have stayed much longer.

Haven't been to Salerno but we have used Sorrento as our home base on 3 trips and love it. Easy to get to Pompeii/Ercalano, Capri, Positano, Amalfi town & Ravello. 2x we were here in July and last trip was in October. Of course the place is packed in the summer months but was also packed in Oct. We like to use the boats to get to Positano and Amalfi town and either take the boat back to Sorrento or the bus. Be aware that buses heading to Sorrento from Amalfi don't stop in Positano if they are already full. Not a big deal but we have had to stand on the bus from Positano to Sorrento. If you go to Amalfi town, and have time, take the short bus ride to Ravello. The views from Villa Cimbrone are stunning! Buon Viaggio!

Amalfi or Positano are even better to see....Amalfi and Positano.
Positano and Amalfi are smaller quaint villages. They are served by buses and boats. Both have boat service to Capri.

Sorrento is a bigger town. By bus it is close to Positano (Amalfi is about equidistant from both Salerno and Sorrento). The other advantage over Salerno is the proximity to Pompei and Ercolano, and island of Capri.

Salerno is a city, albeit not a large one. The advantage is that, being the main port on the coast, all boats to the Amalfi coast come from there. Buses also go to Amalfi.

I've stayed in both Salerno & Sorrento over the last couple years, 5 nights apiece.

If your Salerno apartment is on or near the lungomare with a view of the bay, and it is within walking distance to the ferry, the train station and the adjacent bus station, I'd say go for it--that's a helluva price. By bus, it's an hour to Amalfi and another hour to Positano after a bus change. Also from Salerno, it's an hour to Naples or Pompei, less than an hour to Paestum.

I loved Salerno. It's not manufactured, it's a working city of 110,000, relatively clean--especially compared to Naples--the Old Town is charming and the restaurants great. Not a lot of tourists stay there (although the cruise ships are stopping there with more frequency) so you get more of the real Italy by staying in Salerno.

Sorrento is definitely for tourists, which is not a bad thing. It has its own charm, I guess, and certainly history going back over 2000 years, but it's more a stepping-off point to the other A.C. towns and Capri.

That being said, for daytrippers it's fabulous. Again, stay near the train/bus station and you'll have easy access to any of the towns--Positano 45 minutes by bus, Naples 1 hour by CV train. We would visit these places, come back to Sorrento in the late afternoon, take a nap then enjoy a delicious dinner at any number of excellent, reasonable restaurants.

Enjoy your planning!

At Jay's recommendation, I stayed in Salerno this year for my first visit to the Amalfi Coast and I loved it. Thank you again, Jay!!

SEveral years ago I stayed in Sorrento and fell in love with it. It was an excellent base to visit Pompeii, Naples and Herculaneum.

This year, in February, I got to explore the AC for the first time. I think Salerno is a better base for that, since the most scenic part of the AC is from Positano to just before Salerno. There's not much to see on the road between Sorrento and Positano. The buses to the AC run from Salerno to Amalfi and from Amalfi to Sorrento. The ferries also go from Sorrento and from Salerno. The old town of Sorrento is up on the cliff, so you have to go down to the shore to get the ferry, or walk uphill to the train station for the buses. Salerno's old city and train station are right on the sea, so no hills to climb. It's easy to get to the buses and ferries . . . and the bus or train to Paestum too. If you want to see Pompeii, you can take the train to the new city of Pompeii, then it's about 1-1.5 km. to the ruins - walk or take a quick taxi ride.

Your decison-making has been skewed by the fact that Salerno has direct train service to Rome, no? That is not relevant to the real purpose of your vacation. The Amalfi Coast is desirable partly because it is a bit hard to get to. I will say that if were spending a week in a city with no beach, I would pick Salerno or Sorrento because they have good transit out of the city for daytrips. (The rock beaches on the A.C. have little interest for me, spoiled by white sand beaches a mile long, in the Carribean.)

Although people use the word "exploring" all the time, you do not yet understand how tedious it can be to get around the A.C. on a daily basis. You need to do more research before you put down $1000 for a long-time room. Use the search box at top center for a past (last year, I think) post from two people who really liked Salerno. I had assumed it was too much of a local population center and not desirable for a vacation stay. They thought otherwise.