Talked husband into train!!

There are many different types of trains from Salerno to Naples. The one at 9:30 is a Regionale for 4.30 EUR each. No reservation. At 9:52 is a Frecciargento fast reserved train that costs 17 EUR walkup price. At 10:33 is an Intercity reserved train with a 11 EUR walkup price. They are all pretty fast and nonstop, from 33 to 42 minutes. I'd go with the Regionale.

Curious to know your day plans. Are they ... ??
15th Paestum
16th Amalfi / Positano
17th Pompeii
18th Naples

Well...we may have become pretty loopy with all the back and forth...but our "plan" is to take train into Salerno on June 14 - arrive around 11. Stay in a Hotel right in Salerno for three nights. What are we doing while there?? I want to see Ravello and Positano. My husband wants to do the Amalfi coast (by ferry?) we arrive in Naples on the 17th. Want to do Pompeii. Other than that...

Leave for Rome on the 18th, leaving around 7pm.

What was your husband's alternative to train? Driving? I'm not sure it's a good idea to drive in Naples for someone who's not used to total absence of any traffic laws.

"Leave for Rome on the 18th, leaving around 7pm."

Just curious, why are you travelling so late in the day? Normal hotel check-out time is about 11:00, so what are you planning to do with your luggage all day while you're touring. While most hotels will store luggage, that means you'll have to make time to retrieve it and then get to the station.

"We still think we want to go to Naples on June 16 - leaving late, around 10."

Does "around 10" mean 22:00? If so, same question as above.

Just wondering, do you have a special reason for staying 3 nights in Salerno to visit the Amalfi Coast? For me, the best reason to be in Salerno is to visit the wonderful Greek temple ruins in Paestum, about 30 minutes from Salerno, if you are interested in those. (Although I myself visited both Salerno and Paestum as an easy day trip by train from Naples.) To visit all the places you mention -- Ravello, Positano, Amalfi and the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Pompeii -- most people base themselves in Sorrento, a charming and relaxing town, with easy transportation to all the other spots you list. Also, rather than the hassle of changing lodging to spend just one night in Naples, you could travel from Sorrento to Rome in under 3 hours. Especially with 6 people, I would want to limit changing hotels as much as possible, and especially eliminate one night stays. For what that's worth.

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll have a better time there without a car.

Pompeii is probably easier from Naples than from Salerno. You take the local Circumvesuviana train which stops just a few meters from the entrance. If you do that, combine it with a visit to the National Archaeology Museum in Naples (by metro from the train station).

There is luggage storage at Pompeii and at the Naples train station. So you have options to see it on the way between Rome and Salerno or between Naples and Salerno, either round-trip Naples/Pompeii or private transfer Pompeii/Salerno. You could conceivably manage it without staying overnight in Naples, either stay in Rome on the 14 and take an early train to Naples on the 15th or stay in Salerno on the 17th, leave early for Pompeii and still take the late train from Naples on the 18th.

For your late-night arrivals, are you staying in a big hotel with 24-hour reception desk ? Smaller B&B's like to close down around 7 pm and may not have staff available for late check-in.

Again, many thanks to all of you. We have already booked the train into Salerno. We can always decide to only stay there one night and move to Sorrento... We will leave that open ended. We have checked with all of our hotels and we are able to check in late. We are trying to travel primarily late in the day so we can get as much sight seeing in while there is light.

We based in Salerno for five nights in March of last year, and never regretted it. A beautiful small Italian city of 110,000, it will be much less chaotic than trying to maneuver on the Amalfi Coast. Additionally, it would be pretty tough to get anything of decent value in Sorrento at this late date.

By bus, each way it is 1 hour to Amalfi, 1+ to Ravello, and 2 hours to Positano--catch the bus where it originates right next to the Salerno train station, or on the main drag towards the A.C., Corso Garibaldi. Sorrento and Capri will be very difficult on a day trip because of time expended to get there & overall congestion that time of year. FYI there is a bus change at Amalfi to go to Positano. OR...there of course is the ferry or hydrofoil available. Not as wild & crazy as the bus ride, but certainly beautiful.

Paestum, Naples and Pompeii are all less than an hour by train from Salerno, but note that the train will let you off at Pompeii town station, a pleasant 20 minute walk to the southern Navona entrance of the ruins. Do spend at least 4 hours there, it is spectacular and not to be missed. And as Chani says, not a bad idea to bookend your Pompeii visit with a visit to The Archeological Museum in Naples another day. We didn't get to visit and wish we had.

Back in Salerno, in the Old Town there are fantastic shops, a 11th century Duomo with relics, and dare I say better food than on the A.C. A pre-dinner walk on the lungomare by the sea is wonderful, followed by a Margherita pizza at Pizzeria Trianon, the best pie I've had in Italy to date, for a cost of all of 6 Euro. The original Trianon started in Naples in 1929. You have made a wise choice.

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you everyone SO much! We leave in one week! Can't wait!

I would stick to Salerno, since moving hotels takes time......I was in Salerno for only 4 nights last year, and you can definitely do all the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Paestum, Herculaneum, and Pompeii from there.....there are a few SLOW trains that go through Herculaneum, but not frequent, so you would need to check the schedules on that....

I think you have chosen well, and the coast is better from the water anyways!