Transport from Puglia to Amalfi Coast

Changing trains is very common.

Where are you actually starting your drive? Is it Bari?

I don't know anything about driving conditions across southern Italy, but I can tell you that Matera in Basilicata is a fascinating place, so I'd hit ViaMichelin.com to see whether I could make it work as my overnight stop. In theory it should add only about 45 minutes to the driving time between Bari and Salerno.

The consensus on this forum seems to be that ViaMichelin's driving times are usually more accurate than Google Maps' times, but are still somewhat optimistic. There have been some recent negative comments about Michelin's routings, so it would be good to compare its driving directions to what you see on Google Maps.

Yes, I'd start from Bari. I do plan to visit Sassi di Matera but it's too short of a stop between Bari and Amalfi Coast. I plan to stop in between around 2 hours driving because if I ended driving to Salerno, I'd still have to travel with the ferry across and calculate my arrival time before the ferry. Driving Salerno to Amalfi seems to take longer than ferry too and I'm not sure the rental car could be dropped off there or not

Hi acraven,

Now I think Sassi di Matera is a good option since it's in direction to Salerno too. So I could spend the day there and stay overnight then continue the next morning driving to Salerno. It's still quite a long journey still approximately 3 hours almost direct driving to Salerno. Someone recommends me Castelmezzano, it's very pretty sitting on top of the Dolomites in Potenza region and halfway closer to Salerno too. But I could not leave my suitcases in the car trunk whilst visiting Sassi di Matera unfortunately.

In regards to Sassi di Matera, are the accommodations have parking there? or we need to park in public parking and walk to the accommodations? we have to count this in as we'd bring 2 large suitcases with us and I don't think Sassi's pedestrian is the smooth asphalt one. Any recommendation of the accomodation?

I can't help you with parking or lodging in Matera, unfortunately. As I recall, the sassi area is below the level of the modern city, which could well be where you'd need to look for parking. There's some sort of bus service, I believe. I wouldn't want to have to move heavy luggage up out of the sassi area under my own steam.

Expecting to find a direct train with no changes from Bari to Vietri is a bit far fetched. I also wish there was a train that picked me up across the street and took me wherever I need in California.
Bari to Vietri is less than 3 hours on a freeway. I don’t see the need to stop overnight. That is very drivable in one shot. Even going from Vietri to the curvy Amalfi coast won’t add more than one hour to the overall trip.

Matera is a detour. So if you want to visit you should spend the night there. Traffic and parking is restricted in the Sassi area, so choose accommodations accordingly.

Most ferries stop at Salerno, Amalfi, Positano. Some (Travelmar) also stop at Cetara, Minori, Maiori.

In terms of safety southern Italy is very safe compared to North America. Obviously big cities like Naples are not as safe as smaller towns, just like Baltimore or Los Angeles are less safe than smaller towns. I lived half of my life in Italy.
My cars have been burglarized at least 6 or 7 times in California and never in Italy, if that makes you feel better. I’ve never been robbed in Italy, and I have never known anybody who has. I can’t say the same thing about the US. Most of the people I know have been mugged at gun or knife point at least once, but of course I live in a large metro area.