Traveling to the Amalfi Coast in April/May 2020-transportation?

Sorrento is not on the Amalfi Coast, which is further south. Those towns are described on www.positano.com. For transfers we use Sorrentocars; there are others. From Napoli Centrale to Positano they charge €160. Ferries:

http://www.travelmar.it/downloads/orari_travelmar.pdf

I would recommend taking the train from Rome to Salerno (which is actually on the AC :-), then bus or ferry to wherever you decide to stay. The buses start at the train station. The ferry pier is a 10-minute level walk.

Note that if you stay in Ravello, you will have to take the bus to Amalfi to get anywhere else (or hike down) and much of Positano is uphill from the ferry and main road. So you may need a taxi from the bus stop or ferry pier.

Of course, hiring a car (I assume you mean a private driver, not a rental car) from Salerno is an option and could be a good way to go. At that time of year, from what I've read, the roads aren't too crowded and the views are beautiful.

Ah, yes Salerno, that is what I meant (as far as location)--my apologies. Thank you so much! I will investigate these companies. And yes, we intend to hire a driver, not drive ourselves. But my husband says he does want to visit Sorrento, so there's that, as well.

Some general information:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-for-5-days-where-to-set-base-from

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/how-do-i-get-from-pompeii-to-positano-is-there-a-direct-route

Hi a friend of my mother’s has recommended Damor car service , she has used this company twice in the past two years, and was very pleased. I am going to Sorrento in September , and will be using them for a transfer from the Naples train station to a hotel in Sorrento. Contact info ... [email protected]
Phone # +393924744679. Enjoy your trip!

Thank you!

My wife and I visited friends in Switzerland this April / May and flew to Naples for a Mon-Fri side trip.
** I'll give info on Salerno to Positano in this story.
** but if I give some of the story, I may refer people to it later

We arrived at Naples Monday around 10. We planned on taking the transfer bus to the train station and take the train to Pompeii. In the terminal, we saw a display/ad for a bus that goes fromthe airport to Pompeii to Sorrento - I think it is 10 Euros each.
We figured it wasn't much more than the cost of the bus transfer and we'd get to Pompeii quicker.
The problem - the bus DID get us nearly there quickly. It exited the freeway and was in the left lane, signaling for a left turn. The traffic was backed up and the driver got impatient; he got in the right turn lane, turned right, pulled over and said all the Pompeii people should exit - he didn't get us to the site. We pulled our luggage for 1/4 - 1/2 mile to the site.
NOT a user friendly bus company.

After Pompeii, we walked the the Pompei train station - a long way. (faster to walk than to wait for a taxi - and the taxi wnats a longer fare). We took the train to Salerno.

Back at the Naples airport, we had purchased the 3 day ArteCard that gives 'free' entrance to two sites and 50% off thereafter, plus free public transportation between those sites. 32 Euros each.

SO our Monday - Wednesday trains and site visits were covered.
Monday - Pompeii train to Salerno - all covered
Tuesday - Paestum bus there, train back - all covered
Wednesday - Naples Archaeology Mus. (1/2 price) - round-trip train - covered

Now to Positano
Thursday, we took a ferry to Positano.
I believe there are two ferry companies. The one (relatively) south of the train station has
1) direct ferries from Salerno to Positano and 2) some that stop at Amalfi first and 3) and I think some that have several stops.
We took a direct ferry out-bound and came back via Amalfi on the return.
I'd guess that the direct boat took up to an hour.

Why did we go stay in Salerno?
Paestum was a goal for us and was a great ancient site - We've been to Athens and Rome and the fun thing with Paestum was the ability to walk into two of the temples.
Salerno has easy access to Naples, Paestum and the Amalfi Coast.

Pompeii was a bit "out of the way" for Salerno.
Given that each day trip has travel time, I think that "staying at Positano" means "I want my main activities to be on the Amalfi Coast" - I would think that a day trip to Capri (one ferry ride away) would be way more efficient than most other day trips. So Salerno fit into our plans better.

Our time in Positano consisted, mainly, of taking a bus up to Montepurtuso (sp) and hiking down the 1500 steps, back to Positano. There are wonderful vistas and eating at a restaurant with a view would be nice, but we haven't caught the allurement of region for staying there a prolonged time (yet).

A good Youtube channel is nicki positano
found at https://www.youtube.com/user/nikinpos
She lives high in Positano and does videos of the region.

You talked of "hiring a private car" but the cost is quite high. You only have two of you to amortize the cost over.
The trains are inexpensive - 4.7 Euros to Salerno from Naples and the ferry is about 12 Euros each

Thank you so much for all of this! Very helpful! We will surely add Paestum to our must-see list.

Sorrento isn't on the Amalfi Coast, although it is quite close. I used Sorrento as a base to explore the whole region and found it pretty easy.

In the spring of last year I did a 11 day Italy trip starting in Rome. I took a Flixbus down to Sorrento, which was actually very easy and quite cheap. The Italian trains I have found to be quite crowded and not always timely and from Naples to Sorrento the Circumvesuvianna can be extremely crowded and prone to petty crime, so you should be quite careful.

We used Sorrento as our home base for a couple days and explored Sorrento the first day, hopped on a ferry to Capri the second day, day three we took the circumvesuviana to castellemmare then to a bus bus (could take a taxi, but we were on a budget) to the trail head to the Path of Gods and hiked our way to Positano and took a very convenient bus straight back to Sorrento, and day four we went to Pompeii. There are ferries that can also take you to other towns on the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento, but you should look a schedules because it being April they may have slightly more limited services.

Edit: train to bus for Path of Gods, not two buses

Thank you. We've always taken the train, though never in this region, and hadn't considered the bus. We will definitely look into that.

There are direct trains from Rome to Salerno so you don't have to change trains in Naples. The ride takes about 1.5 hours and you get reserved seats - no crowding.

From Salerno you can go to Paestum by train or bus. I've read that the bus stop is closer to the temples than the train station. Choose a day when the archaeology museum is open. The temples are especially attractive in the late afternoon sun but sunset's around 7.30 so that may be too late for you. If you hire a car/driver, consider stopping at Vannulo Buffalo Farm for fresh mozzarella (order in advance, they sell out), and superb cannoli and gelati.

Thank you! The mozzarella/gelato stop sounds like a nice diversion. We are fond of the high-speed train/direct option. Thanks for confirming it is an option there.