Step-by-Step Guide to Getting to the Amalfi Coast

No doubt, the Amalfi Coast is the most beautiful place I've ever visited. The Amalfi Coast is all the romance of Italy combined with quaint villages along endless gorgeous cliffs and crystal clear waters. It is truly a magical place...what isn't so magical is the trek to get there. There are many logistical components when traveling to the Amalfi region, so this topic deserved it's own post. I apologize in advance that this post will not be the most entertaining to read. If you don't care how we got there, skip on over to the the Amalfi Coast blog post to read about the fun stuff! My hope is that this step-by-step guide helps you plan ahead better than I did, avoid the mistakes we made, and help you get to the Amalfi Coast with little-to-no stress.

**Disclaimer: I do not think the way we got there was the best, easiest, or most convenient way to go. I will share what we did and then share what I think would be the best way. Learn from our mistakes!

Step 1: Planning Before your Trip

Planning ahead will allow you to avoid the headache and save a dollar or two. The night before leaving, the anxiety kicked in because up until that point I had the "we will figure it out when we get there" mentality...mistake. Take the time to get organized because it'll make your life so much easier and your route to the Amalfi Coast stress-free.

Step 2: Getting to Naples

Josh and I took a nonstop flight ATL—> Rome FCO. Once we landed, we headed to the train station in the FCO airport and bought train tickets to Naples. First Mistake: we should’ve flown into Naples. Taking the train to Naples not only added roughly 2 additional hours of travel, but it was costly. Second Mistake: we should’ve pre-booked tickets to Naples to avoid the up charge on the day of. It roughly costed us €70 per person to get to Naples.

Step 3: Getting to Sorrento

From Naples we took the Circumvesuviana. Although it was slightly sketchy, taking this train was the easiest and cheapest way to get down to the Amalfi region. The Circumvesuviana starts at the Naples main station and ends in Sorrento. We were staying in Sorrento for 2 nights, so this worked out well for the first leg of our trip. It costed us €3,80 for a one-way ticket. There is a “nicer” train with AC and is faster that was €9 one-way. We would’ve considered this option, but there weren’t many times that that train was running. Here is the Circumvesuviana schedule; it also has information on the nicer train.

Step 4: Getting to Praiano

After Sorrento, we were staying in Praiano for 2 nights. They heavily rely on the bus system in the Amalfi region, but this can be confusing and frustrating, just a heads up. We ended with taking a sightseeing bus from Sorrento to Praiano, but we were mislead. Mistake #3: we should’ve taken the local bus. It was cheaper and would’ve brought us exactly where we wanted to go. Do not take the sightseeing bus. It is overpriced (€10/one way ticket) and had very limited stops, so once we arrived in Praiano, we still had to take a local bus to get to our hotel. This site

had the most information about the bus systems. There are two buses that run that differ in pricing and schedules...hence the confusion!

Step 5: Getting Back to Rome

After several days there, we had to make our trek back to Rome...this time we learned from our previous mistakes, so we took the main bus from Praiano to Sorrento, Circumvesuviana-> Naples, and the train from Naples -> Rome. It was a long day. Roughly 5 hours of travel.

Overall travel take aways:

-If you are going to Amalfi, I would recommend you stay in one city the entire time, rather than multiple cities in the area. All of the little towns along the Amalfi coast have buses that run between them, so having a “home base” and taking day trips from there is what I would recommend! Although I loved Praiano, if I were to do it again, I would stay in Sorrento and take day trips from there.

-For stress free travel, I would recommend booking a private transfer from Naples to your town of choice. This is not the most cost effective option, but it saves time and the headache of taking public transportation with all of your stuff.