Anyone do the Amalfi Coast on their own?

I've been starting to research a cruise for next year. One of the ports is Salerno, which I cannot find much information on. We were lucky enough to do a two week tour of Italy about 25 years ago, visiting Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii. We have not been to the Amalfi coast, and I finally found a better map showing that it is very close to the Salerno port. I have read that the places to see along the coast are Positano and Ravello, and maybe Amalfi.

I know that there are private tours, but wondering if anyone has done these places on their own. It looks like there is a bus and ferry service between each of these places. We will be in port from 7 AM - 7 PM, so it seems like we should have enough time. Would love to hear real world experiences, especially if we would truly have time to explore on our own, and how the transportation is between those towns. And of course, what you liked seeing best in each of those places.

Thanks.

There are ferries right along this coast. Here’s a link to the webpage about the ferries. You can just change the ports at the top to suit. https://www.naplesbayferry.com/en/t/salerno/positano.

We used them to go from Amalfi to Positano in July. Straight forward and cheap.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

You can get a day pass for the bus for about 8 euros which will take you along the Amalfi coast. Lovely trip (although can be a bit scarey!). Info here: https://www.ravello.com/sita-bus-schedule/

Salerno is a great port for the Amalfi Coast.

There are two ferry docks in Salerno. Molo Manfredi is right near the cruise port but there are only a few ferries a day to/from there: http://www.alicost.it/en/orari-e-prezzi/

There are many more ferries from the Concordia dock, which is about a mile and a half away on foot. There are buses that run between the two but if you're up for it, it's a nice walk along the waterfront. Ferries from Concordia: https://www.travelmar.it/

As a general rule be careful about web sites that end in .com and are written in English, they are almost always third party sites, their information may not be up to date and if they sell tickets there will be an upcharge, sometimes significant.

You can get a day pass for the bus for about 8 euros which will take you along the Amalfi coast. Lovely trip (although can be a bit scarey!). Info here: https://www.ravello.com/sita-bus-schedule/

The day pass for the SITA bus, called Costierasita, is now 10 euro.

There is also a new ticket called Costiera Terre & Mare (land and sea) for 13 euro. With this you get one Travelmar ferry trip in addition to the full day of bus use.

https://www.sitasudtrasporti.it/contenuti/Campania/bigliettiabbonamenti

Thanks for the info. I'm more likely to want to take the ferry, as I get carsick, and the twists and turns really get to me.

It looks like now, the earliest ferry is just before 9 AM. How many stops do you think it's wise to make in the time we have available? And how many hours should we spend at each stop? I know everyone wants to do different things, but how long do you need to get a feel for the town?

If you're only going to travel by ferry that limits the set of possibilities.

Generally it's a good idea to head to the furthest point first, which would be Positano. The beauty of DIY is the flexibility, if you find you love Positano you can simply stay there and enjoy the day. On the other hand, if you run out of interest you can easily jump on a ferry to Amalfi.

If you stop at Amalfi I’d recommend getting the open-top bus up the hill to Ravello https://www.city-sightseeing.it/en/city-sightseeing--amalfi-coast-amalfi/ravello/

When you get off the bus & walk up towards Ravello, you walk through a tunnel. Straight after the tunnel is the entrance to the Villa Ruffolo. The gardens of the Villa & the views from them are well worth seeing - absolutely gorgeous. https://www.ravello.com/attractions/villa-rufolo/

There is another Villa in Ravello with lovely gardens called Villa Cimbrone, but we didn’t get to it as it was a bit of a walk and it was very hot.

Here are a few photos of Villa Ruffolo & the views from it

Sent from my iPad using Forums

It looks like now, the earliest ferry is just before 9 AM.

What time does your ship arrive? Alicost has departures from Molo Manfredi, right at the cruise port, at 7:50 AM and 8:40 AM.

Travelmar, the one a bit further away at the Concordia dock, doesn't have a first departure until 8:40 AM.

If you stop at Amalfi I’d recommend getting the open-top bus up the hill to Ravello https://www.city-sightseeing.it/en/city-sightseeing--amalfi-coast-amalfi/ravello/

When you get off the bus & walk up towards Ravello, you walk through a tunnel. Straight after the tunnel is the entrance to the Villa Ruffolo. The gardens of the Villa & the views from them are well worth seeing - absolutely gorgeous. https://www.ravello.com/attractions/villa-rufolo/

There is another Villa in Ravello with lovely gardens called Villa Cimbrone, but we didn’t get to it as it was a bit of a walk and it was very hot.

Here are a few photos of Villa Ruffolo & the views from it

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you. I'm adding all of this info to my notes. I was wondering how to get to Ravello by ferry. I didn't realize it was that close to Amalfi. Is it a long ride from there?

What time does your ship arrive? Alicost has departures from Molo Manfredi, right at the cruise port, at 7:50 AM and 8:40 AM.

 

Travelmar, the one a bit further away at the Concordia dock, doesn't have a first departure until 8:40 AM.

I did look at the link for Alicost you provided yesterday, and could not figure out how to get the website translated into English! Our cruise should be docked 7 AM to 7 PM, and we're very good about making full use of our time in ports. We're also good walkers. We just returned from a Baltic cruise this summer, and according o my phone, we walked between 10 and 13 miles each day.

It's sounding like if we get off the ship right away, we could take the 7:50 AM departure to Positano (not sure how to read that from the website), spend some time there, and then take the ferry over to Amalfi, where we can then take a bus to Ravello. Then reverse and take the bus bake to Amalfi and the ferry back to Salerno. Seems doable.

And as far as Alicost, they seem to be much more expensive for the ferry. Any idea why?

The bus to Ravello took about 20 minutes, because there is a ‘one-way’ section of road controlled by traffic lights. The wait at the lights can be 5 minutes, so if you’re lucky it would be a bit quicker.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

It's sounding like if we get off the ship right away, we could take the 7:50 AM departure to Positano (not sure how to read that from the website), spend some time there, and then take the ferry over to Amalfi, where we can then take a bus to Ravello. Then reverse and take the bus bake to Amalfi and the ferry back to Salerno. Seems doable.

 

And as far as Alicost, they seem to be much more expensive for the ferry. Any idea why?

It's interesting, Alicost only sells tickets to Capri which accounts for the higher fare. They stop to pick up in Amalfi and Positano on the way and I assume you can get off there but I can't say for sure. I wouldn't question it except that the fares are only to Capri. I looked through their general transport conditions (helpfully published in English on their site) and I don't see anything about not being able to disembark at each stop but I would ask first: http://www.alicost.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ENG_condizioni-generali-di-trasporto.pdf

Given that there is some question about this I would get off immediately and head to the Alicost ticket booth and ask about getting off at Positano or Amalfi, assuming you are willing to pay the higher price to get there earlier.

If the answer is no, or if you don't want to pay the higher price, walk on to Concordia and get the TravelMar ferry.

Bus isn't a reasonable option, the first one you could make would be the 8 AM, arriving to Amalfi at 9:15 (unless you happen to be there on a Sunday when there is a 7:30 bus). The TravelMar ferry would get you there at the same time but it's only a 35 minute ride vs. 75 minutes on the bus: https://www.sitasudtrasporti.it/archivio/Download/corse/sitasud/Campania/Salerno/b62b2456-0c28-4c67-ab47-f7b9be904bbe_5120_5070_5110_5020_estate.pdf/0

The bus to Ravello took about 20 minutes, because there is a ‘one-way’ section of road controlled by traffic lights. The wait at the lights can be 5 minutes, so if you’re lucky it would be a bit quicker.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Just for clarity for future readers, the 20-minute ride is from Amalfi to Ravello. From Salerno, which is where I started out last May, it was well over an hour.

Just for clarity for future readers, the 20-minute ride is from Amalfi to Ravello. From Salerno, which is where I started out last May, it was well over an hour.

Yes, you’re right. We got the bus from Amalfi to Ravello.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Euro cruiser, Host Grandma Cruising, and cruisemom42--thanks you all so much for your help.

As it turns out, we will be in port on a Sunday. I know the bus is less expensive and takes longer, but I'm most hesitant to do that because of the roads and getting sick (especially if I will be standing over someone!) When I look at the private tour excursions that do the same itinerary that we plan to do, they charge 500 euro for the two of us!!! They do say their excursions take 8 - 9 hours. I think that even if we need to leave later because of the ferry schedule, we should be able (I hope) to do everything that we wish to do, and still make it back to the ship in time.

Of course, we're not planning on going until next year, so schedules can change in that time. I'm just excited that it does seem feasible to do this on our own. I'm sure I'll have many more questions as the time gets nearer.

Our ship docked in Salerno on a Sunday a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to have a more adventurous day, but since it was August (busy tourist season) and Sunday (more limited transportation options) we voted for a more limited day.

(My original plan was to take the ferry to Amalfi, bus to Ravello, hike down to Minori and then ferry back to Salerno.)

We were provided a free shuttle into town from the cruise ship. From there we walked to the ferry terminal. We were able catch the 8:40am ferry (at least I think it was the 8:40am, but it seemed like it left closer to 9). It was packed!

We chose just to go to Amalfi for the day. We wandered around the town, up and down the pier, poked in some stores, stopped for a snack and then decided to head back. It was VERY hot, and normally we do a lot of walking, but a half day or so was enough for us.

I did see some golf carts heading out of town advertising a Lemon Tour. I found the store advertising it, but they said it would require phoning to see if any reservations were available. If I'd known about that ahead of time I would have looked into it. So...I can't add any info other than it exists.

We did have some lemon gelato that was awesome!

I'm sure we could have made much more of our time, but the heat just drained us. The views from the ferry were really enjoyable. We didn't do anything in Salerno other than walk to/from the shuttle stop to the ferry terminal. It was a very nice walk along the water though.

We were a group of 7, and in hindsight, my sister thought we should have booked a private boat for the day to take us to Amalfi, and then stop and swim on the return.

Another note...

When we got off the ship, there were people handing out maps of Salerno.

Our shuttle bus driver identified where on the map the shuttle bus dropoff/pickup was, and it was very straight-forward to find the ferry dock.

I did see some golf carts heading out of town advertising a Lemon Tour. I found the store advertising it, but they said it would require phoning to see if any reservations were available. If I'd known about that ahead of time I would have looked into it. So...I can't add any info other than it exists.

Here is their web site: https://amalfilemonexperience.it/lemon-tour-2/

It mentions walking in the detail of the tour but reviews mention golf carts, so I'm not sure if this is the right one or not.

Positano is on slope. It is better to walk down then up.

From Salerno bus or ferry to Amalfi whatever works best time-wise. (U r more likely to get sea-sick on ferry than on bus BTW)

Local bus that starts from Amalfi to Ravelo. After visiting Ravello, walk down back to Amalfi.

Take bus that starts from Amalfi to Positano

Walkdown and enjoy as much you like.

Ferry back to Salerno

The above for a cruise stop.

(When on a land vacation, I have done the above from say 8 to 3 and then took the rain to Pompeii, walk the site in reverse direction and pickup CV train to Naples for dinner before taking regional train back to hotel late in he evening)

Salerno, IMHO is far superior base for Amalfi compared to Sorrento which is unnecessarily costly and overrun with fish-n-chip crowd