Getting to the Amalfi Coast means picking one of three doors — Naples, Sorrento or Salerno — and deciding whether the last leg happens by sea or by road. The rule of thumb is simple: the ferry is almost always faster, more predictable and cheaper than the bus, and infinitely less stressful than a car.
This page collects the published fares for buses, trains and ferries, taken from the operators' own price lists, along with real journey times, the number-plate calendar and parking prices in Amalfi and Positano. At the end comes the part almost nobody writes about: what happens when the sea gets up and the ferries stay in port.
The fares in one table
| Route | Mode | Price | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naples airport → Sorrento | Curreri bus | €10 (€18 return) | about 80 min |
| Naples → Sorrento | Circumvesuviana (EAV) | €4–5 | 50–75 min |
| Sorrento → Napoli Garibaldi | Campania Express | €15 | about 60 min |
| Naples → Salerno | Frecciarossa / Italo | from about €20 | 37 min |
| Naples → Salerno | Regional train | from about €6 | about 60 min |
| Rome → Naples | Frecciarossa | from €24.90 midweek | 1 h 07–1 h 10 |
| Salerno → Amalfi | Travelmar ferry | €12 (children €6) | about 35 min |
| Salerno → Positano | Travelmar ferry | €17 (children €8.50) | about 70 min |
| Amalfi ↔ Positano | Travelmar ferry | €10 (children €5) | about 25 min |
| Salerno → Maiori / Minori | Travelmar ferry | €10 | — |
| Salerno → Cetara | Travelmar ferry | €7.50 | — |
| Sorrento → Positano | Alicost / Alilauro / NLG | €18–23 | about 40 min |
| Sorrento → Amalfi | Alicost / NLG | from €20 | about 60 min |
| Naples Beverello → Sorrento | Alilauro / SNAV / NLG | €15–20.50 | 40 min |
| Naples Beverello → Positano | NLG / Lucibello / Alicost | €27.50–34 | about 1 h 30 |
| Amalfi → Capri | Alicost | €23 (€43.50 return) | about 50 min |
| Salerno → Capri | Alicost | €25.50 (€49 return) | — |
| Coast buses, 24 hours | COSTIERASITA pass | €10 (€12 including Positano) | — |
Ferry fares from the tariff published by Travelmar and the price list from Alicost. Travelmar tickets already include Salerno's €1.50 port tax; extra luggage costs €3 and pets €5. On Capri there is a €5 landing tax from 1 April to 31 October.
From Naples airport
Molo Beverello: hydrofoils leave from here for Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Amalfi.
The Curreri bus to Sorrento. Eight departures a day from Capodichino, with sources agreeing on 09:00, 12:00, 16:30, 18:00 and 19:30 and disagreeing on the rest. The fare is €10 one way and €18 return; the direct run takes about 80 minutes, calling at Pompeii on request, Castellammare, Vico Equense, Meta, Piano and Sant'Agnello. You board in the coach area beyond the taxi rank and get off at Sorrento station, in Piazza De Curtis. The ticket desk is outside Terminal 1 arrivals, 06:30–20:30. Suitcases go in the hold, which makes this the sane choice straight off a flight.
There is no public bus running direct from the airport to Amalfi or Positano. Anyone promising otherwise is selling a private transfer. The two real alternatives are Curreri to Sorrento and then a SITA bus or ferry, or the NLG shuttle from the airport to Molo Beverello and a hydrofoil.
By train
From Rome the Frecciarossa reaches Naples in a little over an hour: the rest of the journey is best done by sea.
Rome–Naples on a Frecciarossa typically takes 1 hour 07 to 1 hour 10 minutes, Italo 1 hour 13; there are more than a hundred fast services a day, leaving Rome from 07:00 to 22:35. Advance fares start at €5–15, the typical midweek fare at €24.90. The full comparison of coach, train and two nights on the coast is on the Rome to the Amalfi Coast page.
Naples–Salerno is 37 minutes by Frecciarossa or Italo, from about €20, with 119 direct trains a day; the regional service costs from about €6 and takes around an hour. Getting off at Salerno is the most underrated move of the lot: the station is three hundred metres from Molo Masuccio, on Piazza della Concordia, where the Amalfi ferry leaves.
The Circumvesuviana Naples–Sorrento, run by EAV, leaves Porta Nolana and Garibaldi below the main station roughly every half hour, first train between 05:36 and 05:39 and last around 22:14, taking 50–75 minutes depending on stops. Sources differ on the fare, between €4.00 and €5.00: budget €5. Validate the ticket before boarding: the fine quoted is €50. Be warned that this is a busy commuter line with no luggage space, so it is a poor fit for two large cases.
Campania Express, EAV's tourist train with reserved seats calling at Ercolano, Pompeii, Castellammare, Vico and Sorrento, runs to a seasonal timetable that opens in late March and costs €15 one way between Sorrento and Napoli Garibaldi. It does not run all year: in 2026 EAV suspended it from 1 October, refunding tickets dated after 30 September, so check the calendar in force on the EAV site before you count on it. Outside the season only the ordinary Circumvesuviana remains.
By ferry, the right way to move around
Coastal ferries link Salerno, Amalfi and Positano from late March to late October.
Travelmar covers Salerno–Vietri–Cetara–Maiori–Minori–Amalfi–Positano; Alicost, Alilauro and NLG add Capri, Sorrento and Naples. The first Salerno–Amalfi sailing is at 08:40 and the last at 18:00; Salerno–Positano runs from 08:40 to 17:10; Amalfi–Positano covers 08:40 to 20:00 in high season.
Travelmar's practical rules: arrive 15 minutes early, free luggage up to 45×35×20 cm, free online cancellation until 24:00 two days before. If a sailing is cancelled you can take the next one or claim a refund within seven days using the form on the website, credited within fifteen working days less bank charges.
The piers, in the order you are likely to need them:
- Salerno, Molo Masuccio / Piazza della Concordia: coastal Travelmar and Alicost services, 300 metres from the station.
- Salerno, Molo Manfredi: cruise terminal and Alicost, Alilauro and NLG departures, 2 km from the station, city buses 5 and 6.
- Amalfi, Molo Pennello, Via Lungomare dei Cavalieri 74: five minutes from the cathedral, ticket booths on the quay.
- Positano, Spiaggia Grande: a single jetty in front of the beach, reached on foot down stepped lanes.
- Sorrento, Marina Piccola: all the hydrofoils; the lift from the Villa Comunale costs €1.00 one way and €1.80 return.
- Naples, Molo Beverello: Municipio metro, in front of the Maschio Angioino. Calata Porta di Massa, for the island car ferries, is a kilometre further on.
- Capri, Marina Grande: funicular up to the Piazzetta, €2.50.
Each departure point has its own page: from Naples, from Salerno and from Sorrento, with timetables and local products. Cruise arrivals have a separate page, cruise passengers, because the timings they have to hit are different.
By SITA bus
The SITA lines are the only public road transport on the whole coast.
Two routes cover almost everything: the 5070 Amalfi–Positano–Sorrento and the 5120 Amalfi–Maiori–Salerno, stopping at Atrani, Minori, Maiori, Cetara and Vietri. The Amalfi–Agerola service, Bomerano stop, is the one for the Sentiero degli Dei (Path of the Gods) and takes about forty minutes.
Indicative journey times: Amalfi–Positano about 50 minutes, Amalfi–Ravello 30, Amalfi–Salerno 90, Sorrento–Amalfi 90. In high season, add whatever the traffic adds, which can be a great deal.
Tickets are not sold on board: buy them in bars and tobacconists displaying the SITA sign, or through the Unico Campania app. The 24-hour COSTIERASITA pass costs €10, or €12 including Positano's local buses, and pays for itself on the second leg. Last services run around 22:00. Prices for the individual distance bands are not reliably published.
By car: number plates and parking
ANAS reissues the order for the alternate number-plate scheme (targhe alterne) every year, covering the forty or so kilometres between Vietri sul Mare and Positano from 10:00 to 18:00. Season after season the pattern is much the same:
| Usual period | When it applies |
|---|---|
| 30 March – 6 April | every day |
| 25 April – 2 May | every day |
| 1 June – 31 July | Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays |
| 1 August – 30 September | every day |
| 1 – 31 October | Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays |
The exact start and end dates move by a few days from one year to the next, so check the ANAS ordinance in force before you set off. Even plates on even dates, odd on odd. Exempt: motorcycles and scooters, residents of the thirteen coastal towns plus Agerola, blue-badge holders, taxis and licensed private hire, hotel guests on check-in and check-out days with proof of booking, and workers and property owners with certification. Note that a hire car picked up at the airport gives you a plate you did not choose.
Parking in Amalfi. The municipal Luna Rossa garage, at the mouth of the tunnel towards Atrani, has 170 car spaces and 30 for motorbikes: €4.00 an hour from 1 June to 30 September, €3.00 from 29 March to 31 May and from 1 October to 2 November, €2.00 in winter; the long daily rate is €20, rising to €25 in August. It takes no LPG or methane vehicles and has a two-metre height limit. The harbour car park on Piazza Flavio Gioia costs €3–6 an hour.
Parking in Positano. The private garages on Viale Pasitea charge €4–7 an hour and €25–30 a day according to the tourist board, though other guides report €8–12 an hour and €50–90 a day at peak. Municipal blue-line bays cost €3 an hour or €8 a day. If you are happy to come down by bus, you can leave the car free at Nocelle or Montepertuso and take the local service, around €1.60.
How to spend less
- Buy the €10 COSTIERASITA pass if you expect more than two bus legs in the same day.
- Use the ferry instead of a taxi: Amalfi–Positano is €10 against a far higher price for any road transfer.
- Take the regional train from Naples to Salerno, from about €6, if you are not in a hurry: you lose twenty minutes and save fifteen euros.
- Book Travelmar tickets online and use the free cancellation up to two days ahead, rather than risking the queue at the kiosk.
- Leave the car in Salerno or Sorrento and travel by sea: between parking and the plate rule, a car on the coast causes more problems than it solves. The alternatives afloat are on the Amalfi Coast boat tours page and, for driving yourself, under boat rental.
Putting it all together
From late March to late October everything runs: ferries, buses, tourist trains. From November to March you are left with trains, SITA buses and a handful of sailings, and the coast becomes a slow place where a car makes sense again, because the plate restrictions do not apply.
If you have a single day and want to see the coast from the water without organising anything, a package with transfers solves the problem at source: the boat trip from Sorrento to Positano and Amalfi handles the land legs too, while the day from Naples with a boat trip covers anyone sleeping in the city. For a full two- or three-day itinerary, start instead from trip planning and the overview of the Amalfi Coast.
Knowing how to get to the Amalfi Coast comes down to taking the sea whenever it is available and the road only when it is not. Fix the crossings first and the hotels second: check what excursions are available and build the day around the first departure of the morning.
