Amalfi Coast: Geography And Transport

By Author: Nella Sera
Total Articles: 3
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The Amalfi Coast is the name given to the coastline that runs for about 80 kilometers from Salerno to Positano on the South side of the Sorrento Peninsula, near Naples, in Southern Italy. Often people mix Amalfi with Sorrento but the two are really very different as much as they are very close to each other. Sorrento faces on Naples’ Gulf, on the right of the Vesuvius Volcano whereas the Amalfi Coast is sheltered by the Monti Lattari and faces South towards the natural reserve of Cilento. The sea and the coastline is thus substantially different between Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast: the former has very steep cliffs, and very few beaches, whereas from Amalfi to Vietri sul Mare there are many beaches of different sorts. Each town has one or more beaches, some can be reached by land and tend to be quite crowded in summer, but other can only be reached from sea and are very secluded even on busy August days.

There are many ways to reach the Amalfi Coast, North from Sorrento or South from Salerno. Choosing where to start from or where to go in the Amalfi Coast depends on the type of transport that we are using to ...
... tour Italy, on the things that we want to see on the Amalfi Coast, and on the length of our tour in Italy and specifically on the Amalfi Coast. The closest airports are that of Naples, Capodichino and Salerno’s Costa d’Amalfi, however the latter is very small and mainly runs national flights. This option could be useful on a greater tour of Italy, after a stop in Venice, or somewhere else in Northern Italy, there are two flights a day from Milan Malpensa to Salerno and the Amalfi Coast is just a few kilometers away.

On the other hand Capodichino airport in Naples serves many more destinations in Europe and worldwide and is also just an hour away from the Coast. Lastly there is Rome’s airport Fiumicino, which Italy’s biggest hub and is only three hours away from the Coast. In this case it useful to catch a train from Fiumicino to Rome and then to Naples, which can take from 1 to 3 hours with a wide ranges of prices, allowing everyone to tailor the trip to their needs. Also this is a good occasion for a brief stop in Rome before heading to the Amalfi Coast!

From Naples there are various ways of getting to the Coast by train, to Salerno in about an hour on national rail and then to your specific destination by bus or renting a car. Otherwise there is an city line that from Naples Piazza Garibaldi takes to Sorrento, here there are bus lines that cross over the Mount Lattari and allow you to visit the Amalfi Coast West to East. In summer there is also a sea taxi service which links Naples with the Amalfi and Positano. This option is as easy as local train, but although being slightly more expensive it is surely more entertaining and relaxing. Indeed the urban line from Naples to Sorrento tends to be either very crowded with Neapolitan tourists or with commuters.

In case you are up for an even greater tour of Italy, all the way down the Southern regions, it is worth taking a look at boat services from and to Sicily and Sardinia, which would allow you to have a tour of some of the seaside locations of Italy.