Can you do the Amalfi Coast without a car? Every travel blog tells you yes — and then sells you a fantasy. Buses arriving on time. Ferries gliding between pastel villages. A €10 day pass that solves every problem. Walking from town to town with a cone of lemon gelato.
The real version, in August, looks different. Two hours at a Positano bus stop watching three buses pull up full and refuse to open their doors. A taxi quoting €90 for a five-minute ride to Atrani because you missed the last ferry and there is no other way home. Tourists spilling off the kerb at Positano and into the road because the bus queue has nowhere left to go, and the spillover blocking one direction of the only road in or out of the Coast. A SITA driver telling you, calmly, that three different vehicles scraped his bus on the same forty-minute run from Sorrento.
None of this means you should rent a car. It means the opposite. The road is already broken in summer — your hire car just adds you to the queue, with a worse view and an Italian licence-plate rule that may stop you driving on half the days of your trip. The bus and ferry network covers everything you need, costs a fraction of a rental, and works almost perfectly for seven months of the year. You just have to know how it actually behaves when it’s full, which is the part no travel blog wants to tell you.
I have been doing this Coast carless since I was a teenager. The version below is the real one — what works, when it fails, and the local moves that turn the failures from disasters into inconveniences.
Should you rent a car for the Amalfi Coast? The honest answer
No. For almost everyone, no.
The romance is real on paper. A Fiat 500, the Amalfi Drive, the wind, the lemon groves. The reality between Easter and October is a single-lane road shared by SITA buses, full-sized tour coaches, scooters, locals’ Pandas, hire cars driven by terrified tourists who haven’t driven a manual in years, and at least one cyclist who shouldn’t be on this road. The buses are too big for the road in places. The tour coaches are bigger than the buses. When two large vehicles meet on a hairpin, there is a back-and-forth of reversing that involves every driver in the queue behind them and can hold up traffic in both directions for ten minutes.
Speeds drop to walking pace by mid-morning. Parking in Positano and Amalfi fills before 10am in season. Hotels charge €30–50 a night for parking that is often a 15-minute walk from your room. Side mirrors on hire cars get scraped almost as a matter of routine — rental companies on the Coast price the insurance accordingly.
There are four genuine exceptions where renting makes sense:
You are travelling November to March, when the Coast empties, the road relaxes, and driving becomes the pleasure the blogs describe. You are basing yourself in Ravello and want the flexibility to come down to sea level on your own schedule. You are heading inland or south past the Coast, into Cilento or the Campania mountains where public transport thins out. You are an experienced driver who has done Alpine roads in summer and is not arriving fresh off a transatlantic flight with jet lag.
If you are not one of those four, leave the car alone. If you are still weighing it up, our full guide to renting a car in Italy covers the part of the decision nobody warns you about until you’re already at the rental counter.
Driving the Amalfi Coast in 2026: the licence plate rule that kills your rental
This is the detail older blog posts have not updated for, and the single biggest reason to leave the car behind in 2026.
Since 2023, the Italian government has enforced an alternate licence plate system on the Amalfi Drive between Easter and 30 September. On weekends in June, July and September — and every single day in August — only cars with odd-numbered plates can drive on odd-numbered dates, and only even-numbered plates on even dates. The restriction runs from 10am to 6pm. Outside those hours the rule lifts, but those are also the hours you actually need to be moving.
The kicker: you don’t know your hire car’s plate number until you collect it. You can ask the rental desk to try to match a specific plate to your trip, but they won’t promise, and in summer there is a national shortage of rental cars that makes accommodating the request even harder. So you may arrive in Naples, sign the paperwork, drive to your hotel — and discover that half the days of your trip you legally can’t take the car onto the road you came here to drive.
Hotel guests with a confirmed booking get an exemption, but only on arrival and departure days, and only if you can produce the reservation when the police pull you over. Useful for getting to your hotel. Useless for day-trips. Public buses are exempt. Taxis are exempt. NCC drivers are exempt. Your rental Fiat is not.
Frommer’s covered the rule in detail in their 2025 update on the Amalfi Coast driving restrictions if you want the full source. The trend over the last three years has been one direction only — more restrictions, not fewer. By 2027 there may be no rental access at all on summer weekends.
The SITA bus on the Amalfi Coast: how it works, and the trick to always get a seat
The bus network is run by SITA Sud — until 2022 it was called just SITA, and you’ll still see the old name on tickets and printed schedules. It connects every Amalfi Coast town from Meta di Sorrento at the western end to Salerno at the eastern end, plus the spur up to Ravello and the inland route through Tramonti.
The ticket that makes the whole carless trip viable is the CostieraSita 24-hour pass. €10. Unlimited rides for 24 hours from first validation, on every SITA bus along the Coast. Buy it at any tobacco shop (look for the black sign with a white T), at the SITA ticket booth in Amalfi or Sorrento, or at most newsstands. Single rides cost €1.50–3.50 depending on distance — two journeys already make the pass worth it, and you’ll do more than two on any active day.
You validate the pass on the bus the first time you board, using the small machine by the driver. From that moment the 24 hours start. Subsequent rides you just show the pass. The validation step matters — inspectors do board the bus, and an un-validated pass is treated as no pass at all. The fine is €50–100 and inspectors don’t accept the “I just bought it” defence.
The routes that matter for visitors:
The Sorrento–Amalfi line runs the western half of the Coast, stopping at Positano, Praiano and the smaller villages between. The Amalfi–Salerno line runs east, through Atrani, Minori, Maiori, Cetara, Vietri sul Mare and into Salerno. The Amalfi–Ravello spur climbs up to Ravello and Scala. There is also a smaller local service Maiori–Ravello via Tramonti for the inland route.
In November to March the bus is the relaxed local service the blogs describe. It runs roughly on time. You always get a seat. The drivers are not stressed. April and October are similar, with manageable crowds.
May, June and September are workable but busier. By mid-morning the buses are full at the start of their routes, and from then on whether you board depends on whether passengers get off at your stop. You can wait through two or three buses before one stops with space.
July and August are the problem. The buses fill at the originating terminal — Sorrento, Amalfi, Salerno — and then run the rest of the route without opening their doors, because there is physically no room to take anyone on. Tourists wait at Positano for two or three hours watching full buses go past. The queue at the bus stop grows, then grows again, then spills off the kerb and onto the road itself. Once the queue is on the road, traffic backs up because there is only one lane left. The bus you are waiting for is now arriving even later, because it’s stuck behind the queue it’s trying to reach. The system eats itself.
This is not a once-a-summer story. It is a normal August afternoon in Positano. Travellers have reported losing half a day to a single bus connection. SITA drivers can’t fix it — they take it apologetically and keep driving.
The local trick: start where the bus starts.
If you are travelling east from Amalfi towards Salerno in summer, do not board at Amalfi. The bus arrives at Amalfi from Sorrento already full. Walk five minutes through the pedestrian tunnel to Atrani — flat, sea level, lit, used by every local — and board the Salerno-direction bus from there one stop later, when at least some people have got off. Better: ride the bus to Maiori, where the Salerno-direction service starts its run, and board it empty. Guaranteed seat, full luggage rack, no stress.
The same logic works in reverse if you’re going west. Boarding at Salerno or Vietri gives you an empty bus. Boarding at Amalfi gives you whatever space the people getting off have left behind. Boarding at Positano in August gives you nothing at all.
A second move: if the bus is not opening its doors, walk to the next stop down the road. Sometimes a single passenger gets off in between, the bus stops, and the driver waves three people on. It’s not guaranteed but it works often enough that walking 200 metres is better than waiting another hour.
A third: when the Coast is at its peak (mid-July, all of August, the week around Ferragosto), accept that the bus is not the answer between 10am and 5pm. Take the ferry instead. Use your bus pass for short hops the ferry doesn’t cover — Amalfi-Atrani-Minori-Maiori — and for evening connections after the ferries have stopped. The €10 is a sunk cost; treat it that way and stop fighting full buses in the middle of the day.
A note on safety: SITA drivers are professionals. The road is what it is — narrow, hairpinned, shared with vehicles that don’t fit. Collisions with tour coaches and oversized vans happen. Not catastrophic ones, but the kind where the bus stops, the driver and the other driver exchange information for ten minutes, and the journey resumes with a fresh scrape on the side of the vehicle. On a long August day a single bus can collect two or three of these. None of this is dangerous in the way it looks on the cliff edge — these are professionals driving a road they’ve worked for twenty years — but you will arrive with stories.
Amalfi Coast ferries: the better option from April to October
Three operators run the Amalfi Coast routes between roughly April and late October. Travelmar dominates the Salerno–Amalfi–Positano route. NLG-Navigazione Libera del Golfo runs the Sorrento, Naples and Capri connections. Alilauro runs similar routes to NLG plus Ischia.
In practice: every major Coast town has a ferry pier, and you can move between them faster than by bus. Salerno to Amalfi is 35 minutes by ferry against well over an hour by bus in summer traffic. Amalfi to Positano is 25 minutes by ferry versus often double that by road. Positano to Capri direct is 35 minutes — by the road-and-ferry combination it would be two hours minimum and you’d still have to take a ferry at the end.
Tickets at the dock in shoulder season. In peak summer, book the night before through Travelmar, NLG or Alilauro. Prices run €10–15 for short hops, €20–25 for longer crossings.
The Salerno pier trap. Salerno has two ferry piers and travellers regularly arrive at the wrong one with ten minutes to spare. Concordia is the smaller pier on the lungomare, on the city side. Travelmar departs from here for the Coast — Amalfi, Positano, the connecting hops. Manfredi is the larger commercial port, 800 metres further along the waterfront. NLG, Alilauro and the longer-distance routes use Manfredi. The two piers look similar enough on Google Maps that visitors often pin the wrong one. If your ticket says Travelmar and Amalfi, it’s Concordia. If it’s a hydrofoil to Capri or Naples, it’s almost certainly Manfredi but check the ticket. Allow extra time on your first arrival.
The honest part:
Ferries don’t run November to March. The Coast goes back to buses for the winter. Most operators tentatively start service in April and build the schedule through May; the full timetable is only reliable from late May to late September.
The last ferry of the day is the trap that ruins evenings. Most routes have their final sailing between 6.30pm and 7.30pm — earlier than feels reasonable when you’re sitting down to dinner at 7.30pm in Positano. You’ll read the schedule and not feel it until the evening you finish a slow meal, walk to the pier at 7.50pm, and find a closed gate and a chained-off ramp. The fallback is the bus, which by that hour is running but slow, or a taxi which will quote you a number you didn’t budget for. Plan dinners in the town you slept in unless you have a specific exit strategy.
Ferries also cancel for rough sea. The Coast looks calm from the cliff but the chop offshore can be enough to suspend service even on clear bright days. Cancellations are usually announced an hour or two before departure, posted at the dock, sometimes updated on the operator’s website. They are most common in spring, autumn, and on windy days in any season. Do not book a ferry as your return leg on the day you have to make a flight from Naples or Rome. Build a bus or train backup into your plan.
Walking the Amalfi Coast: when feet beat the bus
Between certain Coast towns walking is not “a scenic option” — it is genuinely the fastest way.
Amalfi to Atrani: ten minutes through the pedestrian tunnel. This is the single piece of local knowledge that saves more time than anything else on the Coast. The tunnel runs at sea level, fully flat, well-lit, used by everyone — old ladies with shopping, schoolchildren, locals returning from the beach. The bus between Amalfi and Atrani takes 15–20 minutes in summer traffic and costs the same as a longer journey. Walking it is faster, free, and means you can step off the path into Atrani’s tiny square without any of the bus-stop chaos. If your hotel is in Atrani you will use this tunnel four times a day.
Amalfi town centre. Once you arrive at the Amalfi bus and ferry terminal, the whole historic centre is a five-minute walk. There is no useful internal transport. You walk.
Minori to Maiori coastal path: 25 minutes. A flat sea-level path along the rocks. The bus does it in ten minutes when empty, thirty-plus in summer traffic. The walk is more pleasant and the timing is predictable.
Path of the Gods (Bomerano to Nocelle): two and a half to three hours. Not transport in any practical sense, but the hike between Agerola and the village above Positano is what most travel content misrepresents. It is not “easy” — there are around 1,700 steep stone steps down to Positano if you finish by descending — but it’s one of the great Italian coastal walks. Start in Bomerano via SITA bus from Amalfi, walk west, end in Nocelle, take the 1,500-step descent to Positano or the local minibus down if your knees have stopped negotiating with you.
What doesn’t work as walking: anything uphill from sea level to Ravello (365 metres of climb, an hour and a half in summer heat with no shade in places). Anything between Praiano and Positano outside of marked trails. The road between Positano and Amalfi outside the towns — it’s single-lane, has no pavement in long stretches, and you will be killed by a tour coach.
Amalfi Coast taxis: when €90 is worth it, and when it isn’t
The Amalfi Coast taxi market does not work like a city taxi market. There are no meters in any meaningful sense. Drivers quote, you accept or refuse, and the quote has very loose relationship to distance.
August this year: tourists were quoted €90 for a five-minute Amalfi-to-Atrani ride. Positano to Amalfi runs €120–130. Amalfi to Ravello around €40–50. These are not negotiable in peak summer because demand vastly exceeds supply. The drivers know it. You either pay or you don’t go.
When a taxi is worth it: you missed the last ferry and the next bus is in 90 minutes and your hotel is in a town only reachable by road. You’re arriving with heavy luggage from a long flight and the bus involves two transfers. You’re a group of four and the per-person cost matches four ferry tickets. You’re travelling with elderly parents who can’t do the steps to a Positano hotel after a bus journey.
When a taxi is not worth it: any time the ferries are running, any time the bus would take less than an extra thirty minutes, any short hop where walking through a tunnel takes ten.
The hotel taxi trick. Ask your hotel to call a taxi and ask for the fare quoted before they confirm. Hotels have running relationships with drivers and the price drops noticeably from what a tourist gets at a public taxi stand. The hotel-quoted Positano-Amalfi run is more likely to be €80–90 than the €120 you’ll be quoted at the stand. Worth asking every time.
Private drivers (NCC). A different category — you book a car and driver for half a day or a full day and they take you wherever. Day rates run €350–500 in season. For two travellers, almost never worth it. For six, often cheaper per person than three separate transfers, and it solves the “we have to do Pompeii, Herculaneum and a Coast town in a day” problem that public transport handles badly.
Getting to Pompeii from the Amalfi Coast without a car
A separate train system, run by EAV, connects Sorrento to Pompeii, Herculaneum and Naples in 30–70 minutes depending on the stop. From a Sorrento base, this is the cheapest and most reliable route to Pompeii — €3–5, half-hourly, runs year-round including winter when ferries don’t.
The train is old. The stations look run-down. Pickpockets work the busier services, especially the Naples-bound ones in the morning rush. None of this matters in any practical sense. It works, it gets you there, and it’s better than driving to Pompeii in summer and trying to find parking with two thousand other tourists doing the same thing.
If you are based on the Coast proper rather than Sorrento, doing Pompeii is harder — you take a ferry to Sorrento, then the Circumvesuviana, then return the same way. Allocate a full day. If Pompeii is a real priority, that’s an argument for basing in Sorrento rather than Amalfi or Positano.
When the buses are full and the ferries are cancelled: what locals do
Five common failures and the fallback for each.
The bus is full and isn’t stopping in Positano. Walk to the next stop down the road — sometimes the bus opens its doors three minutes later when someone has got off. Or switch to the ferry: walk down to Positano’s small pier and check the next Travelmar sailing. If it’s after 7pm and the ferries have stopped, accept that you’re either eating dinner in Positano or taking an expensive taxi. Build a line in your budget for this.
The ferry has been cancelled for rough sea. Walk to the bus stop, take SITA, accept the slower journey, build an extra hour into the rest of your day. Never put a ferry on your itinerary for the day you fly home.
You missed the last ferry of the day. Common. The fallback is the bus, which runs later than the ferry but slower. The last SITA from Amalfi to Salerno is around 10pm; the last from Amalfi to Sorrento around the same. After that you’re looking at a taxi or an unplanned overnight.
The taxi quote is insane. It probably is, but in August the alternative may be no taxi at all. Phone your hotel and ask them to call one with a quoted price. If the new quote is high but more reasonable, take it. If it’s the same, accept the original or change your plans.
Your hire car can’t drive today because of the targhe alterne. Take the day off the car. Use the bus, take the ferry, walk somewhere local from your base, treat it as a rest day. Don’t try to drive around the rule — fines are real and the road is well-policed in summer. This is the day you remember why the locals told you to skip the car.
Best Amalfi Coast town to stay in without a car
The carless decision intersects with the where-you-base decision. Some towns make carless travel almost effortless. Others fight you the whole time.
Best for carless travel: Amalfi (both bus lines start and end here, full ferry hub, tunnel walk to Atrani), Sorrento (Circumvesuviana, ferries, walkable flat centre), Maiori (the trick is that buses to Salerno start here empty, plus a real beach and flat streets).
Workable, with caveats: Positano (vertical, every walk to and from transport involves stairs, but ferry connections are excellent), Praiano (one bus stop, no ferry in shoulder season, taxi-dependent in winter), Salerno (urban base, train station, ferry hub — best for combining with Rome).
Hardest for carless travel: Ravello (you must descend to sea level for almost everything, the connecting bus is infrequent in the evening, the last bus back up the mountain is often before dinner ends), Atrani (small village with no ferry, depends on Amalfi for everything — but the ten-minute tunnel walk makes this absolutely fine in practice).
For the full town-by-town breakdown of which base actually works for which traveller, our honest ranking of the 8 Amalfi Coast towns to base in covers Positano versus Amalfi, budget options, kids, honeymoons and where Italians actually go.
The questions everyone asks about doing the Amalfi Coast without a car
Can you really do the Amalfi Coast without a car?
Yes. Most visitors do. The combination of buses, ferries, walking and the occasional taxi reaches every Coast town and every major sight without anyone ever sitting in a hire car. The system has failure modes — bus overcrowding in August, ferry cancellations in rough sea, last ferries around 7pm — but every failure mode has a workaround.
How do I get from Naples airport to the Amalfi Coast without a car?
Three options. Curreri Viaggi shuttle bus from Naples airport direct to Sorrento (75 minutes, around €10, book online). From Sorrento connect by SITA bus or ferry to the Coast. Train from Naples Centrale to Salerno (40–90 minutes depending on service), then ferry or bus from Salerno to your destination. Private driver transfer directly to your hotel — convenient but €130–180 for two. There is no direct bus from the airport to Amalfi-town or Positano; you always change at Sorrento, Naples Centrale or Salerno.
How much does a week of transport cost on the Amalfi Coast without a car?
Realistic for two people over seven days: €70–100 in bus passes, €80–150 in ferries depending on how many crossings, €40–80 in occasional taxis. Total: €200–330 for two over a week. The same week with a rental car would cost €350–500 before parking, fuel, and the days you can’t drive because of the licence plate rule.
Do I need a car to get to Pompeii from the Amalfi Coast?
No. From Sorrento, the Circumvesuviana train goes directly to Pompeii in 30 minutes for €3. From the Coast proper, take a ferry or SITA bus to Sorrento and connect to the train. Allocate a full day. Driving to Pompeii from the Coast in summer is slower than the ferry-and-train route and you still have to park.
Do I need a car to visit Capri?
No, and a car is useless on Capri anyway — the island has limited car access and most of it is pedestrian-only. Take the ferry from Sorrento, Positano or Amalfi in season. From Capri’s Marina Grande, use the funicular up to Capri town and local buses or taxis from there.
Can I do the Amalfi Coast as a day trip from Rome without a car?
It’s possible but punishing. Fast train Rome to Naples (1h10), then ferry Naples to Sorrento or Amalfi (35–90 minutes depending on operator), three or four hours on the Coast, reverse the journey. You’ll see Positano or Amalfi from the harbour and very little else. If you only have one day, do it from Naples — at least you arrive earlier.
Is one day enough on the Amalfi Coast?
For a meaningful visit, no. The transport eats too much time relative to what you actually see. Two nights is the minimum that justifies the journey. Three is better. A week is when you start to understand why people return.
How do I get from the Amalfi Coast to Rome at the end of my trip?
Reverse the inbound. Bus or ferry to Salerno, train Salerno-Rome (two hours by Frecciarossa, €30–50). Or ferry to Naples and train from there. Allow a full half-day including buffer time. If you’re catching a flight from Rome, don’t put a ferry on your departure day — bus or train only.
Can I bring big luggage on the SITA bus?
Yes, but with caveats. The bus has a luggage hold underneath for large cases. Smaller bags stay with you in the cabin. In a packed August bus, manoeuvring a 30kg case into a full vehicle is unpleasant — better to take the ferry on travel days. There have also been reports of luggage theft from the underneath holds. Keep passport, valuables and electronics in your cabin bag.
Is the Amalfi Coast accessible without a car for travellers with mobility issues?
Partially. Sorrento, Maiori, Salerno and central Amalfi are mostly flat and accessible. Positano, Praiano, Ravello, Atrani and most of the smaller villages involve significant stairs and slopes that no transport planning can solve. If stairs are a deal-breaker, base in Sorrento, Maiori or Salerno, and visit the steeper towns by ferry as day trips so you only experience the stairs once.
Amalfi Coast without a car: the verdict, depending on what you actually want
For most travellers the choice is straightforward. Take the bus, take the ferry, walk the short distances, and accept that one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world wasn’t designed for fast travel. The €10 day pass and the €15 ferry ticket will move you between every town worth seeing.
If you are travelling in summer, plan around the failure modes. Take the ferry when it’s running, not the bus. Start your bus journeys from towns where the bus is still empty — Amalfi for west-bound, Maiori for east-bound. Walk the Amalfi-Atrani tunnel every time, never the road. Eat dinner in the town you slept in. Build an extra hour into every travel day. Carry €100 in cash for the taxi you may suddenly need at 9pm.
If you are travelling in shoulder season — April, May, late September, October — the system relaxes considerably. The buses stop when they should. The ferries run. The taxi drivers smile. This is when carless travel feels effortless. It is also when the Coast looks its best.
If you are still tempted to rent a car, read the targhe alterne section again. The Italian government has spent three years making rental access progressively more impractical, and the trend has one direction. You came here to see the Coast, not to negotiate with a parking lot in August.
The Coast was here before the road. You can see all of it from the water.
The questions everyone asks about doing the Amalfi Coast without a car
Do I need a car for the Amalfi Coast?
No, and most travellers shouldn’t rent one. The bus and ferry network covers every Coast town, the €10 day pass costs less than parking your car for one night, and the Italian licence-plate rule (targhe alterne) bans rental cars from the Coast on half the days in summer. The four exceptions: winter travel, basing in Ravello, going inland past the Coast, or experienced mountain drivers travelling outside peak season.
Can you really do the Amalfi Coast without a car?
Yes. Most visitors do. The combination of buses, ferries, walking and the occasional taxi reaches every Coast town and every major sight without anyone ever sitting in a hire car. The system has failure modes — bus overcrowding in August, ferry cancellations in rough sea, last ferries around 7pm — but every failure mode has a workaround.
How do I get to Amalfi without a car?
Three routes. From Naples: train to Sorrento (Circumvesuviana, 70 minutes, €5) then SITA bus or ferry to Amalfi. Or train to Salerno (40 minutes, €5) then Travelmar ferry to Amalfi (35 minutes, €10). From Rome: fast train to Naples (1h10), then one of the above. From Naples airport: Curreri shuttle to Sorrento (€10) and continue from there. There is no direct bus or train to Amalfi-town — you always connect through Sorrento, Naples Centrale or Salerno.
How do I get from Naples airport to the Amalfi Coast without a car?
Three options. Curreri Viaggi shuttle bus from Naples airport direct to Sorrento (75 minutes, around €10, book online). From Sorrento connect by SITA bus or ferry to the Coast. Train from Naples Centrale to Salerno (40–90 minutes), then ferry or bus from Salerno. Private driver transfer directly to your hotel — convenient but €130–180 for two. There is no direct bus from the airport to Amalfi-town or Positano; you always change at Sorrento, Naples Centrale or Salerno.
How much does a week of transport cost on the Amalfi Coast without a car?
Realistic for two people over seven days: €70–100 in bus passes, €80–150 in ferries depending on how many crossings, €40–80 in occasional taxis. Total: €200–330 for two over a week. The same week with a rental car would cost €350–500 before parking, fuel, and the days you can’t drive because of the licence plate rule.
Do I need a car to get to Pompeii from the Amalfi Coast?
No. From Sorrento, the Circumvesuviana train goes directly to Pompeii in 30 minutes for €3. From the Coast proper, take a ferry or SITA bus to Sorrento and connect to the train. Allocate a full day. Driving to Pompeii from the Coast in summer is slower than the ferry-and-train route and you still have to park.
Do I need a car to visit Capri?
No, and a car is useless on Capri anyway — the island has limited car access and most of it is pedestrian-only. Take the ferry from Sorrento, Positano or Amalfi in season. From Capri’s Marina Grande, use the funicular up to Capri town and local buses or taxis from there.
Can I do the Amalfi Coast as a day trip from Rome without a car?
It’s possible but punishing. Fast train Rome to Naples (1h10), then ferry Naples to Sorrento or Amalfi (35–90 minutes depending on operator), three or four hours on the Coast, reverse the journey. You’ll see Positano or Amalfi from the harbour and very little else. If you only have one day, do it from Naples — at least you arrive earlier.
Is one day enough on the Amalfi Coast?
For a meaningful visit, no. The transport eats too much time relative to what you actually see. Two nights is the minimum that justifies the journey. Three is better. A week is when you start to understand why people return.
How do I get from the Amalfi Coast to Rome at the end of my trip?
Reverse the inbound. Bus or ferry to Salerno, train Salerno-Rome (two hours by Frecciarossa, €30–50). Or ferry to Naples and train from there. Allow a full half-day including buffer time. If you’re catching a flight from Rome, don’t put a ferry on your departure day — bus or train only.
Can I bring big luggage on the SITA bus?
Yes, but with caveats. The bus has a luggage hold underneath for large cases. Smaller bags stay with you in the cabin. In a packed August bus, manoeuvring a 30kg case into a full vehicle is unpleasant — better to take the ferry on travel days. There have also been reports of luggage theft from the underneath holds. Keep passport, valuables and electronics in your cabin bag.
Is the Amalfi Coast accessible without a car for travellers with mobility issues?
Partially. Sorrento, Maiori, Salerno and central Amalfi are mostly flat and accessible. Positano, Praiano, Ravello, Atrani and most of the smaller villages involve significant stairs and slopes that no transport planning can solve. If stairs are a deal-breaker, base in Sorrento, Maiori or Salerno, and visit the steeper towns by ferry as day trips so you only experience the stairs once.
Where should I stay on the Amalfi Coast without a car?
The three best carless bases are Amalfi (both bus lines start here, full ferry hub, 10-minute tunnel walk to Atrani), Sorrento (Circumvesuviana to Pompeii, walkable flat centre, ferries to everywhere) and Maiori (the Salerno-direction bus starts here empty, big sandy beach, flat streets). Ravello is the hardest base without a car — you must descend to sea level for almost everything and the last bus back up the mountain runs before dinner ends.