Pompeii to Amalfi Coast: A 3-Day Southern Italy Itinerary

Three systems do the work on this route: the Circumvesuviana railway, the SITA bus on the coast road, and ferries while the season lasts. Choose the base and the rest follows.

The Circumvesuviana, run by EAV, reaches Pompeii in 30 to 40 minutes from either Naples or Sorrento. Its Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri station sits about 50 m from the main entrance to the ruins, which makes it the stop to use; Trenitalia tickets from Napoli Centrale to Pompei cost €3.30, and €4.80 covers Pompei-Scavi plus the bus to the site.

Past Sorrento the railway stops. SITA buses run Sorrento through Positano to Amalfi two to three times an hour, and you buy the ticket in a bar or newsagent before boarding, since drivers do not sell them. A day pass that includes Ravello costs €10 to €12.

Water beats road when the sea is calm. NLG ferries cross from Amalfi to Positano four times a day in 15 minutes for €14, and from Amalfi to Sorrento five times a day in 1 hr 15 min to 1 hr 30 min for €16.50 to €18. From Naples, Travelmar runs to Amalfi via Capri three times a day in 2 hr 15 min at €32.

Driving is the option people regret in July. The coast road is narrow, parking is scarce, and in peak season tourist buses face one-way restrictions while the SS163 runs an alternating plate system, with odd and even numbers admitted on alternate days. Basing yourself in Naples and letting a Naples tour handle the driving takes the parking problem out of the day.

The shape below assumes a Naples base and one run along the coast, which is why the ruins come first and the longest coastal hop comes last.

Day 1: Pompeii

Pompeii is a walking site, cobbled and uneven, with almost no shade, and summer temperatures run 32 to 35°C, so the hours before noon are worth more than the hours after two. Bring good footwear, a hat and sunscreen, and carry water.

Leave bags at Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri for €1.50 if the coast comes next, or use the free storage at the ruins and collect by 19:20. The Circumvesuviana ticket to Pompei Scavi costs €1.80, bought downstairs at Napoli Centrale, and it is the cheapest way in. Inside, let the Forum set the geography: the Temple of Apollo sits to its north, the Basilica to its west, and the Forum Baths just north of the square.

The site rewards a loop rather than a checklist. The Theatre, built into the hollow of a hill, seats 5,000. The Amphitheatre at the far eastern corner was completed in 80 BC, measures 135 by 104 m and held about 20,000 people. Between them are the houses: the Vettii with its frescoes, the Faun with the statue that gave it its name, and the Tragic Poet with the chained dog mosaic and the words Cave Canem.

A guided walk of the ruins runs about two hours and is built to cover one temple, one market, one shop, one villa, one set of baths, one theater and the Forum, because not every building opens on a given day. What you add afterward is the Forum Granary with its storage jars and plaster casts, the Garden of the Fugitives, and the Villa dei Misteri beyond the old walls.

On the way out, the stands between the station and the entrance press orange and lemon juice for about €3 a glass, and in that heat it is money well spent. The restaurant north of the Forum has toilets, which is worth knowing on a site this size.

Day 2: Sorrento and Positano

Day 2 heads for the coast and opens at a limoncello factory, where the product is made in front of you. Sorrento gets an hour after that, and an hour is the right allowance for a first look at the town rather than a full circuit of it.

Positano comes next and divides people: some walk the streets, others sit with a drink by the sea. The church of Santa Maria Assunta is the sight to see here, and the beach is the alternative if the afternoon turns hot.

Getting between the three towns is where this day can go wrong. The City Sightseeing bus runs hourly from April to October, 40 minutes from Sorrento to Positano and 50 minutes more to Amalfi, at €10 for one stop and €15 for two. The hydrofoil between Sorrento and Positano runs eight times a day and skips the traffic altogether.

If you want a shorter start on Day 3, sleep in Sorrento; if you would rather wake up inside the village, stay in Positano and accept a bus before breakfast. Whichever you pick, the hour to cut when the day runs late is the one in Sorrento.

Day 3: Amalfi, Ravello and the Way Back

Day 3 keeps to the last stretch of coast and gives the morning to Amalfi. The Duomo and its cloister, the Chiostro del Paradiso, are the pair to see first; after that the town is a place for gelato by the shore rather than another church.

Ravello is a bus ride from Amalfi, every half hour at €5 each way, and it holds Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo. That makes the side trip a separate decision rather than part of the town visit. Atrani holds two small churches, San Salvatore del Birecto and Santa Maria Maddalena, for anyone who wants a village on foot.

If you would rather walk than ride, the Sentiero degli Dei runs 7 km from Bomerano to Nocelle above Positano. It is a moderately challenging path with a lot of steps, and it trades the villages for terraces and the sea below.

The return leg is where the plan pays off. The ferry from Amalfi to Sorrento takes you back to the rail line, and from there the train does the rest.

The base question comes first because it decides the order of the days. Naples is the transport hub for the region: the Circumvesuviana leaves from the city, the port runs ferries to Capri and the coast, and the airport at Capodichino connects by the Alibus for €5 to the central station or Piazza Municipio, with the ticket valid for 90 minutes on onward public transport.

Sorrento is the other base, and it shortens the coastal mornings because the buses and the hydrofoil start there. It does not shorten Pompeii, which stays a rail day trip from either city.

Travelers running the route backwards ask about the Amalfi Coast to Pompeii distance as if it were one number. It is not. The coast is a line of villages, the ruins sit inland, near the Sorrento end, and what decides the day is where you sleep and whether the ferry is running.

If you want hotels and transfers priced as one thing, Naples vacation packages bundle them; booking nights one at a time keeps the choice of base in your hands.

Two things are worth fixing before you leave home: the Pompeii entry and the ferry times. If these three days sit inside a longer Italy tour, settle both before you book anything else, because they decide which end of the coast you sleep on.

• Book the ruins for the morning you land on, not the afternoon. The site is at its worst in the early heat, and a ticket bought in advance removes the risk of arriving to a full one.
• The crossings set the shape of the last day too: the ferry from Amalfi to Sorrento runs five times a day in season, so the last sailing decides how long Ravello gets.
• Check ferry times the week you travel rather than months ahead. Services on this coast thin out outside summer, and crossings from Capri, Salerno and Paestum run in the summer months and stop outside them, so an afternoon sailing that exists in July may not exist in November.
• On the coast, expect to pay more than in Naples for the same meal and the same room. Budget for it instead of fighting it, and put the difference into the day that earns it, which is the ruins.
• Packing follows from the two sites. Pompeii wants shoes with grip for cobblestones, a hat, sunscreen and a refillable bottle; the taps around the site dispense odd-smelling water that seems to be drinkable, and carrying your own saves buying it in the heat.
• The coast asks for a light jacket. It has short, mild winters and long, hot summers, and it takes plenty of rain even in the sunny months, so a wet morning in Amalfi is normal weather rather than bad luck.
• Scooters are the local answer to the traffic and a poor place to learn. Rent one if you already ride them, because the roads are narrow enough that heavy traffic leaves no room for a first attempt.